Iquitos

Iquitos serves as the capital of Peru’s Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest urban center in the Peruvian Amazon, situated east of the Andes, and ranks as the ninth most populous city in the country. Often called the “capital of the Peruvian Amazon,” it holds the distinction of being the world’s largest city not on an island that is inaccessible by road; travel to and from Iquitos is possible only by river or air.

The city lies within the Great Plains of the Amazon Basin, where the Amazon, Nanay, and Itaya rivers converge. The broader Iquitos metropolitan area, home to 471,993 people, includes four districts: Iquitos, Punchana, Belén, and San Juan Bautista.

Indigenous peoples have inhabited this region for millennia. Spanish records indicate that around 1757, Jesuit missionaries established a reduction called San Pablo de Napeanos on the banks of the Nanay River. They gathered local Napeano (Yameo) and Iquito natives to live there, naming the settlement after these groups.

During the late 19th-century Amazon rubber boom, Iquitos became a major hub for exporting rubber from the Amazon Basin and housed the headquarters of the Peruvian Amazon Company (PAC). The city’s economy relied heavily on the PAC, which was controlled by Peruvian businessman Julio César Arana. The company subjected indigenous workers to near-slavery conditions through force and harsh treatment, until an investigation sparked a backlash against the firm. Additionally, rubber seedlings were smuggled out of Peru and cultivated on plantations in Southeast Asia, which drove down prices for Peruvian rubber. As the rubber industry collapsed, many workers and merchants abandoned Iquitos.

Alongside Manaus, Iquitos was a leading city during the Amazon rubber boom (1880–1914). The influx of Europeans during this period left a mark on the city’s architecture and cultural institutions, which reflected their traditions. An opera house and a Jewish cemetery were among the structures built at that time.

Later in the 20th century, the city and its surrounding region diversified their economy. Exports came to include timber, fish and fish by-products, oil, minerals, and agricultural crops. Tourism and related crafts also generated revenue. In 1999, the city consolidated its four municipalities into a single administrative unit.

**History**

**Early period** For thousands of years, Amerindians lived in the area. By the time Europeans arrived, the Napeano and Iquito peoples occupied the region. They maintained small, seasonal settlements and lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers, closely tied to the rivers. The name “Iquitos” comes from a native group the Spaniards called Iquitos, who originally inhabited areas along the Pastaza, Arabela, Tigre, Nanay, and Curaray rivers. Over time, the Iquito people migrated to the region around the Nanay, Amazonas, and Itaya rivers, as well as Lake Moronacocha.

Between 1638 and 1769, the Iquitos and other native tribes of the Marañon rivers were forced to settle in various missions (reducciones) founded and run by Jesuit missionaries from the Audiencia of Quito. The Jesuits established themselves in the major cities of the Audiencia, which at that time belonged to the Viceroyalty of New Granada. Over roughly 130 years, 161 Jesuit missionaries worked to convert and educate the Amazon region’s natives. This group included 63 criollos (white Spanish colonists born in the Audiencia), 43 Spaniards, 32 Germans and Dutch, 20 Italians, 2 Portuguese, and 1 Frenchman. Their mission in South America was to bring Christianity to the Amazon Basin’s indigenous peoples. The Jesuits successfully gathered natives living along the Marañon River into various missions, where they were put to work farming and other tasks.

Beginning in 1730, the Jesuits spent 37 years founding the Iquitos missions along the Marañon River, near the mouth of the Napo and Amazon rivers. These settlements were collectively called the Iquitos Missions because they were primarily populated by Iquitos natives. Jesuit Father José Bahamonde, born in Quito on 1 January 1710, named and founded all of these missions. He was accepted into the Jesuit order and served as a missionary for decades. After King Charles III of Spain suppressed and expelled the Society of Jesus from South America in 1767, Bahamonde was exiled to Italy, where he died in Ravenna on 11 May 1786.

Below is a chronological list of notable Iquitos Missions founded by Bahamonde and other Jesuits:

- 1730: Santa Maria de la Luz de los Iquitos “town,” founded by Father Bahamonde – recorded in the Archives of the Indies in Spain. - 1740: Juan Nepomuceno de Iquitos, founded by Father Bahamonde. - 1741: Santa Bárbara de Iquitos, founded by Father Bahamonde. - 1742: San Sebastián de Iquitos, founded by Fathers Bahamonde and Bretano. - 1748: Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de Maracanos (de Iquitos), founded by Father Bahamonde. - 1754: Santa María de Iquitos, founded by Father Uriarte. - 1757: San Pablo de los Napeanos, founded by Father Bahamonde. - 1763: San Javier de Iquitos, founded by Father Palme. - 1767: San José de Iquitos, founded by Father Uriarte. Later that year, the Jesuits were expelled from South America by order of Charles III.

During the Spanish colonial era, most Jesuit missions fell under the jurisdiction of the Royal Audiencia of Quito. Created in 1563, this Audiencia was part of the Viceroyalty of Peru. It was briefly transferred to the Viceroyalty of New Granada on 27 May 1717 under the Cedula Real of 1717 (Royal Decree of 1717). Six and a half years later, on 5 November 1723, King Philip V of Spain dissolved the Viceroyalty of New Granada and reincorporated the Audiencia of Quito into the Viceroyalty of Peru. Sixteen years after that, Philip V decided to re-create the Viceroyalty of New Granada and reincorporate the Audiencia of Quito.