Cercado is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

in the northeastern parts of the

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

n department of

Oruro Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximately above sea level. It is Bolivia's fifth-largest city by populat ...

. Its capital is

. The hamlet of Paria, established in 1535, was the first Spanish settlement in Bolivia and previously had been a regional capital of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

. Paria is located in Soracachi municipality.

Location

Cercado province is one of sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 22' and 18° 35'

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and between 66° 21' and 67° 20'

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

. It borders Tomas Barrón Province and La Paz Department in the northwest,

Nor Carangas Province Nor Carangas is a province in the northern parts of the Bolivian department of Oruro. Its seat is Huayllamarca. Location Nor Carangas province is one of sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 46' and 18° 09' South ...

and

Saucarí Province Saucarí is a province in the central area of the Bolivian department of Oruro. Its seat is Toledo. Location Saucarí province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 50' and 18° 47' South and between ...

in the west,

Poopó Province Poopó is a province in the eastern parts of the Bolivian department of Oruro. Its seat is Poopó. Location Poopó province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 18° 15' and 18° 50' South and between ...

and Pantaléon Dalence Province in the southeast, and

Cochabamba Department Cochabamba (, , ), from Quechua ''qucha'' or ''qhucha'', meaning "lake", ''pampa'' meaning "plain", is one of the nine departments of Bolivia. It is known to be the " granary" of the country because of its variety of agricultural products from ...

in the east and north. The province extends over 135 km from North to South, and 105 km from east to west.

Geography

Some of the highest mountains of the province are listed below:

Population

The main language of the province is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

, spoken by 96.7%, 43.3% of the population speak

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

and 25.5% speak

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

. The population increased from 213,755 inhabitants (1992

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

) to 241,230 (2001 census), an increase of 12.9%. - 39.4% of the population is younger than 15 years old. 18.6% of the population have no access to

electricity Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

, 67.5% have no sanitary facilities. 16.3% of the population are employed in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, 1.8% in mining, 11.9% in

industry Industry may refer to: Economics * Industry (economics), a generally categorized branch of economic activity * Industry (manufacturing), a specific branch of economic activity, typically in factories with machinery * The wider industrial sector ...

, 70.0% in general services (2001). 83.0% of the population are

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

, 13.5% are

Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

(1992).

Division

The province comprises four

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

which are further subdivided into

cantons A canton is a type of administrative division of a country. In general, cantons are relatively small in terms of area and population when compared with other administrative divisions such as counties, departments, or provinces. Internationally, th ...

References

{{Oruro Department Provinces of Oruro Department

Location

Geography

Population

Division

See also

References