Junín () is a department and

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

in the central

highlands Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau. Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to: Places Albania * Dukagjin Highlands Armenia * Armenian Highlands Australia *Sou ...

and westernmost

Peruvian Amazon Peruvian Amazonia ( es, Amazonía del Perú) is the area of the Amazon rainforest included within the country of Peru, from east of the Andes to the borders with Ecuador, Colombia, Brazil and Bolivia. This region comprises 60% of the country ...

. Its capital is

Huancayo Huancayo (; in qu, label=Wanka Quechua, Wankayuq , '(place) with a (sacred) rock') is the capital of Junín Region, in the central highlands of Peru. Location Huancayo is located in Huancayo Province, of which it is also the capital. Sit ...

Geography

The region has a very heterogeneous

topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...

. The western

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

located near the border with the

Lima Region The Department of Lima () is a department and region located in the central coast of Peru, the ''seat of the Regional Government'' is Huacho. Lima Province, which contains the city of Lima, the country's capital, is located west of the Departmen ...

, has snowy and ice-covered peaks. On the east, there are high glacier valleys which end up in high

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ha ...

s (''

Altiplano The Altiplano (Spanish for "high plain"), Collao (Quechua and Aymara: Qullaw, meaning "place of the Qulla") or Andean Plateau, in west-central South America, is the most extensive high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The plateau is located at the ...

''). Among them is the Junín Plateau that is located between the cities of

La Oroya La Oroya is a city on the River Mantaro in central Peru. It is situated on the Andes some 176 km east-north-east of the national capital, Lima, and is capital of the Yauli Province. La Oroya is the location of a smelting operation that ea ...

and

Cerro de Pasco Cerro de Pasco is a city in central Peru, located at the top of the Andean mountains. It is the capital of the Pasco region, and an important mining center. At elevation, it is one of the highest cities in the world, and the highest or the sec ...

. The

Mantaro Valley The Mantaro Valley, also known as Jauja Valley, is a fluvial inter-Andean valley of Junin region, east of Lima, the capital of Peru. The Mantaro River flows through the fertile valley which produces potatoes, maize, and vegetables among othe ...

becomes wider before Jauja up to the limit with the

Huancavelica Region Huancavelica () is a department and region in Peru with an area of and a population of 347,639 ( 2017 census). The capital is the city Huancavelica. The region is bordered by the departments of Lima and Ica in the west, Junín in the north, ...

. This area concentrates a large share of the region's population. Towards the east, near the

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

, there is an abundance of narrow and deep

canyon A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...

s, with highly inclined hillsides, covered by woods under low-lying clouds. The

Waytapallana mountain range The Huaytapallana mountain range (possibly from Quechua ''wayta'' wild flower, a little bunch of flowers, ''pallay'' to collect, ''pallana'' an instrument to collect fruit; collectable, ''Waytapallana'' "a place where you collect wild flowers") lie ...

is located in the south central area of the region. This range holds a great fault which is the reason earthquakes happen in the area. The upper

, with valleys of great length, modelled by the Tulumayu, Pawqartampu, Perené and

Ene Ene or ENE may refer to: Ene * Ene (name), a given name and surname * Ene, a type of hydrocarbon involved in the Ene reaction and the Thiol-ene reaction * -ene'', a suffix used in the names of certain organic compounds (alkenes) * Ene, Spanish ...

rivers, is located on the eastern side of the region.

Lake Junin Lake Junin (; Spanish ''Lago Junín'', named after the nearby town of Junin) or Chinchaycocha (possibly from Quechua ''chincha, chinchay'' north, northern, ''chinchay'' ocelot, ''qucha'' lake, lagoon, "northern lake" or "ocelot lake") is the lar ...

, the largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

entirely within Peru, is located in the region, except for its northernmost tip which belongs to the

Pasco Region Pasco () is a department and region in central Peru. Its capital is Cerro de Pasco. Political division The region is divided into 3 provinces ( es, provincias, singular: ), which are composed of 28 districts (''distritos'', singular: ''distrito ...

. Junín Region is also home to

Mount Toromocho Mount Toromocho is a mountain in the Junín Region, Peru that sits next to the long established mining camp of Morococha and hosts a large polymetallic metal deposit. ''Toromocho'' means in Spanish "a bull with no horns". It is now owned by the A ...

Boundaries

The Junín Region borders the regions of Pasco in the north,

Ucayali The Ucayali River ( es, Río Ucayali, ) is the main headstream of the Amazon River. It rises about north of Lake Titicaca, in the Arequipa region of Peru and becomes the Amazon at the confluence of the Marañón close to Nauta city. The city o ...

in the northeast and

Cusco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the list of cities in Peru, seventh m ...

in the east. The

Mantaro River The Mantaro River ( es, Río Mantaro, qu, Hatunmayu) is a long river running through the central region of Peru. Its Quechua name means "great river". The word "Mantaro" may be a word originally from the Asháninka language, who live downstream a ...

marks the border of the region with the

Ayacucho Ayacucho (, qu, Ayak'uchu) is the capital city of Ayacucho Region and of Huamanga Province, Ayacucho Region, Peru. During the Inca Empire and Viceroyalty of Peru periods the city was known by the name of Huamanga (Quechua: Wamanga), and it c ...

and

Huancavelica Huancavelica () or Wankawillka in Quechua is a city in Peru. It is the capital of the department of Huancavelica and according to the 2017 census had a population of 49,570 people. The city was established on August 5, 1572 by the Viceroy ...

regions in the south and in the west it is bordered by the

Climate

The Junín Region has an average annual temperature of 13.1 °C (56 °F), a maximum high of 17 °C (62 °F) and a minimum low of 0 °C (32 °F). The

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * ''T ...

runs from November to April, and from December to March in

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

areas.

Political division

The region is divided into nine provinces ( es, provincias, singular: ), which are composed of 123 districts (''distritos'', singular: ''distrito''). The provinces and their capitals are:

The People

Languages

According to the 2007 Peru Census, the language learnt first by most of the residents was

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

(86.63%) followed by

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

(9.29%). The Quechua varieties spoken in Junín are Huanca Quechua (in the Southwest), Yaru Quechua (in the Northwest, especially in

Tarma Province The Tarma Province is a Peruvian province, making up one of the nine provinces that conform the Junín Region. To the north it borders with the Junín Province, the east with the Chanchamayo Province, the south with the Jauja Province and the we ...

). The following table shows the results concerning the language learnt first in the Junín Region by province:inei.gob.pe
INEI, Peru, Censos Nacionales 2007

History

Until the arrival of the

Incas The Inca Empire (also Quechuan and Aymaran spelling shift, known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechuan languages, Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) wa ...

the eastern plains of the Junín region, known in Quechua as "Pampas," were inhabited by the Yanesha' and the

Asháninka The Asháninka or Asháninca are an indigenous people living in the rainforests of Peru and in the State of Acre, Brazil. Their ancestral lands are in the forests of Junín, Pasco, Huánuco and part of Ucayali in Peru. Population The Ashá ...

people, who lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and tended to be hostile towards outsiders. Meanwhile, the southwestern Mantaro Valley was inhabited by the Huancas.

Sapa Inca The Sapa Inca (from Quechua ''Sapa Inka'' "the only Inca") was the monarch of the Inca Empire (''Tawantinsuyu''), as well as ruler of the earlier Kingdom of Cusco and the later Neo-Inca State. While the origins of the position are mythical and o ...

Pachacuti Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui ( qu, Pachakutiq Inka Yupanki) was the ninth Sapa Inca (1418–1471/1472) of the Kingdom of Cusco which he transformed into the Inca Empire ( qu, Tawantinsuyu). Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca si ...

conquered this region in 1460, bringing it under the domain of the

Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

became the region's main highway rest stop on the Inca Trail. Woolen mills (known in Spanish as "obrajes" or "mills") were created during the viceroyalty, where the tissue and its craft became a tradition that continues today. On September 13, 1825,

Simón Bolívar Simón José Antonio de la Santísima Trinidad Bolívar y Palacios (24 July 1783 – 17 December 1830) was a Venezuelan military and political leader who led what are currently the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and B ...

issued a decree creating what is now the Junín Region, to commemorate his victory in the

Battle of Junín The Battle of Junín was a military engagement of the Peruvian War of Independence, fought in the highlands of the Junín Region on 6 August 1824. The preceding February the royalists had regained control of Lima, and having regrouped in Trujil ...

, the last real cavalry charge in South America where no shot was fired. Major events of national importance occurred during this period: Huancayo hosted the Assembly that issued the 1839 Constitution and on December 3, 1854,

Ramón Castilla Ramón Castilla y Marquesado (; 31 August 1797 – 30 May 1867) was a Peruvian ''caudillo'' who served as President of Peru three times as well as the Interim President of Peru (Revolution Self-proclaimed President) in 1863. His earliest pr ...

signed a decree that granted freedom to

Afro-Peruvian Black Peruvians or Afro-Peruvians are Peruvian of mostly or partially African descent. They mostly descend from enslaved Africans brought to Peru after the arrival of the conquistadors. Early history The first Africans arrived with the conque ...

slaves.

Places of interest

* Asháninka Communal Reserve * Chacamarca Historical Sanctuary * Convent of Santa Rosa de Ocopa *

Gran Pajonal The Gran Pajonal (Great Scrubland or Great Savanna) is an isolated interfluvial plateau in the Amazon Basin of Peru. It is located in the departments of Ucayali, Pasco and Junín. The plateau is inhabited by the Asháninka or Ashéninka people ...

Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve The Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve ( es, Reserva Paisajística Nor Yauyos-Cochas) is a protected area in Peru located in the Lima Region, Yauyos Province and in the Junín Region, Jauja Province. It lies with the Peruvian Yungas and Central ...

* Otishi National Park *

Pampa Hermosa Reserved Zone Pampa Hermosa National Sanctuary ( es, Santuario Nacional Pampa Hermosa) is a protected area in Peru located in the region of Junín. It preserves one of the last pristine areas of montane forests in central Peru. Geography ''Pampa Hermosa Nati ...

Sources

External links

Gobierno Regional Junín
– Junín Regional Government official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Junin Region Regions of Peru