Description : Piura (Quechua: Piwra) is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017. It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro founded the third Spanish city in South America and first in Peru, San Miguel de Piura, in July:27 or August 1532. Piura declared its independence from Spain on 4 January 1821. Like most of northern Peru, the territory of Piura has been inhabited by their autochthonous group of natives called tallanes and yungas. These groups lived without an organization or single leader to rule until the Muchik culture eventually took control, and the mixture of these evolved into the Vicús culture. Centuries later, Piura came under the rule of Tupac Inca Yupanqui for at least 40 years before the Spanish arrived. Francizo Pizarro came to the area and established it as the third Spanish city in South America, and Spain's first city in Peru. With the arrival of the Spanish in 1532, the current'mestizo and creole cultures of Piura were born. This mestizo culture includes influences from Spanish Extremadura and Andalucia; African influence, owing to the arrival of slaves from Madagascar (Malgache slaves); Chinese coolies who migrated from Canton to work the rice fields and replace the slaves; and also Roma Gypsies who came as pirates looking for pearls, or incognito as Spanish horsemen. The Spanish named the city from the Quechuan word pirhua, meaning "abundance". Nowadays, Piura is known as the "Ciudad del eterno calor" meaning "The city of eternal heat" because it is hot all year round.
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