Coracora is a town in Central Peru, capital of the province Parinacochas in the region Ayacucho.

Toponimia

Coracora is derived from the Quechua word Qura qura which means abundant bushes or place with a lot of grass, referring to a humid place or old swamp.

Location

It is located 800 km from the city of Lima, at an altitude between 3,150 and 3,350 meters above sea level, in what is known as the Quechua ecological region.

Climate

Dry and something cold. The days are usually something mild between +12 and +18 °C and at nights between -5 and 5 °C. The winter season is manifested between June and September with frequent frosts, and the temperate and very rainy summer between December and March.

History

Been founded by the Spanish conquerors toward the XVII century, probably on an Amerindian Andean poblamiento, soon a population of important European origin, will developed in what was the road between Lima and Cuzco. It proves of they are it old such colonial constructions as the beautiful local church of Baroque and Renaissance style, built in white ashlars.

Nevertheless, it was in the XIX century and it leaves of the XX one that Coracora becomes one of the flourishing cities of the Peruvian south mountain, thanks to the export cattle raising that could gather an important number of local managers and European immigrants.

Toward the decade of 1940, Coracora reached a not very common cultural and economic peak for a small city mountain Peruvian, this prosperity began to vary in the decade of 1980 in direct relationship with the social violence of those years in the whole country.

At the moment it has recovered their character of center cattleman, commercial and tourist with important improvements in access roads, infrastructure and services.

References

1. Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática. Banco de Información Digital, Retrieved June 10, 2008