Sullana

The Chira valley has always been an important farming area. Before the Spanish Invasion, ethnic groups like the Tallanes, the Mochicas, the Chimú, and finally the Incas had settled here. This region was chosen by the Spaniards to found their first city in this part of the Americas, San Miguel de Piura, on July 15, 1532. The Spaniards changed the native farming system and created Repartimientos and Encomiendas.

Sullana was founded late in the 18th century, on July 8, 1783, by Bishop Baltazar Jaime Martínez de Compañon y Bufanda and given the name of "El Principe" (The Prince).

In Querecotillo on January 11, 1821, 150 residents met and, after reading the documents sent by Torre Tagle, agreed to swear allegiance to independence on Sunday the 14th; thus, Querecotillo and Tumbes simultaneously declared their independence on that day. ^[3] In August 1821, San Martín appointed Colonel Andrés de Santa Cruz as military commander of Piura, who formed the Northern Division, gathering 2,613 volunteers from Trujillo to Piura . Thirteen young men from La Punta fought in the Battle of Pichincha on May 22, 1822, where Ecuador consolidated its independence. Later, this division joined Simón Bolívar's army, participating in battles such as Junín and Ayacucho.

At the end of the 19th Template:Siglo, following the installation and commissioning of the Paita - La Huaca -Sullana railway (1879) to facilitate cotton exports through Paita, the city of Sullana began to experience rapid industrial and economic growth, despite the major recession that occurred in the country after the War of the Pacific. From the beginning to the middle of the 20th century, the two World Wars ( 1914-17 , 1939-45 ) led to increased global demand for products such as cotton, minerals, leather, and other goods primarily destined for export This proved beneficial for the country's economic development, particularly for the northern region where the city of Sullana is located. In the 1930s, the Miguel Checa Canal, which had a significant impact on agriculture, was built, along with the first bridge over the Chira River and the Pan-American Highway.

In early 1959, the railway to Paita ceased operations, creating the need for a new road to Paita. In this same year, the Piura -Sullana electrical interconnection was completed , thus boosting industrial development and consequently leading to the creation of the city's Industrial Park. During this same period, from 1961 to 1972, the city's area increased by 75% as a result of industrial development policies and the Agrarian Reform , and the city's first hospital was inaugurated. Then, in the 1980s, from December 1982 to July 1983, the city, like the entire northern region of the country, suffered the consequences of the El Niño phenomenon , which reactivated several ravines . Template:Siglo that crossed the city, such as the Ceneguillo ravine, Cola del Alacrán, and Bellavista. Once the El Niño phenomenon ended, several canals were built in the following years, one of which was the Vía canal, all of them completed in the first year of the 1990s. In recent years, the city has gone from being a purely industrial and commercial municipality to becoming a service hub .

Migration to Sullana has been intensive, but "pueblos jóvenes" (shanty towns) are neither widespread nor conspicuous, as they are in Piura for example. The population in Sullana was 112,770 in 1981, 147,361 in 1993 and c. 162,500 in 2005.

Sullana has good bus connections to the north, to Piura in the south, as well as inland to Ayabaca and to La Tina on the Ecuadorian border. The Canal Vía runs across the city.

The Tren de la Costa is planned, which will connect the coast of Peru from Sullana to the southernmost city of Tacna.

In the first week of January the Feria Internacional de los Reyes is celebrated. The Poechos Reservoir, 27 km from the city, offers water sports like water skiing, motor-boating, fishing and swimming.