Paita

For the town in New Caledonia, seePaïta.

Paita
City
Flag Seal
Paita Location of the city of Paita in Peru
Coordinates:5°5′28″S81°06′23″W
Country	Peru
Region	Piura
Province	Paita
District	Paita
Established	1782
Government
•Mayor	Teodoro Edilberto Alvarado Alayo
Area
• Total	1,768.65 km2(682.88 sq mi)
Elevation	350 m (1,150 ft)
Population (2016)
• Total	179,346
• Estimate (2015)	168 900
Demonym	Paiteño (a)
Time zone	UTC-5(PET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5(PET)
Website	munipaita.gob.pe

Paitais a city in northwesternPeru.It is the capital of thePaita Provincewhich is in thePiura Region.It is a leading seaport in the region. Paita is located 1,089 km northwest of the country's capitalLima,and 57 km northwest of the regional capital ofPiura. Starting in 2014, the city has considered ideas for separating from the Piura Region, proclaiming itself as the "Miguel Grau Region".

Geography

Paita is located at05°05′28″S81°06′23″Won a small peninsula south of the mouth of theRío Chiraon an area of 1,785 km². Paita faces theBay of Paita,and is sheltered from southerly winds by a headland calledPunta Paitaand by a large hill calledSilla de Paita.90 km to the southeast is the capital of thePiura Region,Piura,and 160 km to the south is locatedChiclayo,commercial centre of theLambayeque region.

Population

The population of Paita was 3,800 in 1906, 20,000 in 1993, 122,127 in 2007, and 168,900 in 2015.

History

Prehistoric era

Paleontologist Edgar Herning collected remains in 1978. He determined from his findings that the peoples here were a highly evolved cultural group, as there was evidence of primitive villages on the coast of Paita like Colan, Tayta, and Amotape from up to 9,000 years ago.

Colonial period

The city was founded on 30 March 1532 by the conquerorFrancisco Pizarro,who named it San Francisco de Paita of Good Hope.

The Burning of Payta, November 1741, by Anson

From 1578 to 1588, Paita was the Spanish capital of the northwestern Peruvian coast, before attacks from Englishpiratesandcorsairsmade it necessary to relocate the capital atPiura.Paita was the port for Peru and the end terminus of theManila Galleonsconnecting Latin-America with Asia.

The port of Paita is best known to many Peruvians as the former home ofManuela Sáenz,Simón Bolívar's lover.

Whaling port of call

Paita was a significant port of call for whaling ships in the first half of the 19th century. The whaling grounds west of Peru were popular with British and American whaling ships that often called at Paita for supplies and repairs. Local men were sometimes recruited to serve as crewmen on these vessels. The first vessel known to have called was the British whaleshipEmiliain 1792.Sixty-four American whaleships visited in 1833 alone.So many American vessels called that in 1833 the United States government decided to establish a consulate at Paita. A hospital was established for American seamen in the 1840s.The large protected Bay of Paita provided a safe anchorage for visiting vessels and the irrigated farms of the nearbyChiraValley produced a wide range of agricultural produce for the whalers. The money they injected into the local economy provided substantial economic benefits to the town and hinterlands, and this continued till American whaling visits began to taper off in the 1860s.

Industry

In 1875, a railway line of 97 km length was completed from Piura to Paita, but it was destroyed in thewarwithChilefrom 1879 to 1883 and reconstructed in 1884. A street railway opened on 30 August 1891 and ran until the late 1920s.

Today the port of Paita is Peru's fifth-largest port and an important container port. It is located in a geopolitically important position on thePacificcoast.

Paita has one of the best natural harbours on the Peruvian coast. Regular mail steamers run betweenValparaísoandPanama.

Celebrations

On 24 September theFiesta de Nuestra Señora de las Mercedesis celebrated, lasting a week and including pilgrimages in honor of the Catholic icon.

Twin towns and sister cities

• Panama City,Panama
• Balboa,Panama
• Munich,Germany
• Callao,Peru
• Tokyo,Japan
• Lima,Peru
• Beijing,China
• Riga,Latvia
• Barcelona,Spain
• New York,United States
• Manta,Ecuador
• Guayaquil(Guayas),Ecuador
• Quito(Pichincha),Ecuador
• Mexico City,Mexico
• Caracas,Venezuela

Cultural references

The Golden OceanbyPatrick O'Brian,first published in 1954 then again in 1996, mentions the successful attack ofAnson's squadronat Paita on hisvoyage around the world,taking a prize of merchant's gold, silver, and trade goods valued at 30,000British pounds.

In the 1947 filmDark Passage,Humphrey Bogart's character, falsely blamed for three murders, flees to Paita, with hopes of linking up with a love interest. He tells her of "a little cafe right on the bay". Parts of the telephone conversation are used in the 1982 filmDead Men Don't Wear Plaid.

Notable people

• Miguel Grau:National Hero of Peru and one of the most important sailors of Peru.
• Luigi Alva:Light tenor.
• Luciano Castillo Colonna:Peruvian politician, university professor and lawyer, founder of the Socialist Party of Peru in 1930.
• Pilar Pallete:Hollywood actress. She is the wife of John Wayne.
• Antonio de la Haza:Sailor and hero of the Peruvian-Ecuadorian War (1858-1860).
• Camilo Carrillo:Politician, mathematician and sailor. He participated in the Pacific War and in the Combat of Dos de Mayo.

External links

• (in Spanish)Portal de Paita