Ancash (; ) is a department and

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

in western

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 ...

. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north,

Huánuco Huánuco (; ) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Huánuco. The met ...

and Pasco on the east,

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of

Huaraz Huaraz () (from Quechua: ''Waraq'' or ''Warash'', "''dawn''"), formerly designated as San Sebastián de Huaraz, is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the Ancash Region (State of Ancash) and the seat of government of Huaraz Province. The urb ...

, and its largest city and port is

Chimbote Chimbote ; ) is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the largest city in the Ancash Region and the List of cities in Peru, tenth most populous in Peru. With a population of 425,367 in 2017, it is the capital of both Santa Province and Chimbote Dist ...

. The name of the region originates from the

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 ...

word ('light, of little weight'), from ('blue') or from ('eagle').

Geography

Ancash is a land of contrasts: it features two great longitudinal valleys, which combine the mountain characteristics of the

Callejón de Huaylas The Santa Valley (Quechua language, Quechua ''Sancta'') is an inter-andean valley in the Ancash Region in the north-central highlands of Peru. Due to its location between two mountain ranges, it is known as Callejón de Huaylas, the Alley of Huayl ...

(Alley of Huaylas) with the sylvan ones of the

Alto Marañón Alto Marañón is a region in 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, ...

. Kilometres of sandy beaches and the blue waters of the Pacific. The territory of the coast, high plateaux and

Andean The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long and wide (widest between 18°S ...

'' punas'' of the department are flat, while the rest of the territory, in the Andes, is very rough. In the west, there are slopes with strong declivity form narrow canyons with abrupt and deserted sides. The rough territory of the department is crossed by two mountain ranges: on the western side, the

Cordillera Negra The Cordillera Negra (Spanish language, Spanish for "black range"), Yana Walla in Quechuan languages, qechua is part of the ''Cordillera Occidental'', one of three mountain ranges in the Andes of west central Peru. It is almost entirely located wi ...

(

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for "black mountain range"), which has peaks without

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s, and on the eastern side, the

Cordillera Blanca The Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "white range") is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks ove ...

("white mountain range"), which has many peaks covered with snow and ice, such as the

Huascarán Huascarán (), ( Quechua: Waskaran), Nevado Huascarán or Mataraju is a mountain located in Yungay Province, Department of Ancash, Peru. It is situated in the Cordillera Blanca range of the western Andes. The southern summit of Huascarán (Huasc ...

and the

Alpamayo Alpamayo (possibly from Quechua ''allpa'' earth, ''mayu'' river, "earth river") or Shuyturaju (possibly from Ancash Quechua ''huytu, shuytu'' oblong, slim and long, Quechua ''rahu'' snow, ice, mountain covered in snow) is one of the most conspicuo ...

. Between these two mountain ranges, the

Santa River The Santa River () is a river in the South American Andes mountain range in the Ancash Region of northwest central Peru. River course Lake Conococha, at an altitude of 4,050 m above sea level and at , is considered the headwaters of the Santa R ...

flows through the so-called ''Callejón de Huaylas''. This valley narrows to form the Cañón del Pato ("duck canyon"). Also along the Pacific slopes, the Santa River has shaped a wide valley in the ''punas'' which narrows into the Cordillera Negra, where the Cañón del Pato canyon was formed. The snow-covered peak of Huascarán, the highest peak of Peru and second of the Americas, reaches a height of and contrasts with the deep

trough Trough may refer to: In science * Trough (geology), a long depression less steep than a trench * Trough (meteorology), an elongated region of low atmospheric pressure * Trough (physics), the lowest point on a wave * Trough level (medicine), the l ...

of Chimbote found in the ocean west of Ancash. Remnants of glaciers created many lakes such as

Llanganuco Lakes __NOTOC__ The Llanganuco Lakes (''Llankanuku'' in Quechua language), Chinancocha and Orconcocha, are situated in the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes of Peru. They are located in Ancash Region, Yungay Province, Yungay District, about 25 km n ...

and

Lake Parón Lake Parón is the largest lake in the Cordillera Blanca, on the Peruvian Andes, 32 km E from the city Caraz, originally at asl, now at asl. It is nested in and surrounded by several snow peaks such as Aguja I , Aguja II , Aguja III , C ...

. Following the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

north from

, the territory of the department begins just beyond the Fortress of Paramonga, between wide fields of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

, and across the Fortaleza River, from Lima. Along the coast of Ancash, from the Fortaleza River to the Santa River, the Pacific exerts great influence. The Peruvian current and the El Niño current exert considerable and sometimes tragic effect on local lives and regional economies. Normally, the Peruvian current, also known as the

Humboldt Current The Humboldt Current, also called the Peru Current, is a cold, low-salinity ocean current that flows north along the western coast of South America.Montecino, Vivian, and Carina B. Lange. "The Humboldt Current System: Ecosystem components and pro ...

, brings cold water and large numbers of fish. With the development of the shoals of anchoveta, the Ancash ports and creeks became commercial fishing centers. During the 1950s, the bay of Chimbote was the top fishing port of the world. However, when warmer waters from the north, such as the current of El Niño, bring catastrophic rains to the coast and sea, the shoals of anchoveta disappear, leaving the fishing fleets plants paralysed, and flooding rivers cause serious damage to the lands and cities. The cycles of these two sea currents that affect Peru are hard to predict. Further north along the Pan-American highway, numerous islands and islets dot the sea near the coast. Most are home only to

guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

s. From south to north, the most important islands include Tortuga Island (Turtle Island), La Viuda Island (The Widow Island), Isla Blanca (White Island) and Santa Island (Holy Island). The coastal region of Peru includes many

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

s, creeks, warm bays and sand beaches, full of colour. Because of the lack of roads and difficult terrain, many of these are inaccessible by land. The most important beaches include Grande Beach, La Gramita Beach and Las Salinas Beach. Much of this coast is a monotonous stretch of huge sand deserts, a common denominator in all Peruvian coastal regions because of the influence of the

. Along the rivers, there are green valleys, cultivated mainly with

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

and

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 ...

. From south to north, the main rivers of the Ancash coast are the following: Huarmey, Culebras, Casma, Sechín, Nepeña, Lacramarca and Santa. Of these rivers, the only one with water year-round is the Santa River. Its sources are the glaciers and lakes of the Cordillera Blanca. The other rivers, as with most rivers of the Peruvian coast, are intermittent, depending on the highland rains or the advance of El Niño.

History

Between 400 and 600 BC, the first Peruvian civilization, known as Chavín, originated and flourished in this zone. The importance of this culture lies not only in its antiquity but in the history and culture it shares with other cultures along the

and Amazonian territories. As archaeologist

Julio C. Tello Julio César Tello Rojas (April 11, 1880 – June 3, 1947) was a Peruvian archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was the first indigenous archaeologist in South America. He made the major discoveries of the pr ...

put it, "''Chavín was the mother of all the cultures that later bloomed in the old Peru.''" The name ''Chavín'' comes from the Quechua word ''Chawpin'', which translates as ''center'' or ''headquarters''. Tello believed that people came from the Amazonas, scaled the Andes, and developed the Chavín culture. During the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

age, the population of the Santa valley was assimilated into the Inca empire by

Pachacuti Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, also called Pachacútec (), was the ninth Sapa Inca of the Chiefdom of Cusco, which he transformed into the Inca Empire (). Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca site of Machu Picchu was built as an ...

. The first Spaniards came to Huaylas attracted by the fame of the silver veins of the department. In time, the Spanish destroyed the Inca cities. It was during this time that Jerónimo de Alvarado founded the city of Huaraz. Though in the Colonial Age this city held little importance and its artistic and cultural life did not have much relevance, it became the headquarters for

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24July 178317December 1830) was a Venezuelan statesman and military officer who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, and Bol ...

during his campaign to liberate Peru. The department of Ancash was created following the defeat of the Peru-Bolivia Confederation by the combined forces of the Peruvian restoration army and the Chilean army at the battle of Yungay in 1839. The

1970 Ancash earthquake The 1970 Ancash earthquake (also known as the Great Peruvian earthquake) occurred on 31 May off the coast of Peru in the Pacific Ocean at . Combined with 1970 Huascarán debris avalanche, a resultant landslide, it is the most catastrophic natura ...

devastated the department, killing more than 50,000 people and damaging 186,000 houses in one of the deadliest natural disasters in Peru. Today, most of the Ancash population is concentrated in the

. Beginning in 2011, the department has been the site of an ongoing anti-mining protest over allegations of water contamination and public versus private rights to the natural resources of the zone. Clashes between protesters, mining company security, and the federal police have resulted in numerous deaths and injuries.

Political division

The department is divided into 20 provinces (''provincias'', singular: ''provincia''), which comprise 166 districts (''distritos'', singular: ''distrito''). Its capital is Huaraz. The provinces and their capitals are:

Economy

The economy of Ancash, the third largest in Peru, is largely made up of gold, copper and zinc mining. Its coast is rich in fishing resources and it is the most productive fishing region of Peru (Peru is the world's largest exporter of

fish meal Fish meal (sometimes spelled fishmeal) is a commercial product made from whole wild-caught fish, bycatch, and fish by-products to feed farm animals, such as pigs, poultry, and farmed fish.R. D. Miles and F. A. Chapman.FA122: The Benefits of Fish ...

). Crops cultivated in Ancash include potatoes, wheat and barley.

Demographics

Languages

According to the

2007 Peru Census The 2007 Peru Census was a detailed enumeration of the Peruvian population. It was conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática on Sunday, October 21, 2007. Its full name in Spanish is XI Censo de Población y VI de Vivie ...

, the language learnt first by most of the residents was

(68.34%) followed by

(31.36%). The Quechua variety spoken in Ancash is

Ancash Quechua Ancash Quechua ( , or less often ), also Huaylay or Waylay in linguistic terminology, is a Quechua variety spoken in the Peruvian department of Ancash by approximately 1,000,000 people. Like Wanka Quechua, it belongs to Quechua I (according to ...

. The following table shows the results concerning the language learnt first in the Department of Ancash by province:inei.gob.pe
INEI, Peru, Censos Nacionales 2007

Ethnicity

Most of the population identifies

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

Religion

Literacy

As of 2017, 85.3% (923,542) of the population is literate and 14.7% (158,839) of the population is illiterate.

Toponyms

Many of the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for ...

s of the Department of Ancash originate from

. In and around the

, in provinces like Huaylas and Yungay, these names are overwhelmingly predominant. Their Spanish-based orthography, however, is in conflict with the normalized alphabet of the language. According to Article 20 of ''Decreto Supremo No 004-2016-MC'' (Supreme Decree) which approves the Regulations to Law 29735, published in the state-owned newspaper

El Peruano ''Diario Oficial El Peruano'' (''The Peruvian Official Newspaper'') is the official daily newspaper of Peru. The paper was founded on 22 October 1825 by Simón Bolívar although it changed names between the following decades and it was not publi ...

on 22 July 2016, adequate spellings of the toponyms in the normalised alphabets of the indigenous languages must progressively be proposed with the aim of standardizing the namings used by the National Geographic Institute ''(Instituto Geográfico Nacional, IGN)''. The National Geographic Institute realizes the necessary changes in the official maps of Peru. Contrarily to intentions to replace indigenous toponyms by other names like Santa Cruz or

Contrahierbas Contrahierbas, also called Yanarraju (possibly from Quechua ''yana'' black, ''rahu'' snow, ice, mountain with snow) or Ruricocha (possibly from Quechua ''ruri'' inside, Ancash Quechua ''ruri'' interior; inside; deep; valley or little river; ''quc ...

, the Ministry of Culture proposes to the municipalities of the provinces to recover ancient indigenous toponyms and that these names should be spread by the local and communal authorities on posters and other signage.

Tourism

The geographical centre of Ancash, the Callejón de Huaylas, is an area of intense interest to tourists. This is due to its large variety of natural attractions, its sport and recreational facilities, and the nearby archaeological remains of the ancient cultures that once flourished there. The Cordillera Blanca offers an interesting attraction for tourists visiting Peru. Visitors also come to see the natural beauty of the area's glaciers and valleys and to enjoy the many lakes and thermal fountains. Ancash is sometimes referred to as the "Switzerland of Peru". There is the four mile high Huascarán, home to the

Huascarán National Park Huascarán National Park () is a Peruvian national park that comprises most of the mountain range known as Cordillera Blanca (the world's highest tropical mountain range) which is part of the central Andes, in the region of Ancash. The park cov ...

. There is also the Alpamayo peak, considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Among archaeological sites of interest, Ancash has many vestiges of old cultures, including the Guitarrero Cave (10,000 BC), 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 ...

ruins of Chavín de Huantar, Hunsakay, Willkawayin, Sechín, and Pañamarka are also well-known.

Tours

There are a few tours in the Department of Ancash that will let us know the main touristic and historical places of the zone. Among the principal ones are: * Huaraz – Recuay – Catac – Pachaqutu ravine and Pastururi. * Yungay – Llankanuku – Vaquería – Waripampa – Santa Cruz and Caraz * Caraz, Cañon del Pato * Huaraz – Pitiq – Qillqay and Juanca * Caraz, Puya Raimondi at Mirador de Huinchus * Huaraz – Olleros – Yanashallash – Chavín de Huantar – Qiruqucha and Catac * Caraz, Parun Lake * Catac and Carpa * Huaraz – Willkawayin and Llaqa ravine * Chacas – Perlilla * Chacas –

Huari Huari may refer to: *Huari culture, a historical civilization in Peru *Huari (archaeological site), an archaeological site in Peru *Huari, Peru, a town in Peru * Huari District, a district in the Huari Province, Peru * Huari Province, a province in ...

Pativilca-Caraz-Huallanca route

The historical village

Pativilca Pativilca is a town in central Peru, capital of the district Pativilca in the province Barranca in the region Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and la ...

(

Lima Region The Department of Lima (), known as the Department of the Capital () until 1823, is a department and region located in the central coast of Peru; the seat of the regional government is Huacho. Lima Province, which contains the city of Lima, ...

), where

planned his expedition for the liberation of Peru, lies 202 kilometres (126 mi) north of Lima on the Pan-American Highway. At this point begins the highway that leads to the Callejón de Huaylas. This road is completely paved, although it often had to be repaired because of the extreme damage caused by the ''

huayco A huaico or huayco (from the Quechua ''wayqu'', meaning "depth, valley") is an Andean term for the mudslide and flash flood caused by torrential rains occurring high in the mountains, especially during the weather phenomenon known as ''El Niño''. ...

s'' (flash floods) and the rains. The same problem affects most Peruvian roads, especially the ones in the mountains ( Quechua natural region and rainforest Rupa-Rupa natural region). This highway is 287 kilometres (178 mi) long, with an extremely comfortable course, especially in the steep climbing stretches through the Cordillera Negra (Black Range) up to the summit of Conococha, 4,100 metres (13,451 ft) above sea level. From there, the road descends toward the Callejón de Huaylas. The trip Lima-Huaraz-Caraz of 468 kilometres (254 mi) takes seven hours by car. Modern buses spend eight hours over the same stretch. East of Pativilca, for about 20 kilometres (12 mi) the highway passes between wide fields planted with

in extensive fields, parallel to the Fortaleza River

bed A bed is a piece of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

. At the town

Huaricanga Huaricanga is the earliest city of the Norte Chico civilization, called Caral or Caral-Supe in Peru and Spanish language sources. Established around 3500 BC, Huaricanga was the oldest city in the Americas. This Late Archaic site is located in the ...

the road enters the department of Ancash. At this point, the highway begins a slow ascent of the first spurs of the Cordillera Negra. This stretch continues for about 50 kilometres (31 mi). The climb gets suddenly steeper beyond the towns Chasquitambo and Chaucayán, with many bends and serpentines.

Cordillera Blanca

This mountain range is composed by gigantic summits covered with snow, which are among the most beautiful of the world. The White mountain range is considered the highest tropical mountain range in the world. It borders the Callejón de Huaylas to the east. It has a length of . It has 35 peaks that are higher than 6,000 m and many other smaller ones, a real symphony of summits with different grades of difficulty in climbing. This mountain range was called White, not only for its eternal snow but also for the chemical constitution of its

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

and

feldspar Feldspar ( ; sometimes spelled felspar) is a group of rock-forming aluminium tectosilicate minerals, also containing other cations such as sodium, calcium, potassium, or barium. The most common members of the feldspar group are the ''plagiocl ...

rocks. It has the highest summit in Peru and the fifth one in America after

Aconcagua Aconcagua () is a mountain in the Principal Cordillera of the Andes mountain range, in Mendoza Province, Argentina. It is the highest mountain in the Americas, the highest outside Asia, and the highest in both the Western Hemisphere and the ...

Ojos del Salado Nevado Ojos del Salado is a Dormant volcano, dormant complex volcano in the Andes on the Argentina–Chile border. It is the highest volcano on Earth and the highest peak in Chile. The upper reaches of Ojos del Salado consist of several overlapp ...

, Bonete and

Mercedario Cerro Mercedario is the highest peak of the Cordillera de la Ramada range and the eighth-highest mountain of the Andes. It is located 100 km to the north of Aconcagua, in the Argentine province of San Juan. Ascent history It was fir ...

: Huascarán, whose south peak reaches 6768 msnm. Huascarán's north peak reaches 6655 m.

whose height has been estimated in 5,947 m, has been considered as "the most beautiful snow mountain of the world". This statement was achieved by the distinguished Peruvian mountaineer César Morales Arnao who sent the photo of Alpamayo to the world contest of scenic beauty made in 1966 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany.

Huandoy Huandoy (probably from Quechua ''wantuy,'' to transfer, to transpose, to carry, to carry a heavy load) or Tullparaju (possibly from Quechua ''tullpa'' rustic cooking-fire, stove, ''rahu'' snow, ice, mountain with snow) is a mountain located ins ...

N reaches 6,395 m,

Huantsán Huantsán, Huantsan (modern Quechua orthography: Wantsan) or Tunsho is a mountain in the Andes of Peru. It is located in Ancash Region and is part of the Cordillera Blanca mountain range, a sub-range of the Andes. It has four peaks, with a maxim ...

reaches 6410 m, Chopicalqui reaches 6354 m,

Copa Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Association * Cirrus Aircraft, Cirrus Owners and Pilots Asso ...

N reaches 6173 m,

Artesonraju Artesonraju is a Pyramidal peak, pyramidal mountain peak located near the city of Caraz in the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in the Peruvian Andes. It is located at the Peruvian province of Huaylas Province, Huaylas and its slopes are within ...

reaches 6025 m, Santa Cruz S reaches 6,259 m and Hualcán reaches 6,126 m. The beauty of the Cordillera Blanca is largely determined by the Cordillera Negra because this mountain range softens the winds that come from the Pacific Ocean. The Cordillera Negra, acting as a shield, avoids the thaw of the big

s from the Cordillera Blanca. The Cordillera Negra has rocky peaks with very little winter snowfall, reaching a maximum height of 5500 m. Its name comes from the comparison with the white snowy peaks of the Cordillera Blanca.

Huascarán National Park

The

is one of the most outstanding conservation parks in Peru, due to its landscapes that are full of peaks, lakes,

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

s, torrents and waterfalls. Inside its borders, it can be observed the whole

and seven peaks of more than 6000 m height. They constitute one of the main international focuses for climbers and mountaineers. It was stated as a

National Park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

on July 1, 1975, with a surface of 340,000 ha and a length of . This National Park includes parts of the following provinces: Recuay, Huaraz, Carhuaz, Yungay, Huaylas, Pomabamba, Mariscal Luzuriaga, Huari, Corongo, Sihuas and Bolognesi. This park has also been listed as a biosphere reservation and as a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. The park territory is very uneven. It has snowy summits, which altitudes vary between 5000 and 6768 MSL. It also has

gullies A gully is a landform created by running water, mass movement, or both, which erodes soil to a sharp angle, typically on a hillside or in river floodplains or terraces. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to t ...

, that are deeply encased because of the fluvioglacial erosion, and a great number of

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s. Inside the borders of the park, there are 663

s that are distributed throughout 180 km, from the Tuku in the south up to the

Champara Champara or Champará is a mountain in the north of the Cordillera Blanca in the Andes of Peru and has an elevation of . It is located in Yuracmarca District, Huaylas Province, within the region of Ancash Ancash (; ) is a department and reg ...

in the north. Regarding its climate, there are two very well defined seasons: The dry season from April to September becoming worse between the months of June and August and the wet season from October to May whose highest rainfall is between January and March. Its flora is countless and beautiful, including important groups of Puya Raimondi. In its fauna, there are ,

spectacled bear The spectacled bear (''Tremarctos ornatus''), also known as the South American bear, Andean bear, Andean short-faced bear or mountain bear and locally as jukumari ( Aymara and Quechua), ukumari ( Quechua) or ukuku, is a species of bear native to ...

vicuña The vicuña (''Lama vicugna'') or vicuna (both , very rarely spelled ''vicugna'', Vicugna, its former genus name) is one of the two wild South American camelids, which live in the high alpine tundra, alpine areas of the Andes; the other cameli ...

s, pumas,

foxes Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, vizcachas,

weasels Weasels are mammals of the genus ''Mustela'' of the family Mustelidae. The genus ''Mustela'' includes the least weasels, polecats, stoats, ferrets, and European mink. Members of this genus are small, active predators, with long and slender b ...

Andean mountain cat The Andean mountain cat (''Leopardus jacobita'') is a small wild cat native to the high Andes that has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List because fewer than 1,500 individuals are thought to exist in the wild. It is traditionally con ...

opossums Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 126 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North A ...

, hog-nosed skunks, etc. There is also a great number of birds, predominantly

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

American coot The American coot (''Fulica americana''), also known as a mud hen or pouldeau, is a bird of the family Rallidae. Though commonly mistaken for ducks, American coots are only distantly related to ducks, belonging to a separate order. Unlike the we ...

s and

hummingbirds Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

Cordillera Negra

The route Casma-Huaraz is not a very highly travelled road. The highway begins with a paved path that arrives up to Yaután. Then it quickly begins to ascend through an unpaved path by the sides of the Cordillera Negra, following the course of the Casma River. This route becomes more steep once it arrives to Pariacoto. Along the road, there are not important towns at all, except for Pira that offers some traveler's services. This route, extremely steep and narrow, goes between big abysses and gullies. It can be seen small rural districts with

chacra Chacra is an Andean term (a loanword from the Quechua word ''chakra'', meaning "farm, agricultural field, or land sown with seed";Teofilo Laime Ajacopa, Diccionario Bilingüe Iskay simipi yuyayk'ancha, La Paz, 2007 (Quechua-Spanish dictionary)< ...

s (

smallholding A smallholding or smallholder is a small farm operating under a small-scale agriculture model. Definitions vary widely for what constitutes a smallholder or small-scale farm, including factors such as size, food production technique or technolo ...

s) that have been sown with

potato The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

es,

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and other food products. It can also be seen

livestock Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...

and a lot of human activity. The gullies of the Cordillera Negra -that goes, simultaneously, with the Cordillera Blanca throughout 150 km- are gloomy and dark. Most of them are dry or their flow is scarce. From north to south, there are some hills like Rumicruz (5,020 m), Rocarre (5,187 m),

Cerro Rico Cerro Rico (Spanish for "Rich Mountain"), Cerro Potosí ("Potosí Mountain") or Sumaq Urqu (Quechuan languages, Quechua ''sumaq'' "beautiful, good, pleasant", ''urqu'' "mountain", "beautiful (good or pleasant) mountain"), is a mountain in the A ...

(5,015 m), and Chunta (4,810 m). The beauty of the Cordillera Blanca is largely determined by the Cordillera Negra because this mountain range soften the winds that come from the Pacific Ocean. The Cordillera Negra acts like a shield and avoids the thaw of the big glaciers that are located in the Cordillera Blanca. The Cordillera Negra has rocky peaks with very little winter snow, reaching a maximum height of 5,500 m. Its name comes from the comparison with the white snowy peaks of the Cordillera Blanca.

Extreme sports

Extreme sports in the Callejón de Huaylas and the Huascarán National Park: *

Mountaineering Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become mounta ...

: the glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca constitute one of the most important world scenarios for ice climbing. Mountaineering can be practiced the whole year but the weather is best between the months of May and September. *

Trekking Backpacking is the outdoor recreation of carrying gear on one's back while hiking for more than a day. It is often an extended journey and may involve camping outdoors. In North America, tenting is common, where simple shelters and mountain hu ...

: the prehispanic paths offer excellent opportunities for trekking during the whole year. On the way, it can be observed varied flora, fauna, impressive snowy mountains, gullies and deep canyons, archaeological sites and several typical villages. There are several routes that last from one day to three weeks. *

Camping Camping is a form of outdoor recreation or outdoor education involving overnight stays with a basic temporary shelter such as a tent. Camping can also include a recreational vehicle, sheltered cabins, a permanent tent, a shelter such as a Bivy bag ...

: it is a pleasant and a relaxing experience to spend the night under the moonlight, having as a unique companion: the stars and some

constellation A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellati ...

s like

Capricornus Capricornus is one of the constellations of the zodiac. Its name is Latin for "horned goat" or "goat Horn (anatomy), horn" or "having horns like a goat's", and it is commonly represented in the form of a sea goat: a mythical creature that is hal ...

Crux CRUX is a lightweight x86-64 Linux distribution targeted at experienced Linux users and delivered by a tar.gz-based package system with BSD-style initscripts. It is not based on any other Linux distribution. It also utilizes a ports system ...

Centaurus Centaurus () is a bright constellation in the southern sky. One of the 88 modern constellations by area, largest constellations, Centaurus was included among the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and it remains one ...

and others. This sport can be practiced at any time of the year. *

Canoeing Canoeing is an activity which involves paddling a canoe with a single-bladed paddle. In some parts of Europe, canoeing refers to both canoeing and kayaking, with a canoe being called an 'open canoe' or Canadian. A few of the recreational ...

: the Santa River has the technical characteristics and different difficulty grades for practicing river sports as canoeing,

kayak ] A kayak is a small, narrow human-powered watercraft typically propelled by means of a long, double-bladed paddle. The word ''kayak'' originates from the Inuktitut word '' qajaq'' (). In British English, the kayak is also considered to be ...

and others. For example, there are some

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep stream gradient, gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Flow, gradient, constriction, and obstacles are four factors that are needed for a rapid t ...

between Anta and

Caraz Caraz is a town in the Caraz District in the southeastern part of Huaylas Province of the Ancash Region in Peru. Political Creation Recent investigations suggest that its political creation happened on 12 February 1821 when General San Mart ...

that are good for those who are just beginning to practice this sport. The lakes Llankanuku and Qiruqucha also offer some special characteristic for a boat ride. *

Cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

: the cyclists that ride on the highways and roads enjoy the practice of this sport by traveling inside and outside the Huascarán National Park. This sport can be practiced at any time of the year. The north area, near

, offers the best rides, single tracks and down hill tracks. *

Rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

: the

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

belt that goes round the glaciers of the Cordillera Blanca constitutes the suitable place for practicing this sport. There are walls from 100 m to 1000 m of height that have many kinds of technical difficulties to get through. There is an odd scenario for this sport called Rocódromo de Monterrey. *

Alpine skiing Alpine skiing, or downhill skiing, is the pastime of sliding down snow-covered slopes on skis with fixed-heel Ski binding, bindings, unlike other types of skiing (Cross-country skiing, cross-country, Telemark skiing, Telemark, or ski jumping) ...

: it consists on slipping from the glaciers. The most favorable ones for practicing this sport are: Pastururi, Copa, Wallqan, Huascarán,

Wallunarahu Vallunaraju or ''Wallunaraju'' (possibly from Ancash Quechua to cut, ''wallu'' earless, someone whose ears are amputated ''-na'' a nominalising suffix, Quechua ''rahu'' snow, ice, mountain with snow,siquiesqui) and for making snowmen. *

Paragliding Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or in a cocoon-like 'pod' suspended be ...

–

Hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sports, air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium al ...

: along the Callejón de Huaylas there are several places that are favourable for the practice of these flight sports. They can be practiced at any time of the year. *

Horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

: it is a sport of big emotions. It is practiced on

bridle path A bridle path, also bridleway, equestrian trail, horse riding path, ride, bridle road, or horse trail, is a trail or a thoroughfare that is used by people riding on horses. Trails originally created for use by horses often now serve a wider ...

s with Peruvian horses that were raised in the Callejón de Huaylas. *

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

: the rod fishing of

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

can be practiced in rivers and lagoons of the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra at any time of the year.

Santa River and the Cañón del Pato

From

to Huallanca, there are approximately . This unpaved and very little travelled highway is a provisional line over the embankment of the old railroad. This railway and several tunnels were destroyed by the catastrophe of 1970. The highway, outside Chimbote, goes through the wide flat and fertile embankments of the Santa valley and it continuous its course up to Huallanca. From Chuquicara, the highway becomes narrower. The Chuquicara River is a major right-hand tributary of the Santa River. Its waters are black because they contain abundant coal sediments proceeding from the heights of Pallasca. From Huallanca, it is possible to travel through the Cañón del Pato. This canyon is one of the many canyons that are along the of the Santa River. The Santa River has its source in the lake Conococha. This river is the most important river in the coast, because its annual water mass is 6100 million m³. As centuries went by, it has formed a narrow pass of 2000 m of altitude in the Cordillera Negra. In this place, the waters turn into

whirlpool A whirlpool is a body of rotating water produced by opposing currents or a current running into an obstacle. Small whirlpools form when a bath or a sink is draining. More powerful ones formed in seas or oceans may be called maelstroms ( ). ''Vo ...

s and

before going out from a narrow

gorge A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tend ...

of 500 m that is called Cañón del Pato (Duck Canyon). This waterfall constitutes the source of hydroelectric energy in the power station of the Cañón del Pato, in Huallanca. From Huallanca, it is possible to enter the Callejón de Huaylas by the highway that goes to Caraz. It is also a way to enter the

Callejón de Conchucos The East of Ankash is a zone near the Cordillera Blanca mountain range in the Ancash region of Peru. The valley is the home of the archaeological site of the remains of Chavín de Huantar, which dates from the year 900, and was a ceremonial center ...

(Conchucos valley).

Callejón de Conchucos

The Callejón de Conchucos is a beautiful succession of valleys located to the east of the Cordillera Blanca. It is connected by a highway from Catac to Huallanca. There are eight provinces of the Ancash Region that cover the Callejón de Conchucos. They are Huari, Asunción, Antonio Raymondi, Mariscal Luzuriaga, Pomabamba, Sihuas, Corongo and Pallasca. This Callejón is located to the east of the Cordillera Blanca, that is to say, to the other side of the Callejón de Huaylas, before 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

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

of the soil presents high summits, deep valleys and inhospitable punas, making it a rough zone, such as most of the highland in Peru. The northern provinces of Pallasca Province and Corongo Province have their own direct access towards Chimbote and the Callejón de Huaylas. The other provinces have a longitudinal highway of double entry, one from Huari Province and the other one from Huallanca District and Sihuas Province, joining Pomabamba Province, Mariscal Luzuriaga Province and Antonio Raymondi Province.

Transportation

Five main highways cross the department: * The North Pan-American highway, that crosses the coast of Ancash longitudinally. * Three east–west highways that connect the coast with the region of the highlands, most importantly the Callejón de Huaylas: ** Pativilca – Huaraz – Caraz – Huallanca ** Nepeña – Pamparumas – Caraz ** Huarmey – Aija – Recuay ** Casma – Huaraz ** Chimbote – Huallanca – Caraz * One highway that crosses the

(Conchucos Alley) longitudinally, to the east of the Cordillera Blanca. In addition, the region has a network of local roads.

Additional facts

Notable people

Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo

Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, ...

, physicist, engineer and mathematician

References

External links

Ancash Region, Travel
{{Authority control

Ancash Ancash (; ) is a department and region in western Peru. It is bordered by the departments of La Libertad on the north, Huánuco and Pasco on the east, Lima on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. Its capital is the city of Huaraz, an ...