Tarija or San Bernardo de la Frontera de Tarixa is a city in southern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

. Founded in 1574, Tarija is the largest city and capital and municipality within the

Tarija Department Tarija () is a department in Bolivia. It is located in south-eastern Bolivia bordering with Argentina to the south and Paraguay to the east. According to the 2012 census, it has a population of 482,196 inhabitants. It has an area of . The city ...

, with an airport ( Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza Airport, (TJA)) offering regular service to primary Bolivian cities, as well as a regional bus terminal with domestic and international connections. Its climate is semi-arid ( BSh) with generally mild temperatures in contrast to the harsh cold of the

Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at ...

(e.g.,

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the third-most populous city in Bol ...

) and the year-round humid heat of the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

(e.g.,

Santa Cruz de la Sierra Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department. Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...

). Tarija has a population of 234,442.

History

The name of ''Tarija'' is said to come from Francisco de Tarija or Tarifa. However, researched information disproves that probability. Members of the first group of Spaniards to enter the valley where present-day Tarija is situated, stated that the name of Tarija was already in use. This group did not include anyone by the name of Francisco de Tarija. Similar-sounding toponyms exist for surrounding places, such as Tariquia and

Taxara __NOTOC__ Tajzara (pronounced ''Taxara'' in English) is a small region and lake on the arid Altiplano of Bolivia, located in the vicinity of Cordillera de Sama Biological Reserve, Yunchará, José María Avilés Province. Tarija Department, near ...

. In 1826 the citizens of Tarija voted to become part of Bolivia. In 1807, Tarija had become separated from

Upper Peru Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to t ...

to become part of the jurisdiction of Salta (part of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

), but because of its close ties to what became Bolivia, it returned to its original jurisdiction. In 1899,

renounced its claims in exchange for the

Puna de Atacama The Puna de Atacama or Atacama Plateau''Atacama Plateau''
article at the ''

indigenous groups, such as the Churumatas. Subsequently, the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...

– administered by the

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

civilization – conquered the land and dispersed the Churumatas and other local groups over wide territories of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. Mitimaes is the Quechuan name that the Incas used for the resisting ethnic groups they uprooted and then dispersed geographically. The

Tomatas The Tomatas are an extinct indigenous people that inhabited the valley of Tarija at the time of the Spanish founding of Tarija in 1574. The tomatas appear to have originated in the area of Copiapó in the Chilean Norte Chico as attested in the des ...

are thought to have been brought to

San Juan del Oro River The San Juan del Oro River is a river in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. See also * Río Grande de San Juan *List of rivers of Bolivia This is a list of rivers in Bolivia. By drainage basin This list is arranged by drainage basin, with resp ...

in the vicinities of Tarija from Norte Chico, Chile. The Tomatas appear to have given placenames from their old lands to their new area of settlement thus explaining the existence of "Chilean" placenames such as Loa, Calama, and Erqui (

Elqui The Elqui River starts in the west Andes and flows into the Pacific Ocean near the Chilean city of La Serena. It is a wine and pisco producing area. Vicuña, the main town of the middle valley, was the home of Nobel Laureate poet Gabriela M ...

) in Bolivia. In 1574

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, ...

Luis de Fuentes Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archai ...

resettled the Tomatas next to the city Tarija. When the Spanish first arrived to the valley of Tarija they encountered several stone roads, most likely the remnants of pre-Incaic cultures, such as that of the Churumatas. However, during that period, the presence of indigenous peoples remained sparse within the valley. Several of the pre-Incaic roads and trails have been preserved, and currently function as a walking trail for Tarijeños.

Facilities and tourism

Tarija's main plaza is surrounded by restaurants of various cuisines, local handicraft shops, and

internet cafes The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pu ...

. Within immediate walking distance is the public market, a university campus, and a number of tourist sights including the Paleontology Museum of Tarija City. The city includes higher-end restaurants as well as fast food restaurants like McRonalds, Kukis, and Homeros. Tarija's nightlife, including dance clubs, is popular with tourists. Viñedos de Bolivia

From Tarija, primary destinations and land routes coincide with the cardinal directions:

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to t ...

/the

Gran Chaco The Gran Chaco or Dry Chaco is a sparsely populated, hot and semiarid lowland natural region of the Río de la Plata basin, divided among eastern Bolivia, western Paraguay, northern Argentina, and a portion of the Brazilian states of Mato ...

, to the east via

Yacuiba Yacuiba is a city in southern Bolivia and the capital city of Gran Chaco Province in the Tarija Department. It lies three kilometers from the Argentine border. It has a population of approximately 80,000 and lies above sea level. Yacuiba is one ...

;

, to the south via Bermejo,

or Villazón; Tupiza/the

Salar de Uyuni Salar de Uyuni (or "Salar de Tunupa") is the world's largest salt flat, or playa, at over in area. It is in the Daniel Campos Province in Potosí in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes at an elevation of above sea level. The Sala ...

, to the west via Villazón; and the central cities of Bolivia, to the north via

Potosí Potosí, known as Villa Imperial de Potosí in the colonial period, is the capital city and a municipality of the Department of Potosí in Bolivia. It is one of the highest cities in the world at a nominal . For centuries, it was the location o ...

. The route to the altiplano and Potosí is much safer, as of December 2012. A new tunnel bypasses Sama, the mountain just west of the city of Tarija. The San Jacinto Dam is located a few kilometers south of Tarija, and the ''Chorros de Jurina'' falls is located a few kilometers northwest from the city. Tarija's land and climate are adequate for grape and wine production. The Festival of Wine is held annually in Tarija.

Climate

Tarija has a

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

( Köppen ''BSh/BSk''), bordering on a

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(''Cwb''). The summers are warm and generally humid, while "winters” are dry, with barely any rainfall, and temperatures warm during the day and cooler at night. Almost all the annual precipitation is received during the southern-hemisphere summer months.

Frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...

s occasionally occur from May to October. On July 25, 2019, the most intense snowfall in Tarija since 1954 was recorded.

Gallery

Image:Bolivia-tarija2.jpg, Houses in Tarija Image:Catedral Tarija Boliva.JPG, Tarija Cathedral Image:Viñedos Kohlberg.jpg, Vineyards in Tarija,

Image:Plaza_in_Tarija.jpg, Main square in Tarija Image:Plaza_de_Armas_Luis_de_Fuentes_y_Vargas_(Plaza_Principal)_-_Tarija_-_Bolivia.jpg, Plaza de Armas, Tarija Image:Boeing 737-300 de BoA aproximandose a Tarija.JPG, Capitán Oriel Lea Plaza Airport Image:San Jacinto west.jpg, San Jacinto Lake, Tarija Image:Plaza de Entre Rios, Tarija, Bolivia.jpg, Entre Rios Square, Tarija Image:Casa Dorada de Tarija (Casa de la Cultura) 4.jpg, "Golden House", Tarija, Bolivia Image:Catedral de San Bernardo (Catedral Metropolitana).jpg, Tarija Cathedral Image:Tarija.jpg, Tarija, Bolivia Image:Castillete Azul de Tarija.jpg, Tarija, Bolivia

Lifestyle

Tarija is commonly regarded by Bolivian nationals and tourists alike as the "Bolivian

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

". The

Guadalquivir River The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from the Gul ...

that borders the city was named after the Spanish river of the same name. Residents of Tarija call themselves ''Chapacos'', regardless of social class and ethnic background. Although the origin of the name is uncertain, there is a hypothesis that it is a variation of ''chacapa'', the name of an indigenous settlement in the region during early colonial times. During Bolivia's post-revolutionary period, the Chapacos voted in favor of being annexed by Bolivia instead of Argentina. For that reason, Tarijeños have been included among Bolivia's most loyal and patriotic people. However, the modern culture is slightly isolated from the rest of urban Bolivia, and in recent times, many Tarijeñans feel much more connected to Tarija itself than to the rest of Bolivia. Their local creed is reflected in a famous, folkloric

Cueca Cueca () is a family of musical styles and associated dances from Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia. In Chile, the cueca holds the status of national dance, where it was officially declared as such by the Pinochet dictatorship on September 18, 1979. ...

song, titled " Chapaco Soy".

Sports

The city's Guadalquivir Coliseum has hosted games of

Bolivia's national basketball team Bolivia national basketball team is the national men's basketball team from Bolivia. In June 2021, the Bolivians succeeded in their first undertaking for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification (Americas). They defeated Ecuador in two g ...

Twin towns – sister cities

* Mejillones, Chile * Brasschaat, Belgium *

Tournai Tournai or Tournay ( ; ; nl, Doornik ; pcd, Tornai; wa, Tornè ; la, Tornacum) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies southwest of Brussels on the river Scheldt. Tournai is part of Eurome ...

, Belgium * Iniesta, Spain * Salta, Argentina * Villa Carlos Paz, Argentina * Mendoza, Argentina *

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

, Paraguay *

San Bernardino San Bernardino (; Spanish for "Saint Bernardino") is a city and county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States. Located in the Inland Empire region of Southern California, the city had a population of 222,101 in the 2020 cen ...

, Paraguay

References

External links

Tarija City Guide

{{Authority control Populated places in Tarija Department Populated places established in 1574