The Nupe is a small river in the

Huánuco Region Huánuco (; qu, Wanuku) is a city in central Peru. It had a population of 196,627 as of 2017 and in 2015 it had a population of 175,068. It is the capital of the Huánuco Region and the Huánuco District. It is the seat of the diocese of Huán ...

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 ...

. It rises in the

Cordillera Huayhuash Huayhuash (possibly from Quechua ''waywash'', weasel'','' or ''waywashi'', squirrel) is a mountain range within the Andes of Peru, in the boundaries of the regions of Ancash, Lima and Huánuco.escale.minedu.gob.pe - UGEL map of the Cajatambo Pr ...

and joins the

Lauricocha River Lawriqucha River (Huánuco Quechua ''lawri'' bluish, Quechua language, Quechua ''qucha'' lake, lagoon, "bluish lake", hispanicized spelling ''Lauricocha'') is a river in the Huánuco Region in Peru. It belongs to the watershed of the Marañón Rive ...

forming what is then called the

Marañón River , name_etymology = , image = Maranon.jpg , image_size = 270 , image_caption = Valley of the Marañón between Chachapoyas ( Leimebamba) and Celendín , map = Maranonrivermap.png , map_size ...

, one of the two largest upstream contributors to the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

. The headwaters of the Nupe have been proposed as one of the sources of the Amazon. The source of the Nupe River is Quesillococha lake () at an elevation of . The lake is at the foot of the Saropo Este glacier on the lower slopes of

Siula Grande Siula Grande is a mountain in the Huayhuash mountain range in the Peruvian Andes. It is high and has a subpeak, Siula Chico, high. __NOTOC__ ''Touching the Void'' ascent In 1985 Siula Grande was climbed by Joe Simpson and Simon Yates. Altho ...

mountain, elevation , one of the highest peaks in the

of the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. Upstream tributaries of the Nupe also flow from the glaciers below

Yerupajá Yerupajá is a mountain of the Huayhuash mountain range in west central Peru, part of the Andes. It's located at Áncash, Bolognesi Province, Lauricocha Province. At (other sources: ) it is the second-highest in Peru and the highest in the Hua ...

, elevation, the second highest mountain in Peru. The Nupe has a length of before joining the Lauricocha River near the village of Rondos. The elevation at the junction of the rivers is . The headwaters of the Marañon, especially Lauricocha Lake and river, were long considered the source of the Amazon. However, in the late 19th century, an Italian-born Peruvian geographer and scientist

Antonio Raimondi Antonio Raimondi (September 19, 1826 – October 26, 1890) was a prominent Italian-born Peruvian geographer and scientist. Born in Milan, Raimondi emigrated to Peru, arriving on July 28, 1850, at the port of Callao. In 1851 he became a profe ...

proposed that the Nupe River, which he said was longer and more voluminous than the Lauricocha River, is the main head stream. Other sources at the headwaters of the Apurimac and Mantaro rivers have since been proposed as the source of the Amazon. Several villages are located along the course of the Nupe River, the largest being Queropalca with a population of 779 in 2017 and Baños with a population of 975 in 2017. Rondos, near the junction of the Nupe and Lauricocha, had a population of 709 in 2017."Lauricocha", ''City Population,'

accessed 10 August 2021 The major north-south Inca road system, Inca road, the Qhapaq Ňan, which ran from

Cuzco 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 seventh most populous in Peru; ...

Quito Quito (; qu, Kitu), formally San Francisco de Quito, is the capital and largest city of Ecuador, with an estimated population of 2.8 million in its urban area. It is also the capital of the province of Pichincha. Quito is located in a valley o ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, crossed the Nupe River on a bridge, no longer in existence, north of the town of Baños. The remnants of the road and a

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by circ ...

, enclosed by a rock wall built during the Inca period, are near the crossing. Río Marañón 00050

References

{{coord, 9.9886, S, 76.6824, W, source:wikidata-and-enwiki-cat-tree_region:PE, display=title Rivers of Peru Rivers of Huánuco Region Upper Amazon