Pre-Inca and Inca The valley of Cochabamba has been inhabited for thousands of years due to its fertile productive
soils and mild
climate.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the initial inhabitants were of indigenous ethnic groups:
Tiwanaku, Tupuraya, Mojocoya,
Omereque, and
Inca inhabited the valley at times before the Spanish arrived. The name Cochabamba is a Spanish spelling of the
Quechua compound noun qucha pampa (literally 'lake plain',
phonemically /qutʃa pampa/,
phonetically [ˈqɔtʃa ˈpampa]). Under the
Inca Empire, the area was conquered by
Topa Inca Yupanqui (ruled 1471–1493). His son
Huayna Capac turned Cochabamba into a large production enclave or state farm to serve the Incas. The local population was possibly depleted during the Inca conquest and Huayna Capac imported 14,000 people, called
mitimas, to work the land. The principal crop was
maize which could not be grown in much of the high and cold heartland of the Inca Empire. The maize was stored in 2,400 storehouses (
qollqas) in the hills overlooking the valley or transported by
llama caravan to storage sites in
Paria,
Cusco, of other Inca administrative centres. Most of the maize was probably used to sustain the Inca army during its campaigns.
Spanish and Bolivian 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. The city, called Villa de Oropesa, was founded on 2 August 1571 by order of
Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, Count of Oropesa. It was to be an agricultural production centre to provide food and wood for the mining towns of the relatively nearby
Altiplano region, particularly
Potosí which became one of the largest and richest cities in the world during the 16th and 17th centuries — funding the vast wealth that ultimately made Spain a world power. In fact, anthropologist Jack Weatherford and others have cited the city of Potosí as the birth of capitalism because of the money and materialism it provided Spain. Thus, with the
silver mining industry in Potosí at its height, Cochabamba thrived during its first centuries. However, the city entered a period of decline during the 18th century as mining began to wane. In 1786, King
Charles III of Spain renamed the city the 'loyal and valiant' Villa of Cochabamba. This was done to commend the city's pivotal role in suppressing the indigenous rebellions of 1781 in
Oruro by sending armed forces to Oruro to quell the uprisings. Since the late 19th century it has again been generally successful as an agricultural centre for Bolivia. The 1793 census shows that the city had a population of 22,305 persons. There were 12,980
mestizos, 6,368 Spaniards, 1,182 indigenous natives, 1,600
mulattos and 175 African
slaves. In 1812, Cochabamba was the site of a riot against the Spanish Army. On May 27, thousands of women took up arms against the Spanish. According to historian Nathaniel Aguirre: "From Cochabamba, many men have fled. Not one woman. On the hillside, a great clamour. Cochabamba's plebeian women, at bay, fight from the centre of a circle of fire. Surrounded by five thousand Spaniards, they resist with battered tin guns and a few arquebuses; and they fight to the last yell, whose echoes will resound throughout the long war for independence. Whenever his army weakens, General Manuel Belgrano will shout those words which never fail to restore courage and spark anger. The general will ask his vacillating soldiers: '
Are the women of Cochabamba present?" To celebrate their bravery, Bolivia now marks May 27 as Mother's Day. In 1900, the population was 21,886. Besides a number of schools and charitable institutions, the Catholic diocese has 55 parishes, 80 churches and chapels, and 160 priests.
Water War In 1998, the International Monetary Fund agreed to give Bolivia a loan of $138 million to control inflation and promote economic growth. However, it only agreed to do so on the condition that Bolivia sell "all remaining public enterprises," including its national oil refineries and the local water company, SEMAPA. In 1999, a group of private investors, specifically the Bechtel Corporation with headquarters in San Francisco, California, United States of America, came together under the name of Aguas del Tunari and bought the rights for the privatization of the city's water. In that same year, the World Bank (WB) refused to subsidize the water to help lower the cost for the people. Then in 2000, the people of Cochabamba began to protest as water priced hiked to a 50% increase that the majority could not afford. The Coalition for the Defense of Water and Life, and its leader Oscar Olivera, started a demonstration in
La Plaza 14 de Septiembre also known as
La Plaza Principal. The march was meant to be peaceful, but after two days the police used tear gas against the protestors and injured about 175 people and killed 1 and blinded two. Soon after, news reports were made about the protests and the violence. In January 2007, city dwellers clashed with mostly rural protestors, leaving four dead and over 130 injured. The first democratically elected Prefect of Cochabamba,
Manfred Reyes Villa, 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 had not been resolved. In July 2007, a monument erected by veterans of January's protest movement in honour of those killed and injured by government supporters was destroyed in the middle of the night, reigniting racial conflicts in the city. In August 2008, a nationwide referendum was held. The prefect of Cochabamba, Manfred Reyes Villa, was not confirmed by the voters, and he was removed from the position. ==Climate and geography==