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Chiquitania ("Chiquitos" or "Gran Chiquitania") is a region oftropical savannas in theSanta Cruz Department in easternBolivia.
"Chiquitos" is the colonial name for what is now essentially five of the six provinces that make up the Chiquitania, a region in Bolivia's Santa Cruz department. "Chiquitos" refers to a region, not a tribe.[citation needed]
Today, the Chiquitania lies within five provinces ofSanta Cruz Department:Ángel Sandoval,Germán Busch,José Miguel de Velasco,Ñuflo de Chávez andChiquitos province.[1][2][3]
One of the many tribes inhabiting Chiquitos were theChiquitano, who still speak theChiquitano language today.[4]
Languages historically spoken in the Chiquitania included:
Today,Camba Spanish is the main vernacularlingua franca.
A notable feature are the 18th-centuryJesuit reductions andFranciscan settlements scattered throughout the region. Six churches still remain in the zone and were selected in 1990 asUNESCOWorld Heritage Sites under the nameJesuit Missions of the Chiquitos.[citation needed]
TheChiquitano dry forest is the ecosystem which connects South America's two largest biomes, the Amazon and theGran Chaco, a dense dry forest of thorn-covered trees and scrub that extends south into Paraguay and Brazil.[5]
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18°00′00″S60°00′00″W / 18.000°S 60.000°W /-18.000; -60.000