Santiago de Cotagaita facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cotagaita
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Town
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 Santiago de Cotagaita
Location in Bolivia
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| Country |  Bolivia |
| Department | Potosí Department |
| Province | Nor Chichas Province |
| Municipality | Cotagaita Municipality |
| Canton | Cotagaita Canton |
| Elevation | 8,660 ft (2,640 m) |
| Population
(2001)
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| • Total | 1,645 |
| Time zone | UTC-4 (BOT) |
Cotagaita is a small town located in the Potosí Department in Bolivia. It is also known as Santiago de Cotagaita. This town was founded a long time ago, in 1570. In 2009, about 1,904 people lived there.
Contents
Where is Cotagaita?
Cotagaita is an important town in the Cotagaita area. It is the main town of the Nor Chichas Province. Cotagaita is high up, at 2,640 meters (about 8,661 feet) above sea level. It sits by the Río Cotagaita, which flows into the Rio Pilcomayo.
What is the Geography Like?
Cotagaita is in the southern part of Bolivia's Altiplano. The Altiplano is a high, flat area that is very dry. Because it's far from the ocean, the weather is cool and dry. The temperature changes a lot between day and night. However, the temperature doesn't change much throughout the year.
The average temperature each year is about 15 °C (59 °F). It's a bit cooler in June and July (around 11 °C or 52 °F). It gets warmer in December and January (around 18 °C or 64 °F). The town gets only about 300 mm (12 inches) of rain each year. Most of the rain falls from December to February. From April to October, it's very dry, with hardly any rain.
Climate Details
| Climate data for Santiago de Cotagaita (Mosojllajta), elevation 2,620 m (8,600 ft), (1990–2008) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 31.5 (88.7) |
31.3 (88.3) |
31.3 (88.3) |
31.0 (87.8) |
30.6 (87.1) |
27.6 (81.7) |
28.1 (82.6) |
29.6 (85.3) |
31.5 (88.7) |
32.3 (90.1) |
33.1 (91.6) |
32.4 (90.3) |
33.1 (91.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27.5 (81.5) |
27.4 (81.3) |
27.4 (81.3) |
27.9 (82.2) |
26.2 (79.2) |
24.2 (75.6) |
25.1 (77.2) |
26.1 (79.0) |
27.9 (82.2) |
29.0 (84.2) |
29.2 (84.6) |
28.9 (84.0) |
27.2 (81.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 19.5 (67.1) |
19.3 (66.7) |
18.6 (65.5) |
16.1 (61.0) |
12.1 (53.8) |
9.5 (49.1) |
10.0 (50.0) |
12.2 (54.0) |
14.9 (58.8) |
17.9 (64.2) |
19.2 (66.6) |
19.9 (67.8) |
15.8 (60.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 11.5 (52.7) |
11.1 (52.0) |
9.5 (49.1) |
4.2 (39.6) |
−2.9 (26.8) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
−5.0 (23.0) |
−1.5 (29.3) |
2.3 (36.1) |
6.9 (44.4) |
9.2 (48.6) |
10.7 (51.3) |
4.2 (39.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 7.1 (44.8) |
7.2 (45.0) |
4.4 (39.9) |
−2.4 (27.7) |
−8.3 (17.1) |
−10.4 (13.3) |
−10.3 (13.5) |
−7.4 (18.7) |
−4.1 (24.6) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
4.2 (39.6) |
5.4 (41.7) |
−10.4 (13.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 100.4 (3.95) |
60.4 (2.38) |
45.8 (1.80) |
5.3 (0.21) |
0.2 (0.01) |
0.1 (0.00) |
0.0 (0.0) |
1.6 (0.06) |
4.9 (0.19) |
10.9 (0.43) |
13.9 (0.55) |
39.9 (1.57) |
283.4 (11.15) |
| Source: Municipal de Cotagaita | |||||||||||||
How to Get to Cotagaita
Cotagaita is about 240 kilometers (149 miles) south of Potosí. Potosí is the capital city of the Potosí Department.
To get there from Potosí, you take a road called Route 1 for 37 kilometers (23 miles) to a place called Cuchu Ingenio. From there, you turn onto Route 7, which goes south. After about 203 kilometers (126 miles), you will reach Cotagaita. The city of Tupiza is about 83 kilometers (52 miles) further south from Cotagaita. There are no paved roads that go east or west from Cotagaita.
Population Growth
The number of people living in Cotagaita has almost doubled in the last twenty years. Here's how the population has changed:
| Year | Residents | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 1,401 | Census |
| 2001 | 1,645 | Census |
| 2012 | 3,931 | Census |
Most of the people in this area are from the Quechua people. These are native people of South America. About 96.1 percent of the people in the Cotagaita area speak the Quechua language.
Natural Events
On February 6, 2020, there was a lot of rain in the area. This caused the Cotagaita river to flood. Many houses were damaged or destroyed. About one-third of the people living there were affected by the flood.
See also
In Spanish: Santiago de Cotagaita para niños
