| 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. |
