Huaral is a town in central

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

, capital of the

Huaral Huaral is a town in central Peru, capital of the Huaral Province, Huaral Province in the Department of Lima. Etymology Regarding the origin of the word ''huaral'', there are two hypotheses: * The first corresponds to historian Jesus Elias Ipinze ...

Province in the

Department of Lima 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 ...

Etymology

Regarding the origin of the word ''huaral'', there are two hypotheses: * The first corresponds to historian Jesus Elias Ipinze, who affirms that the word ''huaral'', comes from the name of a main

cacique A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

of the town called Martín Guaral Paico, in the middle of the 16th century. From what it follows, ''guaral'' would have subsequently derived in ''huaral''. * The second hypothesis corresponds to archaeologist

Julio C. Tello Julio César Tello (April 11, 1880 – June 3, 1947) was a Peruvian Archaeology, archaeologist. Tello is considered the "father of Peruvian archeology" and was the first indigenous people of the Americas, indigenous archaeologist in South America ...

, who visited Huaral, for reasons of carrying out archaeological investigations. Tello affirms that the name of Huaral comes from the corruption of the

Aymara Aymara may refer to: Languages and people * Aymaran languages, the second most widespread Andean language ** Aymara language, the main language within that family ** Central Aymara, the other surviving branch of the Aymara(n) family, which today ...

words ''huaralí'', ''huararo'', ''huararí'' or ''huallalí''.

Geography

Huaral is a geographical territory which lies north of the capital of Peru, located north of

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, but starting its territory by the coast side at kilometer 58 of the North Panamerican Highway, in the middle of the "Serpentín de Pasamayo". The territory of the city includes the coastal strip comprising all the Chancay valley to the high peaks of Vichaycocha, the source of the Chackal or Pasacmayo "Moon River".

History

Before the arrival of the Spanish, the town was a community of ayllus, that the Spanish called "Guaral Viejo". Huaral was founded on March 21, 1551 by the Spanish, being Viceroy of Peru Antonio de Mendoza, as "Settlement of the Indies". By then, the name of the town was "San Juan de Guaral". After the establishment, its hegemony became more solid and dedicated from then to agriculture, achieving in the course of the colony commercial development. However, it was dependent as an annex of Chancay but as time passed, its natural progress placed the town in the capacity to become independent from Chancay, a situation that was recognized by President Remigio Morales Bermúdez who decrees the creation of San Juan de Huaral on October 31, 1890. Nevertheless, the installation of the first municipality took place on April 1, 1893, three years after the town's creation.

References

{{Authority control Populated places in the Lima Region 1551 establishments in the Spanish Empire