San Lorenzo Island, Peru
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

San Lorenzo Island is the largest island 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 island is in the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
near the port of
Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...
and measures .INEI, Compendio Estadistica 2007, page 24–25.


Sovereignty rights

San Lorenzo Island was incorporated in 1899 as territory of the Constitutional Province of Callao by decree of President Andrés Avelino Cáceres Dorregaray. The island was seized by the
coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
government of Leguía y Salcedo and subsequently put under navy sequestration in 1926. Under the unique status that Callao holds as Peru's only constitutionally formed province/region and without a change of status quo tilted in favor of a republic under civilian control, resolution of conflict over de facto vs de jure land use of San Lorenzo Island remains for global opinion and Peru's Supreme Court to resolve.


Access

, San Lorenzo is not open to the public. It is a restricted zone controlled by the
Marina de Guerra del Perú The Peruvian Navy (, abbreviated MGP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Additional missions include assistance in saf ...
; in rare cases, specialized professionals (archaeologists, naturalists, etc.) may apply for and receive extraordinary permission to land on the island. Civilian vessels are required to maintain a distance of at least from the shore of the island.


Geography

Only long and wide, San Lorenzo is the largest island in Peru. Its lack of
fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...
has precluded its urbanisation, although there are many proposed projects to do so, including a bridge to connect the District of La Punta in nearby
Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...
with the island. Nearby is the small island of
El Frontón El Frontón is a deserted island and former penal colony off the coast of Callao, Peru. Geography Dry, deserted and without vegetation, it is located 7 km from the coast, to the west of La Punta District and to the southeast of San Lorenzo Isla ...
, which is separated by a channel wide called El Boqueron, and Palomino Island, known for its populations of
sea lion Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...
s. San Lorenzo Island's maximum height is the Cerro La Mina at above
sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...
.


History

San Lorenzo has some archeological interest and includes artifacts of
Incan 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 Inca civilisation rose fr ...
and
pre-Incan This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by John Rowe and Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different ...
origin. It was used during the
Battle of Callao The Battle of Callao (, as it is known in South America) occurred on May 2, 1866, between a Spanish Empire, Spanish fleet under the command of Admiral Casto Méndez Núñez and the fortified battery emplacements of the Peruvian port city of Cal ...
as a burial place; its current under-use by the Peruvian Navy has led, in the first decades of the twenty-first century, to a new de facto status as an unlisted marine bioreserve, being the home to many creatures, notably scallops, seabirds, and
sea lions Sea lions are pinnipeds characterized by external ear flaps, long foreflippers, the ability to walk on all fours, short and thick hair, and a big chest and belly. Together with the fur seals, they make up the family Otariidae, eared seals. ...
. The island never had permanent human occupation due to lack of freshwater sources. It was constantly visited by people of ancient Peru who used it as a cemetery. In fact in the mythology of ancient Peru central coast marine islands were related to the afterlife. The island was an important part in various stages of colonial Peruvian history, and for strengthening the
independence of Peru The Peruvian War of Independence () was a series of military conflicts in Peru from 1809 to 1826 that resulted in the country's independence from the Spanish Empire. Part of the broader Spanish American wars of independence, it led to the dis ...
and the Spanish-South American. During colonial times, stones that were used to build various buildings like the old Presidio of Callao and the Royal Fortress Felipe were extracted from the quarries. It was also, eventually, home base for several English and Dutch pirates, as
Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( 1540 – 28 January 1596) was an English Exploration, explorer and privateer best known for making the Francis Drake's circumnavigation, second circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition between 1577 and 1580 (bein ...
and Jacques l'Hermite, who raided Callao. The latter died of plague along with some of his men and was buried on the island. In 1866, in republican times, the Spanish Armada retreated to San Lorenzo after their defeat by Peruvian forces in the Battle of Callao, on 2 May. There the Spanish repaired their ships and buried their dead before leaving the Peruvian coast.
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
explored the island in 1835 looking at the geology and nature. Subsequently, between 1906 and 1907,
Max Uhle Friedrich Max Uhle (25 March 1856 – 11 May 1944) was a German archaeologist, whose work in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia at the turn of the Twentieth Century had a significant impact on the practice of archaeology of South America. Biograp ...
made the first excavations at the southern tip of the island, finding metal objects and mummies in a pre-Hispanic cemetery in the Caleta de la Cruz, that corresponds to the end of Intermediate and Late Horizon ( to 1532). In 1912 President
Guillermo Billinghurst Guillermo Enrique Billinghurst Angulo (27 July 1851, Arica – 28 June 1915, Iquique) was a Peruvian politician of English descent who served as the 37th President of Peru. He succeeded Augusto B. Leguía, from 1912 to 1914. An Anglo-Peruvia ...
raised the proposal of building a dyke across the sea to Callao, an initial study being conducted by Dutch engineer J. Kraus in 1914. In 1958, the proposal was raised again by the Danish firm Christian & Nielsen, who put together a project that involved the transfer to the island of the fishing port and the creation of a new commercial port. The project did not materialize because of financial problems, lack of potable water and the impact that would have been caused on the island's wildlife. In the first half of the 1990s, the naval base located on the island served as a temporary prison for the recently captured then leaders of the insurgent groups
Shining Path The Shining Path (, SL), self-named the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru, following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the ...
and MRTA (
Abimael Guzmán Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso (; 3 December 1934 − 11 September 2021), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Chairman Gonzalo (), was a Peruvian Maoist guerrilla leader. He founded the organization Communist Party of Peru – Shining ...
and
Víctor Polay Víctor Alfredo Polay Campos (born 6 April 1951) is one of the founders of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, a Peruvian Marxist–Leninist terrorist organization that fought in the internal conflict in Peru. He is currently imprisoned in ...
, respectively), as maximum security prisons were built for them. In February 2010 the
National Institute of Culture The Ministry of Culture (, MINCUL) is the government ministry of Peru in charge of the promotion of Peruvian culture and identity. It was created on 20 July 2010, during the Second presidency of Alan García. It replaced the National Institute ...
declared twenty existing archaeological monuments on the island "Cultural Patrimony of the Nation".


Future development

The future San Lorenzo is the subject of ongoing debate. With vast potential for development, a popular suggestion is to link San Lorenzo to the mainland by building a bridge to the nearby La Punta peninsula. This would allow development of the island as a tourist destination and as a megaport and airport similarly to
Valparaíso Valparaíso () is a major city, Communes of Chile, commune, Port, seaport, and naval base facility in the Valparaíso Region of Chile. Valparaíso was originally named after Valparaíso de Arriba, in Castilla–La Mancha, Castile-La Mancha, Spain ...
. Opponents of this plan suggest that the Peruvian Navy should continue control of the island or that it becomes a fully protected nature reserve.


Notable prisoners

*
Abimael Guzmán Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso (; 3 December 1934 − 11 September 2021), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Chairman Gonzalo (), was a Peruvian Maoist guerrilla leader. He founded the organization Communist Party of Peru – Shining ...
*
Víctor Polay Víctor Alfredo Polay Campos (born 6 April 1951) is one of the founders of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, a Peruvian Marxist–Leninist terrorist organization that fought in the internal conflict in Peru. He is currently imprisoned in ...
*
Cristóbal Talcapillán Cristóbal Talcapillán (born 1649), also known as Don Cristóbal,de Vea 1886, p. 574 was a Chono man who became known for his role in ushering the expeditions of Bartolomé Gallardo (1674–1675) and Antonio de Vea (1675–1676) into the fjords ...


References in media

The island off Peru appears in a historical novel series by M.C. Muir, ''Under Admiralty Orders - The Oliver Quintrell Series''. In Book 2, '' The Tainted Prize'', the island figures in the action involving two British Royal Navy ships and the Spanish Navy in 1804 (The Napoleonic Era). The fictional Island of San Lorenzo is the setting for most of
Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut ( ; November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American author known for his Satire, satirical and darkly humorous novels. His published work includes fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and five nonfict ...
's book ''
Cat's Cradle ''Cat's Cradle'' is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first published on March 18, 1963, exploring and satirizing issues of science, technology, the p ...
''. This Island is the home of the religion
Bokononism ''Cat's Cradle'' is a satirical postmodern novel, with science fiction elements, by American writer Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut's fourth novel, it was first published on March 18, 1963, exploring and satirizing issues of science, technology, the p ...
. Although the same name - the fictional island of San Lorenzo is located in the Caribbean Sea, positioned in the relative vicinity of
Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...
. ISLA, a poem by Edgar Saavedra. The short story, "The Pirate of the Island", in the collection, ''Ghostly Tales of Callao'', by Mario Aragón.


See also

*
San Lorenzo Megaport Project The San Lorenzo Megaport Project is a proposed plan to build a huge air, naval, and terrestrial port on the island of San Lorenzo Island, Peru, San Lorenzo in Callao, Peru using land reclamation techniques. It plans to be the largest port and only ...


References

{{Authority control Uninhabited islands of Peru Pacific islands of Peru Landforms of Callao Prison islands