Huancavelica

Huancavelica, city, central Peru. It is located about 140 miles (225 km) southeast of Lima, in the inter-Andean Huancavelica River valley at an elevation of 12,060 feet (3,676 m). Huancavelica was established as a mining settlement in 1563 after the local discovery of mercury, which was essential in extracting the silver from native ores. Founded as Villa Rica de Oropesa (“Rich Town of Oropesa”) in 1572, it was almost immediately called Huancavelica—a Spanish corruption of the Quechua name for the site, meaning “stone idol”—and was officially declared a city with its present name in 1581. The city remained an important mercury-mining centre until the mid-19th century. The U.S. Agency for International Development and Buenaventura Mining, the largest mining company in Peru, set up an antipoverty support centre in Huancavelica in 2002 to stimulate employment and enhance community development. Most inhabitants are Quechua-speaking and practice subsistence agriculture, cultivating potatoes and barley. Leather and alpaca products are traded in local markets. A narrow-gauge railway running south from Huancayo makes Huancavelica the terminus of a 404-mile (650-kilometre) intermontane rail line from Callao (the port of Lima). Pop. (2005) 33,144.