Turco Municipality is the second municipal section of the

Sajama Province Sajama is a province in the northwestern parts of the Bolivian Oruro Department. Location ''Sajama'' province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 39' and 18° 39' South and between 67° 38' and 68° ...

in the

Oruro Department Oruro (; Quechua: ''Uru Uru''; Aymara: ''Ururu'') is a department of Bolivia, with an area of . Its capital is the city of Oruro. According to the 2012 census, the Oruro department had a population of 494,178. Provinces of Oruro The depar ...

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 ...

, and was founded on February 15, 1957.Plan de desarollo municipal Municipio de Turco
(Spanish) Its seat is Turco, situated 154 km west 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 ...

at an altitude of 3,860 m. The municipality covers an area of 3,973 km², not taking into account the area of Laca Laca Canton. It is bordered to the north by the Curahuara de Carangas Municipality and

San Pedro de Totora Province San Pedro de Totora is a province in the northern parts of the Bolivian department of Oruro. Location San Pedro de Totora province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 41' and 18° 06' South and betwe ...

, to the south by the

Litoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal area ...

and Sabaya Provinces, to the west by

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

and to the east by the

Carangas Province Carangas is a province in the northern parts of the Bolivian department of Oruro. Location ''Carangas'' province is one of sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department. It is located between 17° 59' and 18° 54' South and between 67° 09' and 67° 4 ...

(Qhurqhi (Corque) and Chuqi Quta (Choquecota) Municipalities).

Geography

The most important rivers are Sajama, Cosapa, Lauca, K'uwiri and Qullpa Jawira (also named ''río Turco'', Turco River) . A couple of volcanoes and mountains of the Bolivian Western Mountain Range like

Uqi Uqini Uqi Uqini (Aymara ''uqi uqi'' a species of plant, ''uqi'' brown, grey brown, the reduplication indicates that there is a group or a complex of something, ''-ni'' a suffix to indicate ownership, "the one with the ''uqi uqi'' plant" or "the one with ...

and the volcanic complex of Kimsa Chata, a group of three mountains named

Umurata Umurata is a mountain in the Andes, about 5,717 m (18,757 ft) high, situated in the Cordillera Occidental on the border of Bolivia and Chile. It is located in the Arica and Parinacota Region of Chile and in the Oruro Department of Bol ...

Acotango Acotango is the central and highest of a group of stratovolcanoes straddling the border of Bolivia and Chile. It is high. The group is known as Kimsa Chata and consists of three mountains: Acotango, Umurata () north of it and Capurata () south ...

and Capurata in the west of the municipality are making up the natural border of Turco Municipality with Chile. Other mountains are listed below:

Subdivision

The municipality is divided into four

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 ...

and nine

ayllu The ''ayllu'', a family clan, is the traditional form of a community in the Andes, especially among Quechuas and Aymaras. They are an indigenous local government model across the Andes region of South America, particularly in Bolivia and Peru. ...

Flora and fauna

Part of Cosapa Canton is situated within

Sajama National Park Sajama National Park is a national park located in the Oruro Department, Bolivia. It borders Lauca National Park in Chile. The park is home to the indigenous Aymara people, whose influential ancient culture can be seen in various aspects throug ...

. This park was created to conserve the rare woods of the queñua species ''

Polylepis tarapacana ''Polylepis tomentella'', known in its native habitat by the Spanish common name ''queñoa de altura'' (polylepis or quenoa of ighaltitude), is a short tree or shrub which is found in small, scattered groupings along the mountainous borders of ...

'' and to protect species of wild flora and fauna like

yareta __NOTOC__ Yareta or llareta (''Azorella compacta'', known historically as ''Azorella yareta'', from ''yarita'' in the Quechua language) is a velvety, chartreuse cushion plant in the family Apiaceae which is native to South America. It grows in th ...

''(Azorella compacta)'',

Andean hairy armadillo The Andean hairy armadillo (''Chaetophractus nationi'') is an armadillo found mainly in Bolivia, in the region of the Puna; the departments of Oruro, La Paz, and Cochabamba (Gardner, 1993). Nowark (1991) describes it as distributed in Bolivia an ...

''(Chaetophractus nationi)'',

Darwin's rhea Darwin's rhea or the lesser rhea (''Rhea pennata'') is a large flightless bird, the smaller of the two extant species of rheas. It is found in the Altiplano and Patagonia in South America. Description The lesser rhea stands at tall. Length ...

''(Pterocnemia pennata)'',

vicuña The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes, the other being the guanaco, which l ...

''(Vicugna vicugna)'',

taruca The taruca (''Hippocamelus antisensis''), also known as the Peruvian guemal, north Andean deer, north Andean huemul, northern huemul or northern guemal, is a mid sized deer species that inhabits the high regions of the Andes mountains in South Am ...

''(Hippocamelus antisensis)'',

Andean mountain cat The Andean mountain cat (''Leopardus jacobita'') is a small wild cat native to the high Andes that has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because fewer than 1,500 individuals are thought to exist in the wild. It is traditionally cons ...

''(Felis jacobita)'' and

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') is a large cat native to the Americas. Its range spans from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes in South America and is the most widespread of any large wild terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere. I ...

or puma ''(Felis concolor)'', all of them occurring in the municipality, as well as their

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

. The region has a rich diversity of native plants which are both useful for the inhabitants and the animals. The most important species are:

The people

Most of the people in the municipality are of

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 ...

descent known as Carangas. They are mostly bilingual. According to census 2001 the main languages spoken are

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 Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

(3,544 speakers) and

(3,259 speakers).

Transport

Ruta 4 (Bolivia) con el Nevado Sajama de fondo

The international transit road from Oruro to Chile crosses Turco Municipality leading to Tambo Quemado situated in the Chachacomani Canton in the north-western part of the municipality In the map below Tambo Quemado erroneously is shown as part of Lagunas Canton in the Curahuara de Carangas Municipality (Sajama Province), but actually belongs to Turco Municipality. at the border between Chile and Bolivia.

References

External links

Turco Municipality: population data and map
(not showing Asunción Laca Laca Canton) {{Authority control Municipalities of Oruro Department