Tumbes is a city in northwestern

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 ...

, on the banks of the

Tumbes River The Tumbes River ( or Río Túmbez in Peru; Río Puyango in Ecuador), is a river in South America. The river's sources are located between Ecuadorian El Oro and Loja provinces. It is the border between El Oro and Loja, and afterwards the border ...

. It is the capital of the

Tumbes Region Tumbes () is a coastal department and region in northwestern Peru bordering Ecuador. Due to the region's location near the Equator it has a warm climate, with beaches that are considered among the finest in Peru. Despite its small area, the re ...

, as well as of Tumbes Province and Tumbes District. Located near the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

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 ...

, Tumbes has 111,595 inhabitants as of 2015. It is served by the Cap. FAP Pedro Canga Rodriguez Airport. It is located on the Gulf of Guayaquil along with Zorritos.

History

Tumbes has its origins back in pre-Inca times when it was inhabited by a cultural group of natives called Tumpis. At its peak, its population is estimated to have reached 178,000. After 1400, Inca

Pachacuti Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, also called Pachacútec (), was the ninth Sapa Inca of the Chiefdom of Cusco, which he transformed into the Inca Empire (). Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca site of Machu Picchu was built as an ...

ruled over Tumbes and the territory became an important political stronghold during the

Inca Empire 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 ...

. Later Inca emperor

Huayna Capac Huayna Capac (; Cuzco Quechua: ''Wayna Qhapaq'' ) (before 14931527) was the third Sapa Inca of Tawantinsuyu, the Inca Empire. He was the son of and successor to Túpac Inca Yupanqui,Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro; 2015, originally published in Sp ...

expanded Tumbes by ordering the construction of roads, houses and palaces.

Spanish arrival

Tumbes was first visited by 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 ...

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...

during the start of the

Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, also known as the Conquest of Peru, was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. After years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spaniards, ...

in 1528.Prescott, W.H., 2011, The History of the Conquest of Peru, Digireads.com Publishing, Molina noted that Tumbes was a well organized town. Pizarro made a second expedition in 1532 during which he encountered resistance from the

curaca A ''kuraka'' ( Quechua for the principal governor of a province or a communal authority in the Tawantinsuyu), or curaca (Hispanicized spelling), was an official of the Andean civilizations, unified by the Inca Empire in 1438, who held the role of ...

(chieftain) ''Chilimaza'' in what became known as the ''Battle of the Manglares''. Pizarro was eventually successful and is said to have planted a cross in the invaded territory as a sign of Hispanic victory. Felipillo and Yacané, the first South American Indigenous interpreters who later aided Pizarro and his followers during the conquest of Peru, were born in Tumbes.

Colony and independence

During its colonial period, Tumbes was sparsely populated and formed a part of the Audiencia of Quito through an unmodified Cedula of 1563 and Cedula of 1740. When Tumbes declared its independence from Spain, it opted to join Peru believing in the right of free determination of peoples. First, the Republic of the Gran Colombia challenged that right and then Ecuador claiming de jure rights through unmodified colonial Royal Decrees ( Real Cédulas ), but to no avail. The Protocol of Rio de Janeiro signed in 1942 with Ecuador legally confirmed Peru's previously de facto rights over Tumbes after a victorious war. However, lasting peace between both countries was not achieved until 1998, after a final conflict in 1995. Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori and Ecuadorian Presidente Jamil Mahuad signed a final document in which Ecuador accepted Perú's right over Tumbes and other territories claimed by Ecuador until then.

Geography

Climate

Tumbes has a

hot arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(Köppen ''BWh''), although it receives an average annual rainfall of , due to its high

potential evapotranspiration Potential evapotranspiration (PET) or potential evaporation (PE) is the amount of water that would be evaporated and transpired by a specific crop, soil or ecosystem if there was sufficient water available. It is a reflection of the energy avail ...

. Rainfall is very variable due to the

El Niño Southern Oscillation EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

, with strong El Niños frequently seeing more than twice the mean rain.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tumbes (City) Populated places in the Department of Tumbes Regional capital cities in Peru