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Zaruma

South America

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Zaruma is a town in El Oro Province in southern Ecuador, founded on 8 December 1595 by Captain Damian Meneses under orders from the Viceroy of Peru. It became prominent for its rich gold deposits, from which Spain extracted an estimated 2,700 tonnes of gold between 1536 and 1820. Known for its republic-era architecture, Zaruma was designated a cultural heritage site by Ecuador in 1990, has been a UNESCO World Heritage candidate since 1998, and in 2019 became one of the first five towns named a Pueblo Magico by Ecuador's Ministry of Tourism. The 2022 census recorded a population of 10,005.

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