Santiago de Macha is a Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

n city of the department of Potosí

Potosí Department

Potosí Department is a department in southwestern Bolivia. It comprises 118,218 km² with 709,013 inhabitants . The capital is the city of Potosí....

, in the province of Chayanta

Chayanta Province

Chayanta Municipality is the second municipal section of the Rafael Bustillo Province in the Bolivian Potosí Department. Its seat is Chayanta.-Location:...

. The town had reached a population of nearly 10,000 people by 2008. Most of the young adult works abroad, and the village's marketplace opens only on Sunday. The main economic activity of Macha is subsistence agriculture

Subsistence agriculture

Subsistence agriculture is self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed their families. The typical subsistence farm has a range of crops and animals needed by the family to eat and clothe themselves during the year. Planting decisions are made with an eye...

.

Every 3 May, Santiago de Macha hosts the religious festival of Tinku

Tinku

Tinku, an Andean tradition, began as a form of ritualistic combat. It is native to the northern region of Potosí in Bolivia. In the language of Quechua, the word “tinku” means encounter. In the language of Aymara it means “physical attack.” During this ritual, men and women from different...

, an aymará ritual consisting in a fist fighting challenge between two rival groups.

Rebel leader Túpac Katari

Tupac Katari

Túpac Katari or Catari , born Julián Apasa Nina, was a leader in the rebellions of indigenous people of Bolivia against the Spanish Empire in the early 1780s....

 was born in Macha in 1750. Between October and November 1813 the town was the headquarters of the Army of the North

Army of the North

The Army of the North , contemporaneously called Army of Peru, was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest and the Upper Peru from the royalist troops of the Spanish...

, commanded by General Manuel Belgrano

Manuel Belgrano

Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano , usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano, was an Argentine economist, lawyer, politician, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and created the Flag of Argentina...

during the war of independence against the Spanish rule.