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Amazonas is a region (called a "Departamento" in Spanish which is roughly equivalent to a province or state) in northern Peru. It is bordered by Ecuador on the north and west, the Cajamarca Region on the west, the La Libertad Region on the south and the Loreto and San Martín regions on the east. Its capital is the city of Chachapoyas.
History
The archaeological centers lost in the rain forest emerge as a testimony of presence of humans in the area since remote times. Most of the Pre-Hispanic cultures that became prosperous in the area are still a mystery due to the lack of research. The Kuélap's Fortress is the most representative monument of this age. It is a huge construction of military architecture which shows the high level of civilization achieved by the people of this region. The Chachapoyas culture developed during the Inca age and represented a strong opposition to the Incan conquest by repelling the first Inca attempts to incorporate the region to their empire. The region's capital, Chachapoyas, was founded in 1538 by Alonso de Alvarado. During the same year, its first church was built and later, the Santa Ana, San Lázaro and Señor de Burgos churches were built. In April 1821, the city's inhabitants expelled the Spaniards and ignored their authority, following the steps taken by the San Martín liberating army. The area of the Amazonas Region was strongly linked to the independence thoughts and actions. The cleric Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza was its most outstanding representative, encouraging the patriots of this era and signing the National Act of Independence. The Cordillera del Condor, located in this region, was the scenery of the war between Peru and Ecuador in 1981. The ConquestThe natives of the region received in a jubilant and cordial way to the first Spanish who came into Amazonas. They knew about their arrival in Peru by the news that they had received from Cajamarca. In this city it had been said to Francisco Pizarro that Chachapoyas was an excellent agricultural region which settlers possessed a lot of gold and silver. The big conqueror did not lose time and formed immediately an expedition of 20 men, putting the distinguished captain Alonso de Alvarado in charge of it, with an express indication: founding a Christian city. The chroniclers say that, when the Spanish arrived to the region, the Chachapoyas people gave big parties in their honor and gave them many rich gifts willingly, also numerous examples of appreciation, including showing some interest to become Christians. Pizarro decided to send a second expedition, this time with instructions to take possession of the zone, delivering Alvarado a provision so he would be able to found the city of San Juan de la Frontera de los Chachapoyas. But this time Pizarro's envoy met the bellicose resistance of a curaca called Huamán, whom they had to defeat before coming to their destination, where they founded the mentioned city on September 5, 1538. Alvarado had chosen a place called Jalca, which apparently did not have the demanded conditions. This was the reason why the location of the flaming city was changed several times. According to the papers of the epoch, the last time that a change was made was in 1544, but it is unknown when the city was established in its current place. The same day of Chachapoyas' foundation, the members of the first cabildo were elected, turning out to be designated the councillors Gómez de Alvarado, Alonso de Chávez, Gonzalo de Trujillo, Gonzalo de Guzmán, Luis Valera (father of the chronicler Blas Valera), Pedro Romero, Bernardino de Anaya and Francisco de Fuentes. According to the Spanish custom, the layout of the city was made by means of rectilinear design streets. The ColonyA few years after its foundation, the prosperity of the region began to demonstrate itself in magnificent constructions in the city of Chachapoyas, with big courts, wide lounges and architectural characteristics adapted to the zone. The colonial aspect of Chachapoyas stays almost intact until now, and it is one of the most attractive characteristics of this old city. A refined religious feeling was one of the characteristics that distinguished the settlers of this department during the colony. In the same year of the foundation of Chachapoyas, the first church was built. Its first priest was Hernando Gutiérrez Palacios. Later the churches of Santa Ana, San Lázaro and Señor de Burgos were built. Three religious convents were also established: San Francisco, La Merced and that of the betlehemitas. The majority of the persons who settled in Chachapoyas from the time of its foundation were people with nobility, but poor. They were living in a modest and worthily way and they devoted themselves to agriculture and mining. Many settlers achieved a loose economic position, keeping, nevertheless, the austerity of the customs that was one of the highlight points of Chachapoyas' social life. With time the settlers were spreading to other zones of the region, such as Luya, city that was established in 1569 by the governor Lope García de Castro, ratified later in its administrative organization by the viceroy Francisco de Toledo. There it bloomed an agriculture of varied production and the upbringing of dairy, sheep and equine cattle. In one of his pastoral visits, Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo visited the principal populations of this department in this epoch. IndependenceIn an active and enthusiastic way, the inhabitants of Chachapoyas incorporated themselves to the cause of freedom. In April 1821, helping the action of San Martin's liberating army, they ignored the Spanish authorities, exiling the subdelegate Francisco Baquedano and the bishop of Maynas Hipólito Sánchez, who were fighting openly against the independence. Between the patriots that were born in Amazonas, history remembers:
Facing this act of rebellion, the military chief of Moyobamba, colonel José Matos, organized an army of 600 men, who met the patriots on June 6, 1821 in Higos Urco pampa. The organization and discipline of the Spanish could not do anything in front of the heroism of the patriots who without training, military knowledge or discipline, faced the realistas determined to give their lives in defense of the proclaimed freedom. A woman from Amazonas is represented in this battle by Matea Rimachi that has gone on to posterity as the heroine of Higos Urco. Between the important men that Amazonas gave to Peru in this decisive epoch for nationality, figures Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza, the professor, politician, philosopher and jurist who formed a generation of patriots. Rodríguez of Mendoza signed the record of national independence in Lima. He was the rector of the Convictorio de San Carlos, member of the Sociedad Amantes del País (Lovers of the Country Society), founder and collaborator of the newspaper Mercurio Peruano, deputy of the Spanish Parliament and congressman of the first Constituent Congress, in which the majority of its members were his disciples. The RepublicThe department of Amazonas was created by a law issued by the government of the marshal Agustín Gamarra, promulgated on November 21, 1832. The initiative belonged to two illustrious children of Chachapoyas: Modesto de la Vega and José Braulio de Camporredondo. Camporredondo was in charge of the presidency of the republic, in absence of the marshall Gamarra. The same law contained a series of norms to promote the economic development of the new department including exonerations of rights in its commerce with Ecuador or Brazil. In accordance with this law, the regions of Pataz, Chachapoyas and Maynas will stay inside the limits of the Amazonas Region.
Salaverry tried futilely to annul the creation of this department that, later, according to diverse demarcating dispositions was diminishing in its area. Most of its territory was dismembered in 1866, when the department of Loreto was created. The creation of its current provinces was realized in the following dates:
The colonial splendour of Chachapoyas, almost a complete city, was disappearing during the Republic because it had been imposed in the country new means of transport that were turning it in a cloistered and outlying city from the rest of the country. Chachapoyas remained this way during more than one century in the Republic. Without highways of access, the route had to be done on horse, in long and painful caravans from the coast, or by the rivers from the region of the east. Such situation continue until 1960, date in which the highway arrived to Chachapoyas, although it had been already preceded by air transport. Later, during the last government of the doctor Manuel Prado, there was constructed and inaugurated the highway that joins Chachapoyas with the big route of penetration Olmos-Marañon. With this, Amazonas was put in direct communication with Lima and the rest of the Republic. Research Tips
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