IQUITOS, The heart of the Amazon region
Iquitos is a city submerged in the Peruvian Amazon
Region, which seen from the air, spreads out like a huge, green
seemingly endless cloak. Liked to the world only by air and
by the Amazon River, Iquitos is the capital of Loreto, the largest
department of Peru. It is located 3,646 km from the Atlantic
Ocean and 1,859 km from Lima, the capital of Peru. Seemingly
far away, this city and its surroundings constitute one of the
most important tourist attractions in the area.
The Jesuits founded Iquitos in 1757 under the name of San
Pablo de los Napeanos. It was the first port on the Amazon
River. As in the case of many other towns founded in the Region
during the 18th Century, Iquitos was the point from which
evangelists began preaching their religion to the native people
of the area.
Until approximately 1870, the city's population was less than
2,000 inhabitants. However, in only 10 years, Iquitos exceeded
10,000 inhabitants. In 1880, hundreds of people migrated to
this place, attracted by the rubber boom. At the beginning
of the 20th century, the city and river port became well known
in international markets, which fostered the incorporation
of a large number of foreign companies, as well as the presence
of Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese and Germans. The opulence
of those days is still noticeable in some of the city's buildings.
In 1971, oil exploitation was begun together with several
projects for the use of forest resources. Surrounded by the
best preserved forests due to its geographic isolation, the
Iquitos Region shows features inherent to the Amazon eco-system
and native groups which, in contact with civilization, live
mainly on the banks of the Amazon, Napo, Ucayali, Marañón
and Nanay Rivers.
This part of the Peruvian Amazon Region is home to one of
the largest hydrographic system in the world, the Amazon Basin,
which begins in the Andes Mountain Range (Arequipa) where
the Amazon River is born, the river with the largest volume
of water in the world. It is formed by the confluence of the
Ucayali and Marañón Rivers, close to the City
of Nauta.
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