Latacunga


Latacunga

(lätäko͞ong`gä), city (1990 pop. 39,882), capital of Cotopaxi prov., N central Ecuador. A town of the ancient Incas, it is in a high mountain basin between the E and W Andean cordilleras. It lies within an agricultural and livestock region. Manufactures include ceramics, ammunition, and furniture. Not far from Cotopaxi volcano, the city has suffered severe earthquakes.

Latacunga

 

a city in Ecuador in the Andes Mountains, south of the volcano Cotopaxi, on the Pan American Highway; administrative center of Cotopaxi Province. Population, 17,300 (1970).

Latacunga is the commercial center for a cattle-raising and agricultural (cereal crops) region. The city also mills flour and produces butter and other dairy products. There is an airport. Latacunga, founded in 1534, is a tourist center.