Ñuflo de ChávezÑuflo de Chaves (1518-1568) was a Spanish conquistador. He is best known for founding the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. is one of the fifteen provinces of the Bolivian Santa Cruz Department and is situated in the northern and central parts of the department. The name of the province honors the conquistador Ñuflo de Chaves (1518–1556) who founded the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Its capital is Concepción. The province was created by law of September 16, 1915, during the presidency of Ismael Montes. Originally it was part of the Chiquitos Province.Official site of Ñuflo de Chávez Province (Spanish)
Location Ñuflo de Chávez Province is located between 13° 45' and 17° 30' South and between 61° 30' and 63° 25' West. It extends over a length of 520 km from north to south, and up to 250 km from west to east.
The province is situated in the Bolivian lowlands and borders Beni Department in the north, Guarayos Province in the north-west, Obispo Santistevan Province and Ignacio Warnes Province in the south-west, Andrés Ibáñez Province and Chiquitos Province in the south, and José Miguel de Velasco Province in the east.
Division The province comprises six municipalities which are further subdivided into cantons:
Section Municipality Inhabitants (2001) Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Bolivia (Spanish) Seat Inhabitants (2001) 1st Concepción Municipality 14,522 Concepción 5,586 2nd San Javier Municipality (also San Xavier Municipality) 11,316 San Javier 5,538 3rd San Ramón Municipality 5,660 San Ramón 4,746 4th San Julián Municipality 56,206 San Julián 6,585 5th San Antonio de Lomerío Municipality 6,293 San Antonio de Lomerío 1,313 6th Cuatro Cañadas Municipality 17, 574 Cuatro Cañadas 4,571
Demographics The inhabitants of the Ñuflo de Chávez Province are mainly Chiquitos whose culture roots in the fusion of their ancient customs and the influence of the Jesuit missionaries. During the 2001 census the ethnic composition of the population was as follows:obd.descentralizacion.gov.bo / Observatorio Bolivia Democrático (inactive site)
Ethnic group Concepción Municipality (%) San Javier Municipality (%) San Ramón Municipality (%) San Julián Municipality (%) San Antonio de Lomerío Municipality (%) Cuatro Cañadas Municipality (%)Quechua4.23.613.549.61.536.4Aymara1.21.42.32.20.22.2Guaraní, Chiquitos or Moxos67.868.431.18.687.07.8Not indigenous 25.124.752.538.110.751.3Other indigenous groups1.81.90.71.50.72.4
The population of the province has increased by more than 100% over the recent two decades: 1992: 61,008 inhabitants (census) 2001: 93,997 inhabitants (census) 2005: 111,813 inhabitants (est.)Instituto Nacional de Estadística 2024: 129,674 inhabitants (census)
48.3% of the population are younger than 15 years old. (1992)
The literacy rate of the province is 94.3%. (2012)
87.3% of the population have no access to electricity, 50.4% have no sanitary facilities. (1992)
79.5% of the population are Catholics, 17.2% are Protestants. (1992)
In 1992 91.6% of the population spoke Spanish, 30.1% Quechua, 2.0% Aymara and 1.2 spoke Guaraní. During the 2001 census Spanish was spoken by 79,377 people, Quechua by 20,763, Aymara by 1,362, Guarani by 1,002, other native languages by 3,619 and foreign languages by 5,617 people. The following table shows the number of speakers per municipality:
Language Concepción Municipality (%) San Javier Municipality (%) San Ramón Municipality (%) San Julián Municipality (%) San Antonio de Lomerío Municipality (%) Cuatro Cañadas Municipality (%)Quechua36324746814,855464,782Aymara120104758047252Guaraní53142256821486Another native 901128291382.221202Spanish13,37010,4145,27832,1825.48012.637Foreign 134102841,2091993,864Only native13831462,430162628Native and Spanish1,26455952213,4692,1184,558Only Spanish 12,1199,8654,76919,4053,47411,018
The latest census in Bolivia (2024) counted 129,674 people (118,314, aged 4 and over) in the province, out of which 8,057 were German-speaking Mennonites aged 4 and over or 6.8% of the entire population.
Economy The principal economic activities are devoted to animal husbandry, dairy farming, forestry and tourism. Another important occupation is handicraft like the fabrication of hammocks, textiles, hats, bags and baskets.
Environment Increased agricultural use of the land has led to deforestation in the area.
Gallery
See also Jesuit Missions of Chiquitos
References
External links Population data (Spanish) Social data (Spanish) Mancomunidad de Municipios Chiquitanos (Spanish)