Arequipa is the capital of the Peruvian area of the even name, and the second most populated city country. The city is located at an altitude of 2  380 meters, in the the Peruvian Andes.

Two etymologies exist to explain its name: the current one ensures that the word arequipa comes from the Aymara ari (mountain) + kipa (rental) and means about close to the mountain ; another interpretation would be that the word comes from the sentence Quechua Ari, quepay which means “Here, remain”.

In the arid province of Arequipa, the Peruvian authorities undertook to make fertile of the thousands of hectares afflicted by overcoming the water which descends Andes cordillera.

History

The archaeological lucky finds indicate that the fertile valley where Arequipa was occupied between 5000 and 6000 before JC.

At the 15th century the area, then occupied by the Amerindians will aymara, was conquered by the INCA S and was used as a basis important of supply of agrarian products for the empire.

The modern city was founded the August 15th 1540 by Garcí Manuel of Carbajal, an emissary of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro. One year later, Charles V of Spain the pupil to the row of city and confers the weapons to him which it preserves always today. The arrival of the Spanish influence left many relics and colonial architecture, which recalls to the visitor the colonial past of this city, when it was populated of the whole of the territory of the Peru.

The Indians build villages in the Peruvian desert

To 1.500 m, between Arequipa and the peaceful coast, extends a high desert with the landscape of the Saharan type. White sand takes with the sun a snow-covered aspect. Families of Indians in search of a cultivable zone settled there because of the proximity of a stopping which creates a new means of irrigation of the valleys.

External bonds

• provincial Municipality of Arequipa