Loja Province

Loja Province is one of 24 provinces in Ecuador and shares its southern border on the west by El Oro Province, on the north by El Azuay, and on the east by Zamora-Chinchipe. Founded on its present site in 1548 by Captain Alonso de Mercadillo (Spanish), the site had been previously moved and rebuilt from La Toma due to earthquakes. It also is named as "Cuxibamba Valley", from the Quichua language, which means the "Smily Valley".OverviewLoja is located in a high Andean valley at an elevation of 7,300 feet (2,225 m). It had a population of 448,966 inhabitants at the 2010 census. It is recognized as being a friendly and pleasant city. This was demonstrated when Loja, both the provincial capital and one of the oldest cities in Ecuador, won a community involvement award in 2001 in recognition of the community's ongoing effort to support and to protect the environment.Surrounded by two rivers, the Zamora and Malacatos, Loja has a variety of microclimates. This unique position results in numerous ecological zones. Based between the humid Amazon basin and the coastal sechura desert in Peru the environment consists of páramo, cloud forest and jungle landscapes. 86% of the province is covered by hills or mountains.