Oruro
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Oruro
Oruro (ōro͞oˈrō), city (1992 pop. 183,422), capital of Oruro dept., W Bolivia. It is Bolivia's railroad center. Oruro's economy is based on exploitation of the region's tin, tungsten, and copper. Because of the altitude (12,146 ft/3,702 m), agriculture is almost nonexistent. Oruro was founded in 1595 to exploit the rich silver deposits nearby. When silver production declined in the 19th cent., it became almost a ghost town. It expanded with the development of other mineral resources.
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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Oruro
a city in southwestern Bolivia. Located in the Andes at an elevation of 3,700 m. Capital of Oruro department. Population, 119,700 (1970).
Oruro is a railroad and highway junction and is linked by rail with the Chilean ports of Antofagasta and Arica. A major center for the mining industry and nonferrous metallurgy, it has small food-processing and light-industry enterprises, as well as railroad repair shops. Tin, tungsten, and copper are mined in the area, and there is a plant producing refined tin in the nearby city of Vinto. Oruro also has a university.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Oruro
a city in W Bolivia: a former silver-mining centre; university (1892); tin, copper, and tungsten. Pop.: 206 000 (2005 est.)
Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005