Santa Ana de Velasco (or simply Santa Ana) is a small town in the Santa Cruz Department,

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 ...

History

The mission of Santa Ana was founded in 1755 by Julian Knogler.

Location

Santa Ana is the central town of ''Cantón Santa Ana'' and is located in the San Ignacio de Velasco Municipality, José Miguel de Velasco Province. It is known as part of the '' Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos'', which is declared in 1990 a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

, as a former Jesuit Reduction. The town is situated at an elevation of 464 m in the Chiqitanía region between Santa Cruz capital and the

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian border. Jesuit Missions of the Chiquitos-en

Transportation

Santa Ana is located 441 km north-east of Santa Cruz, the department's capital. From there, the national road ''Ruta 4'' goes north to Montero, Santa Cruz where it meets ''Ruta 10''. This road goes east for 339 km to

San Ignacio de Velasco San Ignacio de Velasco, is the capital of the José Miguel de Velasco Province and the San Ignacio de Velasco Municipality in the Santa Cruz Department of Bolivia. History The Jesuit mission of San Ignacio de Velasco was founded in 1748 by th ...

, on its way passing San Ramón, San Javier and Santa Rosa de la Roca. From San Ignacio, a dirt road goes south to San Rafael de Velasco and passes Santa Ana after 45 km.

Population

The population of the place has increased rapidly over the past two decades: *1992: 284 inhabitants (

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 ...

) *2001: 483 inhabitants (census) *2010: 684 inhabitants (updating)

Languages

Today, Camba Spanish is the most commonly used everyday language. In the past, various languages related to Otuke, such as Covareca and Curuminaca, were spoken at the mission of Santa Ana.

References

External links

Santa Ana de Velasco: Description of Jesuit mission with pictures and information

{{Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos Populated places in Santa Cruz Department (Bolivia) World Heritage Sites in Bolivia Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos