Cochabamba - City of Bolivia

Cochabamba is a city in central Bolivia, located in a valley bearing the same name in the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cochabamba Department and is the third largest city in Bolivia with an urban population of 608,276 and a metropolitan population of more than 900,000 people. The name derives from a compound of the Quechua words qhocha, meaning "lake", and pampa, "open plain". Residents of the city and surrounding areas are commonly referred to as Cochabambinos. Cochabamba is known as the "City of Eternal Spring" and "The Garden City" due to its spring-like temperatures year round.

The Cochabamba valley was inhabited for over a thousand years due to its fertile productive soils and climate. Archaeological evidence suggests that the initial valley inhabitants were of various ethnic indigenous groups. Inca, Tupuraya, Mojocoya, Omereque, and Tiwanaku inhabited the valley at various times before the Spanish arrived.

The first Spanish inhabitant of the Valley was Garci Ruiz de Orellana in 1542. He purchased the majority of the land from local tribal chiefs Achata and Consavana through a title registered in 1552 at the Imperial City of Potosí. The price paid was 130 pesos. His residence, known as the House of Mayorazgo, still stands in the Cala Cala neighbourhood of the city.

In January 2007 city dwellers clashed with mostly rural protestors, leaving four dead and over 130 injured. The democratically-elected Prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, a former military aide to the Luis García Meza dictatorship of the 1980s, had allied himself with the leaders of Bolivia's Eastern Departments in a dispute with President Evo Morales over regional autonomy and other political issues. The protestors blockaded the highways, bridges, and main roads, having days earlier set fire to the departmental seat of government, trying to force the resignation of Reyes Villa. Citizens attacked the protestors, breaking the blockade and routing them, while the police did little to stop the violence. Further attempts by the protestors to reinstate the blockade and threaten the government were unsuccessful, but the underlying tensions have not been resolved.

In August 2008, a nationwide referendum was held, and while the president Evo Morales had support in Bolivia, the prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, was not confirmed by the voters of the department.

Currently, Cochabamba is among Bolivia's most economically and socially progressive cities. Commensurate with other large cities in the Andean highlands of South America, Cochabamba is a city of varied contrasts. Its central commercial districts, bounded by Plaza Colón and Plaza 14 de Septiembre, is generally equipped with modern urban amenities, and is where the majority of the city's business and commercial industries are based. An active nightlife is centered around Calle España and also along the broad, tree-lined boulevard, El Prado. In contrast, the remote area adjacent to the Wilstermann International Airport is visibly impoverished, with adobe homes and unpaved roads, which is often the first impression visitors acquire while commuting into the city.

The city is the home of the Universidad Mayor de San Simón, one of the largest and most prominent public universities in Bolivia the Universidad Catolica Boliviana "San Pablo" and several smaller private universities such as the Universidad Privada Boliviana, Universidad del Valle, Universidad de Aquino Bolivia and others.