Santa Cruz

Capital of Santa Cruz department in central Bolivia, 550 km/342 mi southeast of La Paz; the second-largest city in the country; population (2001) 1,113,600. The surrounding area is fertile, producing sugar cane, soybeans, cotton, rice, maize, and coffee. It is a hub of transport and trade. Newly discovered oil and natural gas has led to the city's rapid development. It was founded by the Spaniard Nuflo de Chaves in 1561 as Santa Cruz de la Sierra. There is a university (founded 1880), and a cathedral.

Santa Cruz

City and administrative headquarters of Santa Cruz County, west-central California, USA; population (2000) 54,600. It is situated at the northern end of Monterey Bay, to the southwest of San Jose, and 100 km/60 mi south of San Francisco. Industries include tourism, food processing (citrus fruit, cattle), fishing, electronics, and petroleum. A University of California campus, opened in 1965, has brought a renaissance of cultural activity to this popular resort.

Founded in 1791 as a mission (destroyed by an 1859 earthquake), it became an early supply port for whalers, and by 1840 had a prosperous redwood lumbering industry. From the 1860s it was an increasingly popular resort, drawing San Franciscans to its beaches and famous boardwalk. Many Spanish colonial-style buildings are still standing.

Santa Cruz

Largest department in Bolivia, in the east of the country; area 382,320 sq km/147,613 sq mi; population (2000 est) 1,812,522. The capital is Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Together with the departments of Pando and Beni, Santa Cruz forms the eastern tropical lowland region of Bolivia, which comprises about 70% of the country's total area. Agriculturally, Santa Cruz is very diverse; its fertile soil supports the cultivation of sugar cane, soya, rice, coffee, and citrus fruits. Oil and natural gas deposits are extensively mined, and there is also mining of iron-ore and magnesium.

Santa Cruz consists of vast plains watered by innumerable slow-moving rivers and streams: the Río Grande, Río Piray, Río San Martín, and Río Paragua, of which only short sections are navigable. Owing to its isolation, the department (the largest in Bolivia) was left undeveloped for a long time; however, its mineral resources (the nation's richest) are now being rapidly exploited. A 250 km/155 mi-long road now joins the capital with Cochabamba. A railway line runs east 648 km/403 mi to the Brazilian town of Corumbá, connecting the Bolivian and Brazilian systems, while another runs south 530 km/329 mi to Yacuiba, where it joins with the Argentine system.

There are a number of restored 17th- and 18th-century Jesuit missions in the department, to the east of the capital. In recent times, Japanese settlers and Mennonite settlers from the USA and Canada have established farming communities in the region.

Santa Cruz

Province in southern Argentina, lying between the Atlantic and the Andes, and forming the southernmost part of Patagonia; area 243,943 sq km/94,186 sq mi; population (1996) 159,839. The capital is Río Gallegos. Sheep farming and trading in their wool are the chief economic activities in this desolate, sparsely populated, and windswept region. Argentina's largest coalfield is at Río Turbio, with an annual production of some 250,000 tonnes, and reserves estimated at some 450 million tonnes.

Santa Cruz is crossed by several rivers which flow into the Atlantic, and which drain a number of large lakes in the west (notably Lago Viedma and Lago Argentino). Lakes Buenos Aires, San Martín, and Pueyrredón are all shared with Chile. In this far western region is situated the ‘Parque Nacional de Los Glaciares’, containing spectacular glacial formations. In the north is the Cuera de las Manos, caves containing 10,000-year-old paintings of animals and human hands.

Santa Cruz

Port in southern Argentina, in the province of Santa Cruz, 175 km/109 mi northeast of Río Gallegos; population (1996) 2,989. Santa Cruz is situated on the estuary of the River Santa Cruz, 16 km/10 mi from the Atlantic Ocean. Its main exports are sheep, mutton, and wool. The town is served by an airport.

Santa Cruz

Alternative form of St Croix, the largest of the US Virgin Islands.