La Rinconada, Peru
| La Rinconada | |||
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View of the town
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 La Rinconada
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| Coordinates: 14°37′57″S 69°26′45″W / 14.63250°S 69.44583°WCoordinates: 14°37′57″S 69°26′45″W / 14.63250°S 69.44583°W | |||
| Country |
 Peru
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| Region | Puno | ||
| Province | San Antonio de Putina | ||
| District | Ananea | ||
| Elevation | 5,100 m (16,700 ft) | ||
| Population (2012) | |||
| • Total | 50,000 | ||
La Rinconada is a town in the Peruvian Andes located near a gold mine. At 5,100 m above sea level, it is the highest permanent settlement in the world.
The town is located in the Ananea District, San Antonio de Putina Province. It lies at a height of 5,100 m (16,700 feet) above sea level. It sits at the foot of La Bella Durmiente, "The Sleeping Beauty" glacier. Some successful miners in La Rinconada have homes in Juliaca which has municipal services and is at a lower altitude.
Located high in the Andes, La Rinconada has an alpine/tundra climate (ET, according to the Köppen climate classification) with no month having average temperatures even close to the 10°C threshold that would permit tree growth and a subtropical highland classification for the city. Far above the tree line, La Rinconada is unique in its high elevation and population with the highest city of comparable population (Cerro de Pasco) being located over 700m closer to sea level. Due to the extreme elevation of the town climate conditions more closely resembles that of west coast Greenland than anything located only 14 degrees from the equator. The town has wet/rainy 'summers' and dry winters with a large diurnal variation seeing cool to cold days and freezing night time temperatures throughout the year, with common snowfalls. The average annual temperature in La Rinconada is 1.2 °C and the average annual rainfall is 707 mm.
Between the years of 2001 and 2009, the population increased to 30,000 people from just a small prospector camp because the price of gold rose 235% in the same time.
The economy is mainly based on the production of gold from nearby gold mines, many artisanal.
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Wikipedia