Santa Cruz de la Sierra

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Santa Cruz
Coordinates: 17 ° 47 ′  S , 63 ° 12 ′  W
Map: Bolivia
marker
Santa Cruz​
Santa Cruz on the map of Bolivia
Basic data
Country Bolivia
Department Santa Cruz Department
City foundation February 26, 1561
Residents 1,441,406  (2012 census)
City insignia
ESCUDO DE SANTA CRUZ DE LA SIERRA BOLIVIA.svg
Flag of Santa Cruz.svg
Detailed data
surface 325.57 km 2
Population density 4427 inhabitants / km 2
height 437  m
City structure 16 distritos
Waters Río Piraí , Río Grande
Post Code 07-0101-0100-1001
prefix (+591)
Time zone UTC −4
City Presidency Percy Fernández (FAJPT)
Website www.gmsantacruz.gob.bo
Aerial view, left behind the Río Pirai, right in front the runway of El Trompillo airport
Aerial view, left behind the Río Pirai, right in front the runway of El Trompillo airport
Ring road
Ring road

Santa Cruz de la Sierra is the capital of the Santa Cruz Department in southeastern Bolivia , about 550 km east of La Paz . The city had 1,441,406 inhabitants (2012), making it the largest city in the country.

location

It is located at about 437  m within a fertile flatland on the edge of the Cordillera Oriental mountain range , which was previously covered by tropical rainforest , but is now mostly cultivated land . On the western outskirts of the city flows the Río Piraí (also Piray ), east of the city the Río Grande (or: Guapay).

history

September 24th place

Santa Cruz de la Sierra was founded on February 26, 1561 by Ñuflo de Chávez near the present-day town of San José de Chiquitos (about 250 kilometers east of present-day Santa Cruz); Ñuflo de Chávez named the settlement after his homonymous village in Extremadura , Spain , twelve kilometers south of Trujillo . The Spanish place name means Holy Cross of the Mountains .

In 1592 , the city was moved to its current location, as the original location had proven to be unfavorable due to conflicts with the indigenous people. To the south of San José de Chiquitos (which was not established as a Jesuit mission until 1750) the remains of the first settlement can be visited as an archaeological excavation site Santa Cruz la Vieja ("Old Santa Cruz").

For a long time Santa Cruz was a small town characterized by agriculture and cattle breeding, the purpose of which was to supply the highlands with agricultural products. After Bolivia's independence, Santa Cruz became the capital of the newly created department of the same name in 1826, but it remained a relatively remote and difficult to reach small town.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Santa Cruz lost a lot of its importance because with the opening of the railway lines from the highlands to the Pacific coast, the import of agricultural products from abroad became much cheaper than the laborious transport with mules from Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz skyline.

Santa Cruz's economic boom and growth to its present-day importance began after major roads connected it to the rest of the country in the 1950s and developed the region's extensive oil and gas reserves.

Due to the position it has now achieved as the economic center of Bolivia, there are political currents calling for greater independence from the central government in La Paz and regional autonomy .

economy

The main industry in the city is the processing of agricultural products (tropical products such as coffee , sugar cane and tobacco ) that are grown in the surrounding area. Agriculture has been booming in the zone for several years, so that the population of the city and the surrounding area has increased very quickly. The climate at the transition from the Amazon basin to the Gran Chaco is tropical and temperate with a rainy season in summer. Temperatures vary between 20 ° C in winter and up to 40 ° C in summer. In winter, cold southerly winds ( surazos ) with a polar origin can cause sudden cold spells with temperatures of around 10 ° C.

The Santa Cruz region has the second largest natural gas reserves in South America .

Cityscape

City districts ( Distritos )
Modern office building Torres CAINCO on the First Ring

Santa Cruz is considered the most architecturally modern, economically dynamic and prosperous city of Bolivia. It is a university town and the seat of the German school . The city is divided by a main road network of large ring roads ( Anillos ), which run circularly around the center and straight arterial roads ( Radiales ), which run in a star shape to the innermost First Ring ( Primer Anillo ). Most of the important intersections of the access roads and ring roads are designed as large roundabouts with prominent monuments in the middle (which makes orientation easier).

Inside the first ring is the old city center with its checkerboard network of streets, in the center of which is the popular strolling point of September 24th ( Plaza 24 de Septiembre ), around which Santa Cruz has retained the small-town charm of the Spanish colonial era. Most of the buildings are adorned with canopies with columns. In the central square you will find the cathedral of Santa Cruz de la Sierra , the prefecture and the town hall as well as the cultural center as well as popular restaurants and cinemas. A few streets to the north is the small Parque El Arenal ( "sandpit park" ) around a pond with the "Ethno-Folkloric Museum" (customs, clothing and musical instruments of the indigenous people), in the vicinity of which there are also cinemas, restaurants, pubs and discos .

Only since the 1950s has the city grown beyond the colonial center. The new buildings outside the first ring are mostly low and appear uniform and faceless over long stretches with wide, straight streets designed for car traffic. Mainly on the major access and ring roads there are shopping centers and companies that set urban accents with their larger and higher, architecturally partially outstanding buildings. Overall, the cityscape of Santa Cruz outside the colonial center is very reminiscent of the character of North American (sub) cities. There are also extensive industrial areas, particularly in the east and north of the city.

In the north-west, within the third ring, is the upscale and affluent district of Equipetrol, which with its restaurants and cinemas is particularly popular with the upper class as a place to live and to go out. The German school is also located in this quarter.

In the west and northwest of the urban area, the Río Piraí flows through the city, whose banks are popular as a local recreation area.

The closed urban development ends outside the fourth ring. In many places the city continues to grow on its fringes - more or less planned - above all as a result of the (sometimes illegal) settlement construction by rural people. In contrast to other Latin American metropolises, however, there are no distinct slums; the new districts on the outskirts are usually legalized and connected to the urban infrastructure.

The Palacio de Justicia de Santa Cruz de la Sierra is characteristic .

Population development

The population development has made the city into a metropolis and the largest city in Bolivia in just a few decades:

year Residents source
1976 254 682 census
1992 697 278 census
2001 1 113 582 census
2012 1,453,549 census

traffic

Santa Cruz has two airports, the completely rebuilt city airport El Trompillo , located southeast close to the center, and the newer Viru Viru Internacional located 18 kilometers northeast . The railway lines of Ferroviaria Oriental SA connect Santa Cruz in the east with Puerto Quijarro on the border with Brazil and in the south with Yacuiba on the border with Argentina . Santa Cruz is connected to the rest of the country by main roads to Cochabamba , Yacuiba and the Beni Department in the north . The hub of passenger transport is the combined railway and bus station Terminal Bimodal , which opened in 2001 in the east of the city.

Viru Viru International
Viru Viru Airport

For inner-city traffic, there is a dense network of minibuses ( micros ) and regular public transport taxis ( Trufis ) that stop when you call or wave , which leads to congestion , especially in narrow streets in the city center (with many lines). Attempts by the city administration to organize bus traffic by setting up mandatory stops have so far been unsuccessful. In addition, there are often traffic obstructions by traders who (forbidden) hog pavements and sometimes even carriageways with their sales stands, which push pedestrians onto the lanes and narrow the streets. The main part of the traffic volume consists of buses and taxis, the share of private cars in road traffic was very low (by European standards). However, there has been a noticeable increase in the share of private vehicles since 2015.

The relatively narrow streets in the colonial center are mostly one-way streets, the Platz des 24th September, located in the heart of the old town, and the adjacent streets are closed to buses and trucks and some of them are traffic-calmed.

Town twinning

sons and daughters of the town

Climate table

Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Climate diagram
J F. M. A. M. J J A. S. O N D.
 
 
203
 
30th
21st
 
 
134
 
31
21st
 
 
118
 
30th
21st
 
 
118
 
28
19th
 
 
84
 
25th
17th
 
 
73
 
23
15th
 
 
61
 
24
15th
 
 
37
 
28
16
 
 
58
 
29
19th
 
 
108
 
30th
20th
 
 
143
 
31
20th
 
 
185
 
31
21st
Temperature in ° C ,  precipitation in mm
Source: wetterkontor.de
Average monthly temperatures and rainfall for Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Max. Temperature ( ° C ) 30.2 30.5 29.5 27.7 24.9 23.1 23.9 27.7 29.4 29.8 30.7 31.4 O 28.2
Min. Temperature (° C) 21.3 21.3 20.5 18.9 16.5 15.4 14.8 16.3 18.7 19.8 20.3 20.9 O 18.7
Precipitation ( mm ) 203 134 118 118 84 73 61 37 58 108 143 185 Σ 1,322
Humidity ( % ) 79 79 79 78 79 78 73 65 64 67 72 77 O 74.1
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
30.2
21.3
30.5
21.3
29.5
20.5
27.7
18.9
24.9
16.5
23.1
15.4
23.9
14.8
27.7
16.3
29.4
18.7
29.8
19.8
30.7
20.3
31.4
20.9
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
N
i
e
d
e
r
s
c
h
l
a
g 		203
134
118
118
84
73
61
37
58
108
143
185
  Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Source: wetterkontor.de

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 2012
  2. ↑ Klett climate map of South America
  3. ↑ Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Start of the journey through Bolivia. In: katetravels - travel blog: travel, vanlife, surfing and yoga. Retrieved September 6, 2019 (German).
  4. ↑ a b INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 1992
  5. ^ INE - Instituto Nacional de Estadística Bolivia 2001

Web links

Commons : Santa Cruz de la Sierra  - Collection of images, videos and audio files