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PIURA

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Originally appearing in Volume V21, Page 683 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PIURA , the northernmost maritime See also:

department of See also:Peru, bounded See also:north by the Gulf of See also:Guayaquil, N.E. by See also:Ecuador, S. by the departments of See also:Cajamarca and See also:Lambayeque, and W. by the Pacific. See also:Area, 14,849 sq. m.; pop. (1906, estimate), 154,080-both totals exclusive of the See also:province of Tumbes, or Tumbez (area, about 1980 sq. m.; pop., in 1906, about 8000), which has been administratively separated from the department for military reasons. The department belongs partly to the arid coastal See also:plain that extends from the Gulf of Guayaquil southward nearly to See also:Valparaiso, and partly to a broken mountainous region belonging to the Western Cordilleras. The coastal See also:zone is traversed by the Tumbes, Chira and Piura See also:rivers, which have their See also:sources in the melting snows of the higher See also:Andes and flow westward across the See also:desert to the See also:coast. The valleys of the Chira and Piura are irrigated and maintain large populations. Rough See also:cotton, called " See also:vegetable See also:wool," and See also:tobacco are the See also:principal products, and are also produced in the valley of the Tumbes and in some of the elevated See also:mountain districts. On the upland pastures See also:cattle have See also:long been raised, and See also:goat-breeding has been added in See also:modern times. Mules also are reared. See also:Petroleum is an important product, and there are See also:wells at a number of places along the coast, from Tumbes to Sechura, the most productive being those of Talara and Zorritos. There are See also:sulphur deposits in the Sechura desert, and See also:salt is manufactured at some places on the See also:southern coast. The making of See also:Panama hats from the fibre of the " toquilla " See also:palm is a See also:household See also:industry.

The See also:

capital is Piura (est. pop. 9100 in 1906), on the Piura See also:river, about 35 M. (See also:direct) E.S.E. of See also:Paita, and 164 ft. above See also:sea-level. It was founded by See also:Pizarro in 1531 under the name of See also:San See also:Miguel, at a See also:place called Tangarara, nearer Paita, hut the See also:present site was afterwards adopted. A railway (6o m. long) by way of Sullana connects with the See also:port of Paita, and an See also:extension of 6 m. runs S.S.E. to Catacaos. Other towns of the department, with their estimated populations in 1906, are: Tumbes, or Tumbez (2300), the most See also:northern port of Peru, on the Gulf of Guayaquil, celebrated as the place where Pizarro landed in 1531; Paita; Sechura (6450), on Sechura See also:Bay in the southern See also:part of the department, with exports of salt and sulphur; Sullana (5300), an inland See also:town with railway connexions in the fertile Chira valley; Molropon (3800) on the upper Piura; Huancabamba, the centre of a tobacco See also:district in the mountains; and Tambo Grande (61oo) and Chulucanas (4600), both in the fertile Piura valley above the capital.

End of Article: PIURA

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