Apurímac () is a department of Peru. Located in the southern-central part of the country, it is bordered on the east by Cuzco, on the west by Ayacucho, and on the south by the Arequipa and Ayacucho. It is administered by a regional government and its capital city is Abancay.
Etymology
The department's name originates from the Quechua language and means "where the gods speak" in reference to the many mountains of the region, which are gods in the Andean religion and seem to be talking to one another.
Political division
thumb|Map of provinces
The region is divided into 7 provinces (provincias, singular: provincia), which are composed of 80 districts (distritos, singular: distrito). The provinces, with their capitals in parentheses, are:
- Abancay (Abancay)
- Andahuaylas (Andahuaylas)
- Antabamba (Antabamba)
- Aymaraes (Chalhuanca)
- Chincheros (Chincheros)
- Cotabambas (Tambobamba)
- Grau (Chuquibambilla)
Demographics
Languages
According to the 2007 Peru Census, the first language learned by most of the residents was Quechua (70.58%) followed by Spanish (29.01%). The Quechua varieties spoken in Apurímac are Cusco Quechua and Chanka Quechua. The following table shows the results concerning the language learnt first in the Apurímac Region by province:
{|class="wikitable" border="1" style="width:35%;" border="1"
|-bgcolor=#EFEFEF
! Province
! Quechua
! Aymara
! Asháninka
! Another native language
! Spanish
! Foreign language
! Deaf or mute
! Total
|-
|Abancay
|align="right" |43,425
|align="right" |189
|align="right" |15
|align="right" |32
|align="right" |46,510
|align="right" |41
|align="right" |152
|align="right" |90,364
|-
|Andahuaylas
|align="right" |98,774
|align="right" |249
|align="right" |25
|align="right" |22
|align="right" |35,043
|align="right" |12
|align="right" |190
|align="right" |134,315
|-
|Antabamba
|align="right" |8,771
|align="right" |32
|align="right" |3
|align="right" |9
|align="right" |2,532
|align="right" |6
|align="right" |20
|align="right" |11,373
|-
|Aymaraes
|align="right" |19,754
|align="right" |42
|align="right" |4
|align="right" |3
|align="right" |7,953
|align="right" |1
|align="right" |44
|align="right" |27,801
|-
|Cotabambas
|align="right" |38,091
|align="right" |70
|align="right" |7
|align="right" |9
|align="right" |4,034
|align="right" |2
|align="right" |28
|align="right" |42,241
|-
|Chincheros
|align="right" |38,563
|align="right" |67
|align="right" |8
|align="right" |6
|align="right" |9,154
|align="right" |1
|align="right" |160
|align="right" |47,959
|-
|Grau
|align="right" |18,958
|align="right" |52
|align="right" |2
|align="right" |12
|align="right" |4,239
|align="right" |6
|align="right" |55
|align="right" |23,324
|-
|Total
|align="right" |266,336
|align="right" |701
|align="right" |64
|align="right" |93
|align="right" |109,465
|align="right" |69
|align="right" |649
|align="right" |377,377
|-
|%
|align="right" |70.58
|align="right" |0.19
|align="right" |0.02
|align="right" |0.02
|align="right" |29.01
|align="right" |0.02
|align="right" |0.17
|align="right" |100.00
|-
|}
Ethnicity
Over 80% of the population identifies as Quechua as of 2017.
{| class="wikitable"
|+Ethnicity in Apurímac