Portugalete (Potosí)
| Portugalete | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 View of Portugalete |
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| Basic data | |||
| Residents (state) | 16 pop. (2012 census) | ||
| height | 4200 m | ||
| Post Code | 05-0802-0400-5008 | ||
| Telephone code | (+591) | ||
| Coordinates | 21 ° 10 ′ S , 66 ° 10 ′ W | ||
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| politics | |||
| Department | Potosí | ||
| province | Sur Chichas Province | ||
| climate | |||
 Climate diagram Tatasi |
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Portugalete (also: Portugaleta and Portugaleti ) is a town in the Potosí department in the highlands of the South American Andean state of Bolivia .
Location in the vicinity
Portugalete is the central place of the canton Portugalete in the district ( Bolivian : Municipio ) Atocha in the province of Sur Chichas . The original mining settlement from the 19th century is now largely a ghost town, as the silver deposits near Portugalete are exhausted, unlike in Tatasi, three kilometers further east, at the other end of the same silver vein. The mining settlement lies at an altitude of 4200 m in the source area of the Río Honda , which joins the Río Tatasi and flows into the Río Tupiza . The village is framed by mountain ridges that reach heights of around 4400 m. The closest village is Tatasi.
geography
Portugalete is located on the Bolivian Altiplano in the northern foothills of the Andean mountain range of the Cordillera de Lípez . The climate of the region is arid and has a clear time-of-day climate, in which the mean daily temperature fluctuations are greater than the temperature fluctuations over the course of the year.
The mean annual temperature of the region is around 6 ° C (see Tatasi climate diagram), with a monthly average of just under 2 ° C in June / July and 8 to 9 ° C from November to March. The annual precipitation is a low 200 mm, with the months April to October being almost free of precipitation. Significant precipitation falls only from November to March, with a maximum of around 50 mm monthly precipitation in January.
Geology and Mineral Finds
Mainly massive miargyrite was mined in the pits of Portugalete , but many other minerals were also found in the deposits of the surrounding rock, consisting of a Dacite stock reaching to a depth of about 4500 m , intruded slate of the Ordovician and tertiary , red sandstone .
In addition to miargyrite, the following other minerals have so far been found in Portugalete: andorite , aramayoite , arsenopyrite , agelite , solid bismuth , bismuthhinite , diasphor , Franckeite , galena , cassiterite , pyrargyite , pyrite , pyrrhotite , quartz , ramdohrite , solid silver , sphalerite , stannite , Stibnite and tetrahedrite .
history
The name " Portugalete " goes back to the town of the same name in northern Spain, it can be assumed that the name was applied by a Basque owner to the Portugalete mine, which existed as early as the 16th century. Portugalete is mentioned in a document in a communication from 1781 by the Spanish commandant José Reseguin to his viceroy in Buenos Aires, as well as in a "CARTA GEOGRÁFICA que contiene los seis Partidos que comprende la Provincia de Potosí" published in 1787.
Transport network
Portugalete is located 340 kilometers by road south of Potosí , the capital of the department of the same name.
From Potosí the trunk road Ruta 5 leads in a south-westerly direction 208 kilometers to Uyuni , from there the Ruta 21 for a further 96 kilometers to Atocha . From Atocha, a country road leads in a southeast direction along the old railway line 23 kilometers to Escoriani . The road then leaves the railway line in a south-westerly direction and after thirteen kilometers reaches Portugalete and Tatasi , and continues from Portugalete to San Vicente and San Pablo de Lípez .
population
The town's already low population has declined even further over the past decade:
| year | Residents | source |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | no data | census |
| 2001 | 26th | census |
| 2012 | 16 | census |
Due to the historical population distribution, a large proportion of the regional population belongs to the Quechua ethnic group . At the last census in 2001, 70 percent of the population in the municipality of Atocha spoke the Quechua language.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Mindat - History of the mining settlement of Portugalete and registered mineral finds (English)
- ↑ Portugalete - Huella Vasca En Bolivia ( Spanish )
- ^ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 1992
- ^ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 2001
- ↑ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 2012 ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2011 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.
Web links
- Relief map of the San Pablo de Lípez region 1: 250,000 (PDF; 4.48 MB)
- Municipio Atocha - General Maps No. 50802
- Sud Chichas - detailed map and population data (PDF; 625 kB) ( Spanish )
- Department Potosí - Social data of the provinces and municipalities (PDF; 5.23 MB) ( Spanish )