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city of Peru, capital of Arequipa region
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Arequipa is a city in southern Peru and the capital of Arequipa Province and the Department of Arequipa. With a projected population of 1,195,700 in 2025, it is the country's second most populous city after Lima. It is the official seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and is known as the "Legal Capital of Peru". Arequipa joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities in 2020.
Arequipa extends along both banks of the Chili River, in the Arequipa or Chili valley. The valley is bordered by the Andes to the north and east and by low coastal hills to the south and west. The city proper extends mainly over 14 districts, while the Arequipa metropolitan area includes 21 conurbated districts.
The site of the city was founded on 15 August 1540, when it was named "Villa Hermosa de Nuestra Señora de la Asunta de Arequipa". On 25 September 1541, by a real cédula issued by Charles V, it became the "City of Arequipa". During the viceregal period, Arequipa gained importance through its economic role and its loyalty to the Spanish monarchy.
Arequipa is Peru's second most industrialized city and one of its most economically active urban centers. In 2024 the Department of Arequipa recorded a nominal GDP of S/31.458 billion and GDP per capita of S/19,593, making it the country's second-largest regional economy. Because the capital city concentrates much of the department's economic activity, the departmental figure provides broad macroeconomic context for the city. A 2015 study estimated the city's own GDP at US$9.445 billion. Its industrial activity includes manufactured goods, textiles made from wool of camelids, and the production and sale of copper and molybdenum concentrates. The city maintains commercial links with Chile, Bolivia and Brazil, and is connected by the Southern Railway with the port of Matarani and the cities of Cusco and Puno.
After independence, the city gained political and economic importance. During the 19th and 20th centuries it acted as a counterweight to centralized power in Lima, functioning as a "second capital". It was a focus of popular, civic and democratic rebellions and produced prominent figures in politics and religion. Arequipa was the scene of more than seven uprisings or revolutions between independence and 1850 and twice served as the seat of the national government. During Salaverry's coup, President Luis José de Orbegoso installed his government in the city from 13 January 1835. On 31 August 1882, during the war with Chile, President Lizardo Montero declared Arequipa the capital of Peru and convened a National Congress on 28 April 1883.
In 2000, UNESCO inscribed 332 hectares of Arequipa's historic center as a World Heritage Site. Its historical and monumental heritage, together with its scenic and cultural spaces, has made it a destination for national and international tourism. In the historic area, viceregal and republican religious architecture combines Spanish and Indigenous features, forming a local architectural style known as the "Arequipan School", whose influence reached Potosí.
Several hypotheses have been proposed for the origin of the name "Arequipa". Some derive from local tradition, while others rest on geographical, archaeological and linguistic arguments.
One proposed derivation links the name to the Puquina language, spoken by the region's first inhabitants before the arrival of Aymara-speaking groups. According to this hypothesis, the original form was Are-quiapi. The main Puquina urban nucleus, Kasa-Patak, was discovered in 1942, and much local toponymy is said to derive from that language. The researcher Bernardo Málaga, who supported this interpretation, argued that the Aymara and Quechua versions were later and less likely:
The adaptive names Ari-quepa, which in Aymara means "behind the summit", and Are-quepay, Quechua, translated as "yes, stay here", cannot correspond to the factual reality established by archaeology, since there was no important settlement in the Arequipa countryside and it did not then offer the splendid panorama that now characterizes it.
— Leonidas Bernedo Málaga, La cultura Puquina
The best-known legend attributes the origin of the name to the Inca Mayta Cápac. According to the story, when he allowed his subjects to settle in the Chili valley, he said to them Ari qipay or Are quepay (Quechua: "Yes, stay"). This version was recorded by Father Calancha and translated by J. Ignacio Gamio.
Other versions propose an Aymara origin. Father Blas Valera, cited by the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, suggested that the name came from ari qquepan or are quepa, referring to a sea shell used as a war trumpet. Similarly, historian Ernst Middendorf argued that the name derived from the Aymara ari qhipaya or ariq qipa, meaning "behind the peak", in reference to the Misti volcano.
The city flag displays the city's coat of arms on a crimson field. The color of the standard, however, was debated by historians in the 1940s. At the time, several scholarly publications sought to settle the controversy. Historians Francisco Mostajo and Víctor M. Barriga eventually confirmed the crimson color of the standard, rejecting the blue version reconstructed by historian Víctor Benavente, which coincided with the color used in the city's sporting activities.
On 2 September 1940, Francisco Mostajo sent a formal letter to the mayor insisting on his position regarding the color of the standard. He based his claims on the Acta de la jura del Rey Carlos III of 11 August 1788. On 23 September of the same year, Father Víctor M. Barriga published in the Catholic newspaper El Deber a document describing the royal standard of Arequipa as found in the Acta of 3 September 1789. Both documents confirm that the city standard is crimson and that it originates in a colonial royal standard.
The standard is described as follows:
For the royal festivities of proclamation and oath to King Charles IV, the Illustrious Cabildo had ordered in advance a new crimson velvet standard, with the royal and city arms, trimmed with gold overlay, fastened to a finely worked pole ending in a spur-shaped tongue, from whose throat hung two crimson silk cords with tassels, making a handsome set. A canopy, dais cloths, cushions and benches with gold fringes and tassels completed it.
— Juramento, proclamación y fiestas populares que hicieron celebrar en esta ciudad el Intendente D. Antonio Álvarez y Jiménez y el Alférez Real D. Manuel Flores del Campo en homenaje al Rey Carlos IV, con motivo de su exaltación al trono de España
The coat of arms of Arequipa has a central figure: a griffin holding a flag inscribed "Carlos V" or "Del rey". The arms were granted to the city on 25 September 1541 by a real cédula issued by Charles V.
The Peruvian traditionalist Ricardo Palma, in Tradiciones Peruanas, offered an interpretation of the arrangement and meaning of the elements. Referring to a chronicler versed in heraldry, Palma wrote in the tradition "El ahijado de la providencia":
This democrat who writes understands nothing of heraldry, and so relies on the explanation given by a chronicler. He says that the inscription on the flag expresses the possession that the king took of Arequipa, and that by placing it not under the griffin's feet but in its hand, the monarch meant to show his esteem for the city, not trampling it as a vassal but offering it a hand as favored. If someone can explain it better, let him raise a finger.
The city's anthem is the Himno del IV Centenario, with lyrics by Emilio Pardo del Valle and music by Aurelio Díaz Espinoza. They won the contest convened by the city council in 1939 for the fourth centenary of the city's foundation; the prize was awarded in 1940. Since then, the anthem has been sung at civic ceremonies held in the city.
Until shortly before the rise of the Inca Empire, the area of the modern city contained nomadic groups devoted to hunting, fishing and gathering. They domesticated animals, mainly camelids, and began to settle and practice agriculture. Over time, migration within the region led to the first settlements, many of them connected to the sea. These links created early communication routes and made the territory more accessible.
Irrigation canals were built in the Chili River valley, allowing cultivation on the plains and on the terraces along the river slopes. The Yarabaya and Chimba groups settled in the area now occupied by the city and, together with the Collagua and Cabana communities, developed an agrarian economy in the desert.
When Mayta Cápac reached the plain of the Chili River, he did not found a city. Instead, he established mitma groups, relocated by the Inca state for administrative and control purposes, to guard and administer a frontier zone. The chronicles of Pedro Cieza de León contradict the idea that Mayta Cápac himself expanded Inca rule into the Arequipa valley, since that Inca died before the conquest of Kuntisuyu. His successor carried out these expeditions, although the process was interrupted by the Chanca threat, which besieged Viracocha in his capital. In response, Inca Yupanqui took command, adopted the title Pachacuti, defeated the Chancas and consolidated control over several regions, including the Chili valley.
A tradition derived from Garcilaso de la Vega holds that the Incas did found a town in the valley. This idea was popular among Arequipan historians in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Inca Garcilaso de la Vega wrote that Huayna Capac arrived in the Chili River valley around 1170 and established several settlements, including the hamlets or villages of Yanahuara, Cayma, Tiabaya, Paucarpata, Socabaya, Characato and Chiguata.
The establishment of mitma groups, however, did not amount to the founding of a town in the Hispanic sense. In Arequipa, Mayta Cápac carried out actions similar to those in Chuquisaca: he replaced the native population with mitma settlers.
Arequipa was founded on 15 August 1540 by Juan de la Torre and Garcí Manuel de Carbajal, one of Francisco Pizarro's lieutenants, in the Chili River valley as the "Villa de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora del Valle Hermoso de Arequipa", in an area occupied by Indigenous settlements. After the foundation, town lots were distributed: Pizarro, the cabildo and the Order of Santo Domingo each received a whole block; the founders received quarter-block lots; and the main church received half a block, separated from nearby lots by the cathedral passage.
When the city was founded, it already had a cabildo, because the new settlement resulted from the relocation of Villa Hermosa de Camaná. Its name was partly preserved as Villa Hermosa de Arequipa, until Charles V of Germany and I of Spain elevated the villa to city status by royal decree issued at Fuensalida on 22 September 1541. Garcí Manuel de Carbajal managed the relocation, while Juan de la Torre was appointed to oversee the foundation. When the new alderman and mayor were designated, the posts went to Juan de la Torre, while Garcí Manuel de Carbajal returned to the new capital of Los Reyes to certify the foundation before the marquis.
The cabildo elected local authorities, who took office on the first day of the year. These included the mayors, the city procurator, the steward, the market inspector, the official responsible for estates of the deceased, and the administrator of the hospital and apothecary. Civil wars disrupted this order, as rebel groups made appointments in favor of their supporters. From 1553, by order of Viceroy Martín Enríquez de Almanza, the lottery system known as insaculación was introduced, under which a mayor "of residents" and another "of soldiers" were elected; these were later replaced by a mayor "of residents" and one "of citizens".
By decree of Philip II of Spain, the accountant, treasurer and royal officials of the treasury were allowed to serve simultaneously as aldermen. This produced overlapping powers and conflict. To avoid such disputes, the offices of standard-bearer and alderman were sold and made perpetual, a system that remained in force until independence. The city gained relevance and received numerous distinctions within the Viceroyalty of Peru. Among the phrases of praise found in literature is one in La Galatea by Miguel de Cervantes, where the Spanish poet Diego Martínez de Rivera, while in Arequipa, refers to the city with the phrase "In Arequipa, eternal spring".
Among the first public works were the main church, the town hall, the bridge over the Chili River and the monastery of Nuestra Señora de Gracia. In 1609, following a petition sent to Pope Paul V on 20 July 1609, a papal bull of 6 January 1612 authorized the demarcation of the diocese of Arequipa. King Philip III of Spain entrusted the mission to Viceroy Juan de Mendoza y Luna.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the city underwent notable consolidation and growth. Economically, Arequipa became a commercial link between the agricultural production of its valleys and regional mining trade, especially the Caylloma mines and the Potosí circuit. The valleys of Vítor, Siguas and Majes supplied the city with wheat, maize, wine and aguardiente, products that brought it renown and commercial dynamism.
Urban and architectural life in the 17th century was marked by the splendor of religious architecture, with churches such as San Agustín, La Merced and San Francisco, as well as large convents such as Santa Catalina and Santa Teresa, which were not only religious centers but also spaces of sociability and female cultural life. The 18th century, by contrast, saw a boom in civil architecture, with manor houses and palaces such as Casa del Moral and Casa Tristán del Pozo, built in sillar stone with Baroque portals that gave the city stylistic unity and monumentality.
Cultural life accompanied this development. Theatre contracts for performances in the city are documented as early as 1637, and education expanded during the 18th century, reflected in high literacy rates and in the activity of schools run by religious orders and the Colegio de Educandas, institutions that trained much of the local Creole elite. A literary and chronicle tradition flourished in parallel, especially the work of Ventura Travada y Córdova, which offers a detailed portrait of Arequipan religiosity and social life in his time. Female convents, particularly Santa Catalina and Santa Teresa, became centers of sociability, written culture and artistic patronage.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Arequipa”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.