Villa Rica District

Villa Rica District is one of eight districts of Oxapampa Province in Pasco Department, Peru. The district has an area of 896 square kilometres (346 sq mi) and a population of 18,673 in 2017. The capital of the district is the town of Villa Rica which had a population of 11,900 in 2017. The district is the location of the Cerro de la Sal or Salt Mountain, an important gathering place for indigenous people of the region and a center of Franciscan missionary activity in the 17th and 18th centuries. The town was founded in 1928 by settlers of German and Austrian origin from the town of Pozuzo.

The District of Villa Rica is on the eastern slopes of the Andes mountains in an area of abundant rainfall and mild temperatures. It is located in the ecological zone of the Peruvian Yungas, or Ceja de Selva ("eyebrow of the jungle"), the transition zone between the low jungles of the Amazon Basin and the Andes highlands. Elevations in the district range from about 800 metres (2,600 ft) to about 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). Where not cleared for agriculture, the vegetation is tropical and sub-tropical forests.