Azuay Province
Azuay (Spanish: Provincia del Azuay ) is a province in Ecuador. It is located in the southern Andean highlands (Sierra ) of the country is 7701 km ² and has about 650,000 inhabitants. In the province of Azuay are mountains of up to 4,500 meters. The capital is Cuenca.
Location and geography
Azuay is located in the southern part of Ecuador's Andean region, which is called Sierra. It is bordered to the north by the province of Cañar, on the east by the province of Morona Santiago, on the south by the provinces of Zamora Chinchipe and Loja and on the west by El Oro and Guayas. In a north-south direction, the Pan-American Highway runs through the province. Major rivers include the Tomebamba, the Tarqui and Paute. Is the largest hydroelectric power plant in the country, the Amaluza Dam (also called " Dam Daniel Palacios " called ) on the latter.
The National Park El Cajas with mountains up to 4,500 meters above sea level is located in the province of Azuay.
Policy
Prefect of the province since 2005 Paúl Carrasco, who belongs to the social-democratic party Izquierda Democrática. His party also provides the majority of the members of the Provincial Parliament ( Consejo Provincial ) and the mayor of the capital city of Cuenca, Hugo Marcelo Cabrera, who was Carrasco's predecessor as prefect.
The governor appointed by the president of Ecuador 's Óscar Larriva, a member of the Socialist Party of Ecuador since January 2007.
History
By the law of the territorial division (Spanish Ley de División territorial ) of Greater Colombia from June 25, 1824 was built on older foundations, the Departamento del Azuay in Cuenca with capital, which comprised three provinces: Azuay with capital Cuenca, Loja Loja and capital Jaén de Bracamoros and Mainas (Amazon provinces ) with capital Jaén. This roughly corresponds to the territory of the modern provinces of Cañar, Loja, El Oro, Morona Santiago and Zamora Chinchipe and the majority of 1904 and after the Peruvian- Ecuadorian War in the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro in 1942 lost to Peru eastern territory.
From the province of Cuenca even the province in 1880 Cañar outsourced.
The name comes from the language of the Azuay Cañari whose settlement focus, the region formed around Cuenca.
Cantons
The province is currently divided into 15 cantons. These are ( in order of establishment ):