Pucallpa: History

Pre-20th-Century History

Humans are thought to have come to the Americas, walking across the Bering Strait when sea levels were much lower, some 20,000 years ago. While they took their time to wander down to Peru, there is proof, in the pyramids of Caral, of an advanced civilization that flourished here, contemporaneously with those of Egypt and India. Barring a 700-year stretch in which the Chavín civilization unified much of the area, most of 'Peru' was dominated by disparate, locally powerful cultures such as the Paracas, Moche and Nazca. The cultural legacy of the Chavín touched all subsequent indigenous cultures in Peru, including the storied Inca.

The Pano tribes - the indigenous inhabitants of the Ucayali region - lived in agricultural settlements at a level of development somewhere between that of the Quechua and the more nomadic tribes that subsisted in the jungle. They cultivated corn, bananas and yucca , hunted and fished in the jungle, and maintained a largely non-hierarchical social structure. The Shipibo, Conibo, Shetebo and Pisquibo peoples, who still inhabit the area, speak languages derived from Pano.

The first European incursions into the Peruvian Amazon were made by Jesuit missionaries, eager to salvage the souls of the 'barbarians' living in the jungle. They established 33 misiónes on the upper Amazon and contiguous waterways, with the aim of gathering the natives into communities organized around religion, agriculture and basic industry.

A small community subsequently existed on the site of present-day Pucallpa from 1534. The town was officially founded on October 13, 1888.

Modern History

Ucayali remained a frontier region throughout the first half of the 20th century, and Pucallpa was an isolated town with no electricity or paved roads. In 1945, however, the 846km (526mi) Lima-Pucallpa highway was completed - Pucallpa became the Amazon region's only town to be linked to Lima by a paved road, making it an important river port for the distribution of goods along the broad Río Ucayali.

Recent History

Pucallpa has since grown into a lively city, increasing in size and becoming a center for local agriculture and industry. It is also the end of a 76km (47mi) long oil pipeline from the southwestern Ganso Azul oilfields.

Present-day Pucallpa isn't particularly known as a tourist attraction - travelers come in search of that riverboat north to Iquitos or beyond, to visit the local indigenous communities or to simply relax for a few days at a comfortable river lodge a short ride north of the city. That said, there are a few interesting places nearby, including Lake Yarinacocha and the beautiful Aguatya.

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