Utcubamba (hispanicized spelling) or Utkhupampa (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several Indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, an Indigenous South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language ...

''utkhu''

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

, ''pampa'' a large plain,Diccionario Quechua - Español - Quechua, Academía Mayor de la Lengua Quechua, Gobierno Regional Cusco, Cusco 2005 (Quechua_Spanish dictionary) "cotton plain") is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

in the

Amazonas Region Amazonas may refer to: Places * Amazon River, known as ''Amazonas'' in Spanish and Portuguese *Amazonas (Brazilian state), Brazil *Amazonas (Colombian department), Colombia *Amazonas (Peruvian department), Peru *Amazonas (Venezuelan state), Venez ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

, located at . The name is a historical reference to the past agricultural practice of growing cotton in the Utcubamba Valley. The Utcubamba River originates in the highlands of the central mountain range, then it flows north through the

before joining the

Marañón River The Marañón River (, , ) is the principal or mainstem source of the Amazon River, arising about 160 km (100 miles) to the northeast of Lima, Peru, and flowing northwest across plateaus 3,650 m (12,000 feet) high, it runs through a deeply ero ...

. The semitropical valley of the river is the former site of the

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

Chachapoyas culture The Chachapoyas, also called the "Warriors of the Clouds", were a culture of the Andes living in the cloud forests of the southern part of the Department of Amazonas of present-day Peru. The Inca Empire conquered their civilization shortly be ...

and a popular tourist destination. Its many tributaries support the towns and farms of La Peca, Copallín,

Cajaruro Cajaruro District is one of seven districts of the province Utcubamba in Peru. Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática The Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática (INEI) ("National Institute of Statistics and Informatics") ...

, Shipasbamba, La Florida, and Yambrasbamba. Numerous hydroelectric dams have been built on the Utcubamba River from which a large portion of the Amazon Region derives its electricity. The Utcubamba River also passes through the Utcubamba Valley and is the source of irrigation for most of the cultivation done here. The tropical climate of the valley combined with the availability of water for the farms has helped to make this area one of the biggest producers of crops like maize, rice and banana. File:El Tingo.jpg, The Utcubamba River with the village El Tingo in the background File:Macro y Nuevo Tingo, 2023 (01).jpg, Cable ferry in El Tingo

References

Rivers of Peru Rivers of Amazonas Region {{Peru-river-stub