Huaraz
Huaraz , formerly designated as San Sebastián de Huaraz, is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the Ancash Region and the seat of government of Huaraz Province. The urban area's population is distributed over the districts of Huaraz and Independencia. The city is located in the middle of the Callejon de Huaylas valley and on the right side of the Santa river. The city has an elevation of approximately 3050 meters above sea level. The built-up area covers 8 square kilometers and has a population of 120,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in the central Peruvian Andes after the city of Huancayo. It is the 22nd largest city in Peru. Huaraz is the seat of the province's Roman Catholic Bishop and the site of the cathedral.
Huaraz is the main financial and trade center of the Callejón de Huaylas and the main tourist destination of Ancash region. Moreover, it is one of the biggest towns in the Peruvian Andes. Huaraz is the main destinations for winter sports and adventure. Many visitors from around the world come to the city for practicing sports as climbing, hiking, mountain biking and snowboarding, and also to visit the glaciers and mountains of the Cordillera Blanca, mainly Mount Huascarán, which is considered the tallest mountain in the tropics, all of them located in Huascarán National Park which UNESCO declared a nature world heritage site in 1985.
The city was founded before the Inca Empire when humans settled around the valley of the Santa River and Qillqay. Its Spanish occupation occurred in 1574 as a Spanish-indigenous reducción. During the wars for the independence of Peru, the whole city supported the Liberating Army with food and guns, earning the city the title of "Noble and Generous City" granted by Simón Bolívar. In 1970, 95% of the city was destroyed by an earthquake that damaged much of Ancash Region. 25,000 people died. The city received much foreign assistance from many countries. For this reason the city was named a capital of International Friendship.
The main economic activities in the city are farming, commerce and tourism. Since Huaraz has tourist infrastructure supporting the Ancash Highlands, the city is the main point of arrival for practitioners of adventure sports and mountaineering. Along with the snowy peaks of the Cordillera Blanca, one can visit archaeological sites like Chavín de Huantar and the eastern highlands of Ancash, known as Conchucos.
Etymology
The name of the city comes from the Quechua word "Waraq", which means "sunrise". The pre-Hispanic inhabitants of the area had a god called "Waraq quyllur", which means "morning star" or the planet Venus, because it is the star that is seen at sunrise.Geography
Location
Huaraz is in north-central Peru, about 420 km north of Lima, and at an altitude of. It is the largest population center in the agriculturally important Callejón de Huaylas valley. The Callejón is a north–south valley bounded on the east by the Cordillera Blanca and on the west by the Cordillera Negra. The Cordillera Blanca includes Huascarán, the highest mountain in Peru at and the third highest in the Western Hemisphere. Huascarán and the adjacent peak Huandoy in fair weather are clearly visible from Huaraz.The Santa River flows north through Huaraz. It is not commercially navigable but has always furnished the city with good water. The river is a rocky-bottom narrow stream of glacier-fed cold water that flows generally west of center in the Callejón, running north to the valley's north end. There it rushes downward through the narrow Cañón del Pato, turns westward at the town of Huallanca, and continues to the coast where it enters the Pacific Ocean south of the city of Chimbote. The Santa River is the traditional western boundary of Huaraz, although part of the city's population has lived on the west bank there for as long as two centuries.
The nominal north boundary of Huaraz is along a westward flowing creek that empties into the Santa River. The creek, whose watershed is the westward facing nearby foothills and slopes of the Cordillera Blanca, has twice since 1940 been the channel of devastating earthquake-precipitated floods.
The most recent devastating flood and avalanche along this creek bed was a result of the 1970 earthquake. The avalanche of 1941 had filled the creek valley with debris, covering the new suburb on the city's north edge. The 1970 avalanche and floodwaters down this creek valley destroyed the city's north-side subdivision, which had been partially rebuilt by the late 1960s. The 1970 avalanche debris also created a temporary natural dam across the Santa River, which caused flooding throughout much of the city. The quake damaged almost all the city's major buildings. Over the next few days the city was devastated by flooding from both the creek and the river and by water-borne earthquake debris.
Orography
The urban area of Huaraz is located at the Santa River basin. The environment of the city is characteristic of an Andean valley. Huaraz is located in the Callejón de Huaylas valley, surrounded by the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra as its system mountains. The main river is the Santa, which crosses the city from south to north, and also the Qillqay river that crosses the urban area from east to west, flowing to the Santa river.The territory surrounding Huaraz is heterogeneous, mountainous and rough; because of that its slopes have gradients varying between 2% and 25% in the central zone and 15% and 45% in the outskirts.
Layout
Huaraz in its beginning had an architecture composed of circular houses, after that, they were demolished in order to build square houses and narrow streets on a grid plan. The main square used to be wide and was signed at downtown, it was surrounded by the Big Cathedral, the city hall, the jail, the governor in colonial times established his residence in Huaraz, for that reason the city was elevated to the category of region capital.Of the quiet, silent, old city with big mansions made of mud and gabled-roofs with narrow streets, only José Olaya street remains. It was declared a national heritage site, because the 1970s earthquake destroyed 95% of the city and all the traditional and colonial architecture disappeared, except Olaya Street, robbing the city of its traditional identity.
The grid plan of Huaraz has changed and disappeared the original composition of four neighbourhoods, as La Soledad, Belén, Huarupampa and San Francisco.
For its rebuilding after the earthquake, the government had to demolish the damaged houses. After that, the city was planned with a modern physiognomy like wide streets and avenues with central gardens. Colonial architecture doesn't exist, it was modernized in its own Andean style of gabled roofs. The city has a modern and planned design, made for Gunther-Seminario Company. Despite that the city grows in a disorganized way. On the other hand, the city had a great commercial movement, and high-quality tourist services. Nevertheless, the rapid urbanization resulted in irregular neighbourhoods.
The city grew in a longitudinal way from north to south, Only in central downtown there are buildings with more than 3 or 4 floors. Many of the buildings were modified, in order to rent apartments and lofts.
Neighborhoods
The metropolitan area is composed of two districts, Huaraz and Independencia. These are also divided into neighborhoods and settlements, and they also are divided in two or more parts. the majority of neighborhoods are located in Huaraz District, especially the traditional areas like La Soledad, Belén, Huarupampa and San Francisco, that are surrounding the downtown, and its residents are in 60% the traditional citizens of Huaraz. This neighbourhoods, are in great part from middle class. On the other hand, surrounding these areas, there are other settlements that have developed without planning. In the District of Independencia there are other middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. Centenario is the most extensive area in the city. At this area many rural migrants has established developing informal neighbourhoods. The tendency of city's growing is on the north-east part of the city. In north direction has developed areas of recent creation, especially for people searching an ecological area for establish.Climate
Huaraz has a warm moderated weather of tropical mountain. It is sunny and dry during the morning and cold past the evening, with temperatures between 11 and 17 °C and maximum temperatures that can exceed 21 °C. During the rainy season, from December to March, rainfall can be between 500 mm and 1000 mm. The dry season, spanning from April to November, is also known as "Andean summer".History
Pre-Columbian era
Human presence in the area dates back to around 10,000 B.C., when the inhabitants were hunters and gatherers. Evidence of this is found in the Guitarreros cave across from the town of Mancos. Over time, the area underwent significant changes with the development of agriculture in the zone of Vicuas and Villaqui.During the Early Horizon epoch, the Chavín culture influenced the region and it has been proposed by that the ceremonial center located at Pumacayan hill had its beginnings during this period. During the Early Intermediate period, the Recuay culture emerged in the area. Following this, in the Middle Horizon, the area of Huaraz was conquered by the Wari culture, this empire built the archaeological rests of Wilcahuain and Waullac.
During the Late Intermediate Period, Huaraz was an important town in the kingdom of Huaylas or Wayllas prior to Inca occupation in the Late Horizon. During the reign of the ninth Inca ruler Pachacuti, the military leaders Capac Yupanqui and Tupac Inca Yupanqui waged a conquest war against the Huaylas and their allied neighbors as part of the Inca expansion efforts in the Chinchaysuyo. After the war, the kingdom was reconstituted a Inca hunu, divided into the two traditional moieties of hanan and hurin, with hurin being subordinate to hanan. Huaraz was the seat of the Hurin or Lower Huaylas moiety.
Following its incorporation into the Inca Empire, the Incas soon made architectural interventions at Pumacayan, which held the principal wak'a of the Huaylas people. This might explain why Pedro Cieza de León records two local versions about the origin of Pumacayan: one tracing it as a monument or fortress of the Inca to commemorate winning a “certain battle” and the other stating that it dates to far ancient times. Cieza refers to Pumacayan as a "large fortress" because it featured imposing walls that enclosed the buildings and considered it to be one of the most impressive complexes in Peru. However, almost all the constructions within Pumacayan were eventually dismantled for building materials in later centuries. Excavations conducted in 2003 suggest the administrative nature of Pumacayan during the time of the Incas.
As part of the integration efforts of the Tawantinsuyo, the Incas implemented a policy of marriages between Inca and Huaylas nobles. The daughters of the two kings of the Huaylas diarchy were given as secondary wives to the heir of the Emperor Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Huayna Capac. The ruler of Hurin Huaylas, Huacachillar Apo, gave his daughter, Añas Colque, who was taken to be educated as an Inca noble in Cusco. In her old age, Añas Colque ruled the Hurin Huaylas. From the marriage between the Emperor Huayna Capac and Añas Colque was born the influential aristocrat Paullo Inca, Paullo later collaborated with the Spanish and served as Sapa Inca during the early years following the Spanish conquest.
In 1533, while stationed in Cajamarca, Francisco Pizarro sent his brother, Hernando Pizarro, along with a small expeditionary party, to Pachacamac and back to collect part of Atahualpa's ransom, sponsored by the captive Inca himself. During the journey, Hernando provided the first description of the precolonial city of Huaraz, and he also noted the fertile green soil of the Callejón de Huaylas, along with its significant livestock in the highlands and the prosperous towns and villages.
"The next day, the captain departed from that town; and through the valley, he went to dine in a large town called Guarax , with the Lord of Pumacapllai, where he and his Indians were well provided with food and people to carry the loads. This town is situated on a plain, with a river running alongside it."