Turco Municipality is the second municipal section

Municipalities of Bolivia

Municipalities in Bolivia are administrative divisions of the entire national territory governed by local elections. Municipalities are the third level of administrative divisions, below departments and provinces. Some of the provinces consist of only one municipality...

 of the Sajama Province

Sajama Province

Sajama is a province in the northwestern parts of the Bolivian department of Oruro.-Location:Sajama province is one of the sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department...

 in the Oruro Department

Oruro Department

Oruro is a department in Bolivia, with an area of 53,588 km². Its capital is the city of Oruro. At the time of census 2001 it had a population of 391,870.- Provinces of Oruro :...

 in 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...

. It was created on February 15, 1957. Its seat is Turco, situated 154 km west of Oruro

Oruro, Bolivia

Oruro is a city in Bolivia with a population of 235,393 , located about equidistant between La Paz and Sucre at approximately 3710 meters above sea level. It is the capital of the department of Oruro....

 at an altitude of 3,860 m. The municipality covers an area of 3,973 km², not taking into account the area of Asunción 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 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...

, to the south by the Litoral and Atahuallpa

Atahuallpa Province

Atahuallpa is a province in the central parts of the Bolivian department of Oruro.-Location:Atahuallpa province is one of sixteen provinces in the Oruro Department...

 Provinces, to the west by Chile

Chile

Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...

 and to the east by the Carangas Province

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...

 (Corque and Choquecota Municipalities).

Subdivision

The municipality is divided into four cantons

Cantons of Bolivia

||On the level below municipalities, Bolivia is divided into cantons ....

 and nine ayllu

Ayllu

Ayllu is the traditional form of a community in the Andes, especially among Quechuas and Aymaras.Ayllus were the basic political and social units of pre-Inca and Inca life. These were essentially extended family groups but they could adopt non-related members, giving individual families more...

s.

Canton	Created	Inhabitants (2001)
Asunción Laca Laca Canton	December 21, 1962	342
Chachacomani Canton	August 30, 1957	374
Cosapa Canton	November 11, 1950	918
Turco Canton	July 27, 1951	2,526

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 the volcanic complex of Kimsachata

Nevados de Quimsachata

Nevados de Quimsachata Volcanic Complex is a -long volcanic group on a north-south alignment along the border between Bolivia and Chile, overseeing Chungara Lake...

 with its peaks Umurata, Acotango

Acotango

Volcán Acotango - is the central and highest of a group of stratovolcanoes straddling the border of Bolivia and Chile. The group is known as Nevados de Quimsachata and consists, apart of Acotango, of Volcán Humarata - to its north and Cerro Capurata - on its south.The group lies along a...

 and Capurata in the west of the municipality are making up the natural border of Turco Municipality with Chile.

Flora and Fauna

Part of Cosapa Canton is situated within Sajama National Park

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 lies within the Central Andean dry puna ecoregion.. It features a spectacular Andean landscape, with elevations ranging from . It contains the snowy cone of Nevado...

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

Polylepis tarapacana

Polylepis tarapacana, known in its native habitat by the Spanish common name Queñoa De Altura , is a short tree or shrub which is found in small, scattered groupings along the mountainous borders of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru , growing in soil formed by volcanos...

and to protect species of wild flora and fauna like yareta

Yareta

Yareta is a tiny flowering plant in the family Apiaceae native to South America, occurring in the Puna grasslands of the Andes in Peru, Bolivia, the north of Chile and the west of Argentina at between 3200 and 4500 metres altitude.Yareta is an evergreen perennial being in leaf...

 (Azorella compacta), Andean hairy armadillo

Andean Hairy Armadillo

The Andean Hairy Armadillo is an armadillo present in Bolivia, in the region of the Puna, the departments of Oruro, La Paz, and Cochabamba . Nowark describes it as distributed in Bolivia and northern Chile. A recent publication of Pacheco et al. also locates the species in Peru...

 (Chaetophractus nationi), Darwin's rhea

Darwin's Rhea

Darwin's Rhea, Rhea pennata, also known as the Lesser Rhea, is a large flightless bird, but the smaller of the two extant species of rheas. It is found in the Altiplano and Patagonia in South America.-Description:...

 (Pterocnemia pennata), vicuña

Vicuña

The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...

 (Vicugna vicugna), taruca

Taruca

The Taruca , or North Andean Deer, is a species of deer that ranges across the Andes of Peru and Bolivia and the north of Chile and the northwest of Argentina...

 (Hippocamelus antisensis), Andean mountain cat (Felis jacobita) and cougar or puma (Felis concolor), all of them occurring in the municipality, as well as their habitat

Habitat

* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...

.

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

Common name	Scientific name	Usability
Añawaya	Adesmia spinosissima	forage for llama Llama The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times.... s
Waylla	Stipa obtusa	forage for llamas
Ichu	Stipa ichu	forage, handicraft
Iru ichu	Festuca orthophylla	forage, handicraft
Qanlli kiska	Tetraglochin cristatum	forage
Chillka	Senecio pampae	forage, medical plant
Yarita, yareta	Azorella asorella	medical plant, heating material
Tara tara	Fabiana densa	medical plant, heating material
Ñaka thula	Baccharis incarum	medical plant, heating material
Supu thula	Parastrephya lepidophylla	medical plant, heating material
Ayrampu	Opuntia soehrensii / Tunilla soehrensii	medical plant, forage
Muña muña	Satureja ovata	medical plant, forage
Itapallu	Cajophora horrida	medical plant, forage
Kinwa, queñua	Polylepis tarapacana	forage, heating material, ornamental
Chachakuma	Escallonia resinosa	medical plant
Llapa, pasto bandera	Boutelova simplex	forage
Yawarilla, cebadilla común	Bromus unioloides	forage
Cebadilla de montaña	Agrostis breviculmis	forage
Chiji blanco	Distichlis humilis	forage
Chiji negro	Mulenbergia fastigiata	forage
Garbancillo	Astragalus garbancillo	toxic
Lampaya	Lampaya medicinalis	medical plant, forage, heating material
Qura	Cajophora horrida	forage
K’achu	Anoda triangularis	forage

The people

Most of the people in the municipality are of Aymara descent known as Carangas. They are mostly bilingual. According to census 2001 the main languages spoken are Spanish

Spanish language

Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

 (3,544 speakers) and Aymara

Aymara language

Aymara is an Aymaran language spoken by the Aymara people of the Andes. It is one of only a handful of Native American languages with over three million speakers. Aymara, along with Quechua and Spanish, is an official language of Peru and Bolivia...

 (3,259 speakers).

Transport

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 at the border between Chile and Bolivia.

External links

• Turco Municipality: population data and map (not showing Asunción Laca Laca Canton)