Colca Canyon
Location: It is located in the northeast of Arequipa region, Caylloma province, 165 kilometers from Arequipa and 40 km of Chivay main town and capital of the province of Caylloma. The highest point of the valley is the inactive volcano Ampato (6288 meters) and the lowest the confluence of the Colca and Andamayo (970m) rivers.
In the Colca Valley 8,000 hectares of land irrigation terraces at the same time they prevent soil erosion found. Today more than 1,400 years have passed since the construction of these terraces and continue to operate, allowing the planting of potatoes, 32 varieties of corn, 12 bean and up to 54 of quinoa, among other products for consumption by the inhabitants of the region.
The Colca was known in the colony as the village of Collahuas, making it one of the most important areas of the Viceroyalty of Peru. So much so that Francisco Pizarro entrusted his brother Gonzalo, who is established in Yanque to exert control over the Valley. At that time they lived in the valley over 60 thousand people engaged in agricultural production, especially corn and potatoes, which feed a large population and therefore ensured a strategic area.
Later, with the arrival of the Viceroy Toledo, the reduction applies Indians and the vast population is reduced in people changing their former villages distributed in the valley towns called «Indians Reductions». These small cities were designed from Spain with a detailed and thorough planning. These were strict rules for its construction as that designed a checkerboard, the width of the streets, the need to implement a jail, hospital, school, nursing home, etc. and of course more space and an imposing church would help in the process of conversion to Christianity of the Indians. So it came to be 14 well-designed villages and magnificent works of architecture, as are almost all the churches that exist today.
By this experience and interaction with the settlers, they did change the habits and customs of the Indians who began to deal with the diseases the Spaniards trasudas which greatly reduced the population. Records indicate that at the beginning of the republic only about 15 thousand people remained. For the year 1630 is discovered in the region the first silver mines, copper and gold and therefore the interest is no longer only for its food production, but also by the volume of exploitable labor for mining work.
In the Republican era the area was neglected until two pilots, Robert Shippee and George Johnson, the late 20s, they made an aerial photography and found a known populated valley he called the «Unknown Valley lncas». The following year they made an expedition to the area and gave the surprise of the existence of a deep canyon that has twice the depth of the Grand Canyon.
In Peru the use of the area in 75 years resumes that due to the construction of the irrigation project Majes, Colca Valley becomes accessible for the construction of new roads and infrastructure equipped for the stay of technical and personnel work. These possibilities of access and accommodation allows some scholars, researchers, artists and adventurers begin to explore the valley and to discover an inexhaustible wealth in all fields, historical, artistic, scientific, sports, etc. reputable and leading international dissemination.
In this area there are 16 direct descendants of the ethnic peoples of Collaguas (prehispanic culture of the highlands) and Cabanas, with the towns of Chivay and Cabanaconde most visited by the tourists. Crafts and textile work highlighted in the area and is perceived in making beautiful handicrafts such as carpets and embroidered with beautiful and colorful designs as well as pieces cut and embossed in tin. They also emphasize the development of carved wooden statues.
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Colca Canyon
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