Ica () ( Quechua: ''Ika'') is a city and the capital of the

Department of Ica Ica (; ) is a Subdivisions of Peru, department and region of Peru. It borders the Pacific Ocean on the west; the Lima Region on the north; the Huancavelica Region, Huancavelica and Ayacucho Region, Ayacucho regions on the east; and the Arequipa ...

in southern

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 ...

. While the area was long inhabited by varying cultures of

indigenous people There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

s, the Spanish ''

conquistador Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (; ; ) were Spanish Empire, Spanish and Portuguese Empire, Portuguese colonizers who explored, traded with and colonized parts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Asia during the Age of Discovery. Sailing ...

'' Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera claimed its founding in 1563. As of the 2017 census, it had a population of over 282,407. The city suffered extensive damage and loss of life during the 2007 Peru earthquake.

History

In 2007, researchers found the fossil remains of a prehistoric penguin, '' Icadyptes salasi'', which inhabited the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...

about 30 million years ago. Scientists estimate it was about tall, with a beak. Evidence of prehistoric indigenous civilizations has been found in the nearby deserts, such as that of Paracas. Other cultures include the Chincha and the

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

, the latter of whom ruled this area beginning in the 14th century. Numerous pre-Columbian archeological artifacts are now displayed in the '' Museo Regional de Ica''. The Inca were still in power when the Spanish conquistadors invaded the territory. The Spanish colonial city was founded on 17 June 1563 by Gerónimo Luis de Cabrera as ''Villa de Valverde''. It was ruled by Spain under colonial rulers until Peru achieved independence in 1821. On 15 August 2007, a magnitude 8.0 earthquake occurred off the coast of Peru, severely damaging buildings, houses and infrastructure in Ica. Initially 17 people died and 70 were killed when a church collapsed. Pisco was even more severely damaged and many people were buried under buildings that had collapsed. Some 80% of the city's buildings were destroyed.

Geography

The city is located on the Ica River about to the south of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

, along the desert coast of southern Peru. Further south along the

Pan-American Highway The Pan-American Highway is a vast network of roads that stretches about 30,000 kilometers (about 19,000 miles) from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the northernmost part of North America to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the southern tip of South America. I ...

lies the city of Nazca.

Climate

Ica lies on the border of the Atacama desert and has one of the driest climates in the world

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BWh'', with only around 1 centimetre of rainfall for the whole year. Temperatures are hot during the summer months (December – March) and warm through the winter months (June – September).

Transportation

Ica can be reached from

by the

, a journey of . The Tren de la Costa is planned.

Tourism

Ica and surrounding areas are the traditional source of Pisco brandy. Ica is the site of the ''Museo Regional de Ica'', a regional museum with exhibits ranging from prehistoric artifacts to the Spanish colonial era. On display are

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

funerary bundles and mummies. The elongated skulls from the Paracas and pre-Inca cultures suggest ritual deformation, perhaps to mark an elite class. Some skulls also bear evidence of

trepanning Trepanning, also known as trepanation, trephination, trephining or making a burr hole (the verb ''trepan'' derives from Old French from -4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, ...

, a kind of early brain surgery to relieve internal pressure or remove damaged skull matter suffered in battle. A collection of furniture, paintings and artifacts date from the Spanish colonial era. The Department of Ica encompasses considerable desert, giving it unique opportunities for tourism. The nearby Huacachina oasis is located in the midst of sand dunes. The city of Ica attracts international travelers, as well as resort seekers from Peru. Some young visitors try sandboarding; others travel the dunes in sand buggies.

Agriculture

The many days of sunshine have made Ica the center of an important agricultural region. Commodity crops are

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

asparagus Asparagus (''Asparagus officinalis'') is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus (genus), Asparagus'' native to Eurasia. Widely cultivated as a vegetable crop, its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable. Description ...

avocado The avocado, alligator pear or avocado pear (''Persea americana'') is an evergreen tree in the laurel family (Lauraceae). It is native to Americas, the Americas and was first domesticated in Mesoamerica more than 5,000 years ago. It was priz ...

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

s and other produce. It is known by Peruvians as the "Land of Eternal Sun". Although the area has four seasons, the climate is warm and dry. Visitors say that it feels like a northern summer year-round. The climate of the city can help in easing

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

, which is aggravated by damp and humid climates and their associated

allergens An allergen is an otherwise harmless substance that triggers an allergic reaction in sensitive individuals by stimulating an immune response. In technical terms, an allergen is an antigen that is capable of stimulating a type-I hypersensitivi ...

. The desert city has drawn water for domestic and agricultural needs from an aquifer fed by glacial melt water. The regional usage is exceeding the inflow of water into the aquifer. Because the aquifer is quickly drying up, activists have called for more efficient irrigation, or adding dams and water diversions.

References

External links

Ica and the Huacachina Oasis
, Trekker

TampoPampa

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ica (City) Populated places in the Department of Ica Populated places established in 1563 Cities in Peru 1563 establishments in the Viceroyalty of Peru Regional capital cities in Peru