Puerto Maldonado

Puerto Maldonado is the capital of Peru's Department of Madre de Dios, in the Amazon rainforest of southeastern Peru at the confluence of the Tambopata and Madre de Dios rivers, at an elevation of about 183 meters. Juan Villalta established it on July 10, 1902, as a trading station, naming it for the explorer Faustino Maldonado, who had investigated the Madre de Dios River in 1861; the Department of Madre de Dios itself was not created until 1912, with Puerto Maldonado as its capital. The 2017 census recorded a population of 85,024. The city sits near the protected Manu National Park and Tambopata National Reserve, amid some of the most pristine primary rainforest in the world.