Pucallpa
Pucallpa is a city in eastern Peru located on the banks of the Ucayali River, a major tributary of the Amazon River. It is the capital of the Ucayali region, the Coronel Portillo Province and the Calleria District. This city is categorized as the only metropolis in Ucayali, being the largest populated center of the region. According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática, it is the tenth most populated city in Peru and second largest in the Peruvian Amazon after Iquitos. In 2017 it housed a population of 211,611 inhabitants.
Although originally located in the district of Callería, in the 1980s it formed a conurbation with the towns of Puerto Callao and San Fernando.
Most of the transport to Pucallpa is done through the Ucayali River, located in the central east of Peru and which contains the second most important river port in the Peruvian Amazon. The Federico Basadrees highway is the main center of land transportation and connects the northwest of the city with the Captain Rolden International Airport, where flights are made to Brazil.
The economy of Pucallpa is based on trade, the timber industry and tourism. Among the main attractions of the city include ecological tourism, such as the Parque Natural, or cultural tourism, in the case of shamanism. Its main economic activities are fishing, agriculture, livestock and timber extraction. In addition, a small oil refinery near the Pachitea River and a gas refinery in the Curimaná District supply fuel to the city and the center of the country.
The first human inhabitants of the region were the Pano, who inhabited the entire length of the Ucayali River and its tributaries three millennia before being colonized.
History
Before the colonization of South America, the entire jungle was inhabited by natives. Colonization was very difficult due to diseases that occurred or attacks by strangers, so there was not enough information to know how they lived. Explorations began in the 15th century. The first Franciscans began to gradually found villages between the Ucayali River and the Perené River. Pucallpa originated in the central jungle. There existed the Shipibo-Konibo ethnic group, one of the indigenous groups of eastern Peru, belonging to the Pano linguistic family and living on the banks of the Ucayali River and its tributaries Pisqui, Callería, and Aguaytia and on the shores of the Tamaya and Yarinacocha lakes. Sometimes the Shipibo territory is considered to be downstream of the Ucayali and the Conibo culture upstream, but in reality there are communities of both groups in the two areas because they have mixed with each other. The Shetebo, an ancient culture who lived below Contamana, are now integrated with the Shipibos. At that time the population was about 25,000 people, distributed among 108 hamlets or native communities. The environment was very ecological and simplified, remaining preserved for years. The houses were made of palm leaves and ventilated and they lived in the forest. Their deceased were secretly buried in vessels in their own homes. They survived by fishing, and used medicinal plants as medical recipes.In 1779 Pucallpa was part of the Municipality of Trujillo that came to have nine parties that were Trujillo, Lambayeque, Piura, Cajamarca, Huamachuco, Chota, Moyobamba, Chachapoyas, Jaén and Maynas, this last party previously made up the departments of what is known today such as with the Municipality of Trujillo being the largest in the Viceroyalty of Peru, that is, almost all of northern Peru today; Its first mayor was Fernando Saavedra from 1784 to 1791.After this he would be followed by Vicente Gil de Taboada, Felice del Risco y Torres and the marquis of Torre Tagle, who led the independence of the Municipality. It was part of the Government of the General Command of Maynas, which was a territorial division of the Spanish Empire in the Viceroyalty of Peru, created by a royal decree of July 15, 1802.
The city of Pucallpa was founded in the 1840s by Franciscan missionaries who settled several families of the Shipibo-Conibo ethnic group. For several decades it remained a small settlement as it was isolated from the rest of the country by the Amazon rainforest and the Andes mountain range. In 1901, the First Municipal Council of the City of Pucallpa was established, and in a Municipal Council Session, Mayor Pedro Pablo Gaviria Saldaña granted his Municipal Councilors Antonio Maya de Brito and Agustín Cauper Videira the Title of Founders of the City of Pucallpa. Pucallpa. Traditional history estimates that the founding of Pucallpa was on October 13, 1888, which coincides with its jubilee week, a festival of that city. The identity of the founder is discussed by the municipality, since the honor is attributed to three people: the Peruvian Eduardo del Águila Tello or the Brazilians Agustín Cáuper Videira and Antonio Maya de Brito, who, although unknown, are popular today. At the moment, a fixed founding date has not been established, because it was not the product of an act of settlement, but rather of a gradual process of population and cantonment of settlers. Oral sources indicate that, starting in the 1850s, the first settlers began to arrive in this town, although a small native settlement already existed.
From the 1880s through the 1920s a railway project to connect Pucallpa with the rest of the country via the Ferrocarril Central Andino was started and dropped several times until it was finally abandoned. Pucallpa's isolation finally ended in 1945 with the completion of a highway to Lima through Tingo Maria. The highway allowed the commercialization of regional products to the rest of the country, thus improving the economic outlook of the region and its capital, Pucallpa. However, the heavy rainfalls of the Amazon rainforest remain a problem as they erode the highway and can even undermine it by causing flash floods. Pucallpa is served by air through the Captain Rolden International Airport and by river through its port Pucallpillo near the center of the city. During the high water season, the floating ports of La Hoyada and Puerto Italia are used for riverine communications. Pucallpa is connected by road to Lima via Huánuco and Cerro de Pasco. The San Lorenzo Megaport Project proposes to connect Lima with the Atlantic via a rail connection to Pucallpa and the Amazon.
Numerous projects were made and completed in the 2000s which helped improve life in Pucallpa.
Geography
Pucallpa occupies 0.05% of the province of Coronel Portillo, which represents almost 15% of the original district. The comparison between the years 1975 and 2010 shows that the urban area was annexed irregularly. The city borders the district of Campoverde and neighboring villages starting from Puerto Callao.Climate
The city of Pucallpa has a tropical monsoon climate with warm temperatures all year round, classified as Am according to the Köppen climate classification. The average temperature is 26 °C, with peaks that can reach 34 °C on the hottest days. In mid-2008, the temperature reached 37 °C. Precipitation occurs between the months of October and December. During this period, the temperature drops to approximately 21.5 °C. More than 41.1 °C has been reported, being among the hottest records in the lowland jungle. The rainfall reaches 1570 mm. In 2009, the maximum rainfall was 12.2 cm and the minimum was 3.44 cm. In addition, ultraviolet indices can reach 10+. Thunderstorms rarely occur in Pucallpa; However, other natural phenomena can occur such as strong winds that can reach 40 km/h and have caused air accidents. One of the most recent cases occurred on August 23, 2005, when TANS Peru flight 204 crashed before reaching the terminal. The accident was caused by a strong storm a few kilometers from the city. Another case was in 1971, where there was only one survivor.Drinking water and drainage
The Municipal Drinking Water and Sewerage Company of Coronel Portillo is the main company in water management, beginning operation on 1 July 1992. The company aims to carry out all activities related to the provision of public drinking water and sewerage service in the area of the Province of Coronel Portillo through its headquarters in the east of Pucallpa. Much of its work in supplying water is aimed at connection and supply. Houses have a connection to the public water service in Coronel Portillo, and 28% more water has been used within the four provinces.Energy
Electricity is managed by the company Electro Ucayali, created on 28 February 1995. This company is located in the eastern part of the country, and its activities correspond to an isolated electrical system in the same region. The administrative seat of Electro Ucayali is in the district of Yarinacocha.Since 2001, the government has installed transmission lines from the Aguaytía river. The actions and work of this company had led to several inconveniences for its workers, such as 24 hour blackouts. There has been a negative reception to this company's service, with some calling it "Electropeor". One reason for this is due to service outages that have negatively affected the city for the past 20 years.
Demographics
The city of Pucallpa, includes the districts of Callería with 149,999 inhabitants, Yarinacocha with 103,941 inhabitants and Manantay with 87,525 inhabitants. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, it is the tenth most populated city in Peru and was home to a population of 341,465 inhabitants in 2017. As of 2024, it has a population ofPucallpa is one of the fastest growing cities nationwide in Peru, marked by its immigration to the department. It had a population of 170,000 inhabitants in 2000, its average growth rate being 5.6% between 1981 and 1993. In the World Gazetteer it appears with a population of 283,292 inhabitants. Pucallpa had a great expansion, in 1981 it had a population of 89,604 inhabitants, in 1993 it had 172,286, and in 2005 it reached 248,878 inhabitants, based on official censuses and the global dictionary.