Columbia Encyclopedia entry: Piura
Piurapyoo'rä, city (1993 pop. 199,484), capital of Piura dept., NW Peru, in the irrigated Piura valley of the Peruvian coastal desert. It is the commercial center for the region's cotton, sugarcane, and rice crops. Textiles are its principal manufacture. San Miguel de Piura, the first settlement in Peru, was founded on the coast by Francisco Pizarro in 1532, but the site was unhealthful, and the settlement was moved to the present Piura. From there, in 1533, Sebastián de Benalcázar set out on his conquest of Ecuador. Piura was severely damaged by an earthquake in 1912.
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Wikipedia search results for: Piura
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Piura is a city in northwestern Peru. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. The population is 377,496.
It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the first Spanish city in South America, San Miguel de Piura, in 1532. Piura declared its independence on January 4, 1821.
Like most of northern Peru mostly known as , the territory of Piura has been inhabited by their autochthonous group of natives called tallanes and yungas. These lived without an organization or single leader to rule until the Mochicas eventually took control and the mixture of these evolved into the Vicus Culture. Centuries...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: Piura
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- Benalcázar, Sebastián de
Benalcázar or Belalcázar, Sebastián de, c.1479–1551, Spanish conquistador. After accompanying Columbus on his third voyage (1498), Benalcázar served in Darién and Nicaragua before joining Fran...
