Copacabana (Bolivia)
| Copacabana | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 View of Copacabana from Cerro Calvario |
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| Basic data | |||
| Residents (state) | 5579 pop. (2012 census) | ||
| rank | Rank 79 | ||
| height | 3857 m | ||
| Post Code | 02-1701-0101-4002 | ||
| Telephone code | (+591) | ||
| Coordinates | 16 ° 10 ′ S , 69 ° 5 ′ W | ||
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| politics | |||
| Department | La Paz | ||
| province | Manco Kapac Province | ||
| climate | |||
 Climate diagram Copacabana |
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Copacabana is a country town in the La Paz department in the South American Andean state of Bolivia and is located on the Copacabana Peninsula directly on the shores of the 3,810 m high Lake Titicaca . In addition, seven other places in Bolivia bear the name Copacabana , two of them also in the department of La Paz. The Bolivian navy has a base here .
Surname
There is a belief that the name comes from the Aymara quta qawana , which means "view of the lake". Deviating from this, the scientist Mario Montaño Aragón has found a completely different origin story in the "Indian Archives" in Seville (Spain): "Kotakawana" is the god of fertility in the early mythology of the Andes , an equivalent of the classical Greek deity Aphrodite or the Roman one Venus . This deity is androgynous and lives in Lake Titicaca. Its court consists of male and female creatures depicted in colonial sculptures. In the Catholic churches they are called "Umantuus", while their counterpart in Western culture is most likely to be the mermaid .
Location in the vicinity
Copacabana is the central place of the Municipio Copacabana and the seat of the administration of the Province of Manco Kapac . The village is located in the southern part of Lake Titicaca at an altitude of 3857 m and is connected to the Peruvian national territory ten kilometers away by a land connection .
geography
Copacabana is located on the Bolivian Altiplano between the Andes mountain ranges of the Cordillera Occidental in the west and the Cordillera Central in the east. The region has a distinctive time-of-day climate in which the mean daily temperature fluctuations are more pronounced than the mean seasonal fluctuations.
The annual average temperature of the region is around 8 ° C (see Copacabana climate diagram), the monthly values fluctuate only insignificantly between almost 6 ° C in June / July and 10 ° C in November / December. The annual precipitation is around 700 mm, the monthly precipitation is between under 10 mm in the months of June and July and 150 mm in January and February.
Transport network
Copacabana is located at a distance of 147 kilometers by road northwest of La Paz , the capital of the department of the same name.
From La Paz, the paved national road Ruta 2 leads in a north-westerly direction via Huarina to San Pablo de Tiquina on Lake Titicaca, where the road from Tiquina is crossed by boats. After another forty kilometers, Ruta 2 reaches Copacabana and then continues south to Khasani on the Peruvian border.
Copacabana has had an airport since 2018, but no commercial flights are yet available (as of August 2018).
There is a direct bus route from Puno in Peru via Copacabana to La Paz . In addition, Copacabana is the starting point for crossings to Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna on Lake Titicaca.
population
The population of the place has increased by about two thirds in the past two decades:
| year | Residents | source |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 3,379 | census |
| 2001 | 4 161 | census |
| 2012 | 5 579 | census |
Due to the historical population development, the region has a high proportion of Aymara population, in the municipality of Copacabana 94.3 percent of the population speak Aymara .
tourism
Due to its location and tourist infrastructure, Copacabana on Lake Titicaca is popular with individual tourists who are traveling on the southern route through Peru or in the Bolivian highlands. There is a fascinating view of the city and the lake from the nearby Cerro Calvario , the 3,966 m high local mountain of Copacabana. This path is also popular among pilgrims, as it shows the suffering of Jesus up to the crucifixion on 14 stations.
The place is considered the most important place of pilgrimage in Bolivia. There in the basilica of Copacabana is the one meter high figure of the "Dark Virgin" or Virgen Morena , also known as the Virgen de Copacabana . The figure was carved from dark wood in 1576 by Francisco Tito Yupanqui , a grandson of the Inca ruler Huayna Cápac , and has a crown made of pure gold. The associated basilica in the Moorish style was only built in 1820. The Virgin Mary attributed numerous miracles and healings, it is considered the patron saint revered of Lake Titicaca. Families from all over Bolivia and neighboring Peru come here every weekend and have their cars blessed. The blessing is given by both a monk and a shaman .
Individual evidence
- ↑ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 1992 ( Memento of the original from April 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 2001 ( Memento of the original dated February 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 2012 ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ INE social data 2001 ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 12.2 MB)
Web links
- Copacabana at Lake Titicaca - Information and pictures about Copacabana and Lake Titicaca
- Copacabana picture gallery - pictures and short texts from Copacabana and northern Bolivia
- Relief map of the Copacabana region 1: 250,000 (PDF; 608 kB)
- Municipio Copacabana - detailed map and population data (PDF; 331 kB) ( Spanish )
- Municipio Collana - General Maps No. 21701
- Department of La Paz - social data of the municipalities (PDF 11.63 MB) ( Spanish )