Santa Rosa de Ocopa is the name of a
district
A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...
of
Concepción province, Department of
Junin in
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. It is also the name of the capital of the district, and the name of a historic monastery in the district called the Convent of Santa Rosa de Ocopa. In 2017, the district had a population of 2,129 and an area of . The capital of the district, the town of Santa Rosa, had a population of 1,263 in 2017 and an elevation of above sea level. The name "Ocopa" comes from the
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 ...
"ocupi," meaning "within" or "corner."
Santa Rosa de Ocopa is located in the
Mantaro Valley
The Mantaro Valley, also known as Jauja Valley, is a fluvial inter-Andean valley of Junin region, east of Lima, the capital of Peru. The Mantaro River flows through the fertile valley which produces potatoes, maize, and vegetables among othe ...
. The valley has a large area of
arable land
Arable land (from the , "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for the purposes of a ...
, unusual in the high altitudes of the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
. Dating back to Pre-Columbian times, the Mantaro Valley has been a breadbasket for the people of the Andes.
[''Land Use in the Andes: Ecology and Agriculture in the Madero Valley of Peru'' (1979), International Potato Center, p. 15]
Convent of Santa Rosa de Ocopa
Santa Rosa was a place of importance after the Franciscans established the
Convent of Santa Rosa de Ocopa in 1725 as a college of missionaries with the objective of converting to
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
the
indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
living in the
Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, 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 ...
, especially in the
Cerro de la Sal
The Cerro de la Sal or Cerro de Sal, (''Mountain of Salt'') is located in Villa Rica District of Oxapampa Province in Pasco Department, Peru. The Cerro de la Sal was an important source of salt for the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the A ...
and the
Gran Pajonal
The Gran Pajonal (Great Scrubland or Great Savanna) is an isolated interfluvial plateau in the Amazon Basin of Peru. It is located in the departments of Ucayali, Pasco and Junín. The plateau is inhabited by the Asháninka or Ashéninka peopl ...
regions. The convent is located in the northern outskirts of the town of Santa Rosa. In the 21st century, the extensive compound making up the convent houses a museum with a library of 25,000 volumes, some from the 15th century, a large collection of paintings, many of them dating to the 18th century, and a natural history museum. The convent is a popular tourist destination.
At the height of its importance about 1800, Ocopa was the "largest missionary operation in the Americas, serving more than seventy parishes and missions over a vast swath of South America." Three hundred and two of the missionaries assigned to the Ocopa convent during the 18th and early 19th century were Spanish-born and they constituted the great majority of all the Ocopa missionaries. The Spanish influence caused political problems for the convent during the independence movements in South America. On 1 November 1824, revolutionary leader
Simon Bolivar
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
captured the convent and confiscated its wealth and arrested the missionaries. The convent was reconstituted in 1836, but had lost its importance.
The Ruins of Ocupi
Located a few yards from the convent are the ruins of Ocupi, an archaeological site of the
Huanca dating from 1100 CE to 1470 CE.
Climate
See also
*
Cerro de la Sal
The Cerro de la Sal or Cerro de Sal, (''Mountain of Salt'') is located in Villa Rica District of Oxapampa Province in Pasco Department, Peru. The Cerro de la Sal was an important source of salt for the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the A ...
*
Gran Pajonal
The Gran Pajonal (Great Scrubland or Great Savanna) is an isolated interfluvial plateau in the Amazon Basin of Peru. It is located in the departments of Ucayali, Pasco and Junín. The plateau is inhabited by the Asháninka or Ashéninka peopl ...
References
{{Authority control
Tourist attractions in the Department of Junín
Department of Junín
Religious buildings and structures in Peru
Franciscan monasteries in Peru