Bolivian woman in national clothing near Oruro, Bolivia - stock photo

Bolivian woman in national clothing near Oruro. Oruro is a city in Bolivia with a population of over 250,000 (2010), located about equidistant between La Paz and Sucre at approximately 3710 meters above sea level. It is the capital of the department of Oruro. The city was first founded on November 1, 1606 by Don Manuel Castro de Padilla. as a silver mining center in the Urus region. At the time, it was named Real Villa de San Felipe de Austria after the Spanish monarch, Philip III. It was eventually abandoned as the silver mines became exhausted. Oruro was reestablished in the late nineteenth century, as a tin mining center. For a time, the La Salvadora tin mine was the most important source of tin in the world. Gradually, this resource was also exhausted, and Oruro again went into a decline. The city does manage, however, to attract tourists to its carnival, the Carnaval de Oruro, considered one of the great folkloric events in South America for its masked "devil dances".