Arequipa
Arequipa, also known by its nicknames of Ciudad Blanca and León del Sur, is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous province and department. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city in Peru, after the capital Lima, with an urban population of 1,295,700 in 2025. Known for its colonial architecture and volcanic stone buildings, it is a major cultural and economic center.
Arequipa is also an important industrial and commercial center in Peru, and is considered the second biggest industrial city of the country. Within its industrial activities are the manufactured products and the textile production of wool of camelids. Its metropolitan area integrates twenty-one districts, including the foundational central area, which it is the seat of the city government. The city had a nominal GDP of US$9,445 million, equivalent to US$10,277 per capita in 2015, making Arequipa the city with the second-highest economic activity in Peru. The city maintains close commercial links with Chile, Bolivia, and Brazil and with the cities connected by the South trainway, as well as with the port of Matarani.
The city was founded on 15 August 1540, under the name of "Beautiful Villa of Our Lady of the Assumption" in the name of Marquis Francisco Pizarro. On 22 September 1541, the king, Carlos V, ordered that it should be called the "City of Arequipa". During the viceregal period, it acquired importance for its outstanding economic role, and is characterized by the fidelity to the Spanish Crown known as fidelismo, which in return honored Arequipa with titles such as "Very Noble and Very Loyal". In the Republican history of Peru, the city has been the focus of popular, civic and democratic rebellions. It has also been the cradle of notable intellectual, political and religious figures. In the Republican era, it was awarded the title of "Heroic city of the free people of Arequipa".
Its historical center extends over an area of 332 hectares and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Historical heritage and monumental that it houses and its diverse scenic and cultural spaces turn it into a host city of national and international tourism, in its historical center it highlights the religious architecture viceregal and republican product of mixture of Spanish and autochthonous characteristics, that constituted an own stylistic school called "Arequipeña School" whose influence arrived in Potosí.
Etymology
An etymology supported by linguist Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino, already proposed by the 18th-century anthropologist Ernst Middendorf, about the possible origin of the city's name comes from the Aymara phrase ari ''qhipa, where ari is "peak, mountain top" and qhipa'' "behind", altogether translating to " behind the peak", referring to the nearby volcano Misti.A local tradition states that Sapa Inca Mayta Cápac received a petition from his subjects to reach the valley of the River Chili. They asked him for permission to stay in the region as they were impressed by the beauty of the landscape and the mild climate. The Inca answered in Quechua ⟨Are quipay⟩ "Ari, qhipay". However, another similar tale states that when the first Europeans arrived to the valley, they pointed at the ground and asked for the name of the land. The local chief, not understanding the question, assumed they were asking for permission to sit down and gave the aforementioned affirmation, which sounded to the Spanish like "Arequipa".
Chroniclers Blas Valera and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega suggest that the name of the city comes from an ancient Aymara phrase ⟨ari qquepan⟩ "ari q'ipa", supposedly meaning "sonorous trumpet", but in actuality something closer to "new conch trumpet", in reference to the sound produced from blowing into an empty conch-like seashell.
City symbols
Flag
Historians debate the origin of the crimson flag of the city. By 1940, several historians, most notably Francisco Mostajo and Victor M. Barriga, confirmed the royal origin of the crimson color of the flag, contrary to a blue banner which historian Victor Benavente hypothesized to be the original. This matches the color that local sports organizations use.Coat of arms
On 22 December 1540, King Charles I of Spain elevated Arequipa to the rank of city by royal decree, awarding it a coat of arms on which a mythical animal carries a banner inscribed with Karlos V or ''Del Rey.''Anthem
The city anthem is Fourth Centenary Anthem. Lyrics and music were composed by Emilio Pardo Valle and Aurelio Diaz Espinoza, who won a 1939 contest which the city council organize to dedicate a new anthem. Since then, the song has been sung at all important civic events held in the city.History
Pre-Columbian era
The early inhabitants of the modern-day Arequipa area were nomads who relied on fishing as well as hunting and gathering for survival. Later, pre-Inca cultures domesticated llamas and became sedentary with the rise of agriculture. Terraces used for crop irrigation were built on both sides of the Chili River valley. The Yarabaya and Chimbe tribes settled in the city's current location, and together with the Cabana and Collagua tribes they developed an agrarian economy in the valley.When the Inca Mayta Cápac arrived in the valley of the Chili river, he didn't build cities. Instead, through the mitma policy, he forced the resettlement of his subjects to solidify control of existing territories, conduct intelligence duties, and strengthen border enclaves to control unconquered villages. A Hispanic version of the events, detailed by chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, which has been described as historically inaccurate, suggests that around 1170 Huayna Capac stopped in the Chili River valley with his army, calling the area Ari qepay which means "Let's stay here." Lands were then distributed among 3,000 families who founded communities such as Yanahuara, Cayma, Tiabaya, Socabaya, and Characato, all of which are districts in Arequipa today. After their conquest of Chile the Incas resettled part of the population thousands of kilometres away in Aconcagua Valley.
Colonial era
On 15 August 1540, Spanish lieutenant Garcí Manuel de Carbajal named the cluster of Native American villages in the area "Villa de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora del Valle Hermoso de Arequipa". At the time of its foundation, Arequipa already had a city council because Carbajal also led relocation efforts for an existing coastal city named Villa Hermosa de Camana. The name was shortened to Villa Hermosa de Arequipa. Charles V of Germany and I of Spain gave the town a status of 'city' by Royal Decree on 22 September 1541. The relocation efforts were led by Garcí Manuel de Carbajal, who was selected as the political authority for the foundation of the new town. Among the first public works carried out in the city are the Main Church, the City Hall, the bridge on the Chili River and the monastery of Nuestra Señora de Gracia.The city became one of the most known and important in the Viceroyalty of Peru, being second from the capital, Lima. A town council was organized soon after the city of founded, which was in charge of electing mayors and authorities for the city. The organization was broken during civil wars carried out by rebel groups, leading up to the Peruvian War of Independence. Since 1553, by order of Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza, the application of the system of insaculation and under this system a mayor "of neighbors" and another "of soldiers" are elected, who were later replaced by the mayor "of neighbors" and "of citizens".
The Basilica Cathedral of Arequipa began construction in 1544 but was destroyed due to an earthquake in 1583. The cathedral was rebuilt in 1590 and in 1609, Pope Paul V created the Arequpa Diocese. The cathedral was complete in 1950.
One aspect that distinguished Arequipa from other localities in Peru, and Lima, in particular, was the explicit public adherence of the city's ruling classes to the Spanish Crown during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the eighteenth century, with the occurrence of the different indigenous and mestizo movements and rebellions, Arequipa maintained a political balance and closed adherence to the directives coming from the kings of Spain, a phenomenon called fidelismo, which had as notable defenders, Mariano de Rivero, Nicólas Fernández, and José Miguel de Lastarria. In the uprising of Túpac Amaru II he confronted the city with a column of troops that he armed at his expense, and helped destroy the siege of the city of La Paz, which earns it the qualification of "Restoration Province of the Collao". For these services, King Charles IV issued a Royal Decree in the city of San Lorenzo on 5 December 1895, in which he ordered her to be called and titled Fidelísima.
Independence
File:TomadeArequipa.JPG|thumb|Siege of Arequipa, 1856, Marshal Ramón Castilla enters Arequipa to gain back control of the city from the armies of General Vivanco |alt= Siege of Arequipa, 1856, Marshal Ramon Castilla enters Arequipa to gain back control of the city from the armies of General Vivanco.|left
After the Spanish founding of Arequipa, the mostly Spanish population retained a loyalty to the Spanish crown known as fidelismo. In 1805, the Spanish Monarchy gave the city the title of Faithful by Royal Charter. Because of its distance from other Peruvian cities, Arequipa was not heavily influenced by libertarian movements and remained mostly loyal to the Spanish Empire. In 1814, Mateo Pumacahua's pro-independence troops only briefly occupied Arequipa. The city would remain under Spanish control until the Battle of Ayacucho, due to struggles for local political power.