Cochabamba
a central department of Bolivia, with offshoots of the Eastern Cordilleras, and extensive plateaus. The climate is equable and healthy, and though poor in metals, its fertile valleys render it the richest as well as the most picturesque district of the republic. Agriculture and cattle-raising are the chief occupations. Area, 21,430 square miles; pop. about 730,000. The capital, Cochabamba (3,396 feet above the sea), on a tributary of the Guapay, was founded in 1565, as Ciudad de Oropesa.