
Borja is a settlement in the
Datem del Marañón Province of the
Loreto Region
Loreto () is Peru's northernmost department and region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest department, slightly smaller than Japan; it is also one of the most sparsely populated regions due to ...
of
Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
. The hamlet is located on the banks of the
Marañón River at an elevation of . In 2017 the population was 329.
Established in 1619, Borja was one of the first settlements of
Spanish colonists in the
Amazon
Amazon most often refers to:
* Amazon River, in South America
* Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin
* Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company
* Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
lowlands of Peru. Borja became a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
mission of the
Jesuit Order
The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...
in 1638. Because of European diseases and enslavement of the indigenous
Maina and other ethnic groups, the population of Borja and its vicinity declined from about 3,000 in 1638 to a few hundred by the late 18th century.
History
The first Spaniard known to have been in the Borja region was
Juan de Salinas y Loyola who came this way in 1557, floating down the
Marañón River through the tumultuous waters of the
Pongo de Manseriche, a
water gap, that marks the end of the
Andes
The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...
highlands and the beginning of the flat, forested upper
Amazon Basin
The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributary, tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries ...
. The site of Borja is past the Pongo and was inhabited at that time by the Mainas people, one of many ethnic groups living in the region.
In 1619, the settlement of Borja was founded by Diego Baca de Vega from
Loja,
Ecuador
Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...
. It was one of the first Spanish settlements in the lowlands of the Amazon Basin.
Borja was named for the viceroy of Peru,
Francisco de Borja y Aragón. The indigenous population of the Borja region was the
Maina people who numbered at that time three or four thousand. Twenty-one Spaniards and mestizos were awarded
encomiendas (a right to compel the labor of the indigenous people) by the colonial government and forced the indigenous people (Indians or ''Indios'') to work on Spanish farms. Many of the Maina died of disease or overwork or escaped the encomiendas. In 1635, the Maina revolted and were severely repressed.
When Jesuit missionaries arrived in 1638 the population consisted of about 2,800 Maina and other ethnic groups and about 200 Spaniards, including a small military garrison. Borja was the Spanish administrative center of a region that was called Mainas. The population of Borja was only sustained by frequent expeditions into the jungle by the missionaries, soldiers, and Christian Indians to capture Maina and other peoples and force them to return to or settle in Borja. Nevertheless, the population continued to decline and in 1661 was only 1,000. In 1776, the population was 263 indigenous people and 152 Spanish and mestizos. Jesuit missionaries established missions among a multitude of different ethnic groups in an area as large as
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
. Most of the missions they established were ephemeral.
Borja was isolated. Links with the highland areas of Peru were often through the town of
Jaen, southwest in straight line distance. In 1743, travel between the two settlements still required, at the most favorable times, four days by road and 2 and one-half days floating down the Marañón, passing through the dangerous Pongo. In times of high water, the river was not navigable, and Borja was isolated. Borja produced small amounts of
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
and
achiote for trade with Jaen.
References
{{Coord, 4.470, S, 77.548, W, region:PE-TM_type:city(80000), display=title
Populated places in the Department of Loreto
1619 establishments in the Spanish Empire
History of Indigenous peoples of South America
Spanish missions in South America
Jesuit history in South America
Spanish colonization of the Americas
Jesuit missions