Cajamarca (; ; ) 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 ...

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 ...

. The capital is the city of

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...

. It is located in the north part of the country and shares a border with

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

. The city has an elevation of above sea level in the

Andes Mountain Range 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 ...

, the longest mountain range in the world. Part of its territory includes the

Amazon Rainforest The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin ...

, the largest in the world.

History

The oldest known irrigation canals in the Americas are located in the Nanchoc District of Cajamarca Department. The canals in the Zaña Valley have been

radiocarbon Carbon-14, C-14, C or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic matter is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and coll ...

dated to 3400 BCE, and possibly date to 4700 BCE. From the 6th to the 10th century the people of the

Wari culture The Wari () were a Pre-Inca cultures, Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 AD. Wari ruins, Wari, as the former capital city was called, is located no ...

ruled earlier cultures in the highlands. They established the administrative center of Wiraquchapampa. In the 15th century, the

Incas 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 Inca civilisation rose fr ...

conquered the territory, expanding their empire. They established their regional capital in what is now Cajamarca. The Incas in 1465 established a new

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

there to serve as a bridge to their later conquests. Cajamarca had long been one of the oldest cities in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

when the

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 ...

arrived in their

conquest of Peru The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru, was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spaniards, ...

Political division

The Region is divided into 13

s. Province (Capital) # Cajabamba ( Cajabamba) #

(

) # Celendín ( Celendín) # Chota ( Chota) # Contumazá ( Contumazá) # Cutervo ( Cutervo) # Hualgayoc ( Bambamarca) # Jaén ( Jaén) #

San Ignacio San Ignacio (the Spanish language name of St. Ignatius (disambiguation), St. Ignatius) is a common toponym in parts of the world where that language is or was spoken: Argentina * San Ignacio, Argentina, Misiones Province * San Ignacio Miní, a ...

(

) # San Marcos ( San Marcos) # San Miguel ( San Miguel de Pallaques) # San Pablo ( San Pablo) # Santa Cruz ( Santa Cruz de Succhubamba)

Places of interest

* Bosques Nublados de Udima Wildlife Refuge * Chancaybaños Reserved Zone

Notable people

* Maxima Acuña, winner of the 2016 Goldman Environmental Prize *

Yma Sumac Zoila Augusta Emperatriz Chávarri del Castillo (born Zoila Emperatriz Chávarri Castillo; September 13, 1922 – November 1, 2008), known as Yma Sumac (or Imma Sumack), was a Peruvian singer. She won a Guinness World Records, Guinness World Re ...

, notable exotica singer of the 1950s *

Pedro Castillo José Pedro Castillo Terrones (; born 19 October 1969) is a Peruvian politician, former elementary school teacher, and union leader who served as the President of Peru from 28 July 2021 until Third impeachment and removal of Pedro Castillo, he ...

, President of Peru (2021–2022)

References

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