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Travel Information
Iquitos is a city submerged in the Peruvian Amazon Region, which
seen from the air, spreads out like a huge, green seemingly endless
cloak. Liked to the world only by air and by the Amazon River, Iquitos
is the capital of Loreto, the largest department of Peru. It is
located 3,646 km from the Atlantic Ocean and 1,859 km from Lima,
the capital of Peru. Seemingly far away, this city and its surroundings
constitute one of the most important tourist attractions in the
area.
The Jesuits founded Iquitos in 1757 under the name of San Pablo
de los Napeanos. It was the first port on the Amazon River. As in
the case of many other towns founded in the Region during the 18th
Century, Iquitos was the point from which evangelists began preaching
their religion to the native people of the area.
Until approximately 1870, the city's population was less than 2,000
inhabitants. However, in only 10 years, Iquitos exceeded 10,000
inhabitants. In 1880, hundreds of people migrated to this place,
attracted by the rubber boom. At the beginning of the 20th century,
the city and river port became well known in international markets,
which fostered the incorporation of a large number of foreign companies,
as well as the presence of Spaniards, Italians, Portuguese and Germans.
The opulence of those days is still noticeable in some of the city's
buildings.
In 1971, oil exploitation was begun together with several projects
for the use of forest resources. Surrounded by the best preserved
forests due to its geographic isolation, the Iquitos Region shows
features inherent to the Amazon eco-system and native groups which,
in contact with civilization, live mainly on the banks of the Amazon,
Napo, Ucayali, Marañón and Nanay Rivers.
This part of the Peruvian Amazon Region is home to one of the largest
hydrographic system in the world, the Amazon Basin, which begins
in the Andes Mountain Range (Arequipa) where the Amazon River is
born, the river with the largest volume of water in the world. It
is formed by the confluence of the Ucayali and Marañón
Rivers, close to the City of Nauta.
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