Chanchamayo Province

Chanchamayo
Province

A bridge in the San Ramón District

Flag
Coat of arms
Country Peru
Region Junín
Capital La Merced
Government
 • Mayor Hung Won Jung
Area
 • Total 4,723.4 km2 (1,823.7 sq mi)
Population  (2002 estimate)
 • Total 142,127
 • Density 30/km2 (78/sq mi)
Website http://www.munichanchamayo.gob.pe/

Chanchamayo (in hispanicized spelling) or Chanchamayu (Quechua chanchay to walk and leap about, to walk quickly and confused, chancha chancha to walk quickly and irregularly, shancha a kind of bird, mayu river)[1][2] is a province in northern Junín Region, in central Peru.

The name of the province derives from the river Chanchamayu, whose source is in the Andean Sierra and flows northwards becoming the Perené River.

The province has an estimated population of 142,127, half of whom live in the provincial capital, La Merced. Another important town in the province is San Ramón.

The Chanchamayo province is famous for citrus production and quality coffee growing.

History

The first inhabitants of this territory were the Yanesha' people and Ashaninkas. The first reported European presence in the area dates back to 1635, when Franciscan Fray Juan Jerónimo Jiménez founded the settlement of San Buena Ventura de Quimiri which was three kilometres (2 mi) away from present-day Chanchamayo.

Political division

Chanchamayo districts numbered
The six districts of the Chanchamayo province.

The province is divided into six districts (Spanish: distritos, singular: distrito), each of which is headed by a mayor (alcalde). The districts, with their capitals in parenthesis, are:

  1. Chanchamayo (Chanchamayo)
  2. San Luis de Shuaro (San Luis de Shuaro)
  3. Perené (Perené)
  4. Pichanaqui (Bajo Pichanaqui)
  5. San Ramón (San Ramón)
  6. Vitoc (Pucará)

Places of interest

References

  1. ↑ Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)
  2. ↑ Diccionario Quechua - Español - Quechua, Academía Mayor de la Lengua Quechua, Gobierno Regional Cusco, Cusco 2005 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)

Coordinates: 11°03′16″S 75°19′45″W / 11.054387°S 75.329036°W / -11.054387; -75.329036

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 04, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.