Andahuaylas

Andahuaylas is a city in the western Apurímac Region of Peru and the capital of Andahuaylas Province, the largest city of the region with 42,268 inhabitants at the 2017 census. Its name comes from the Quechua Antawaylla, copper meadow, and it is known as the pradera de los celajes, the prairie of colored clouds. Before the Spanish the area was touched by Chavín influence, came under the Wari Empire from about 300 AD and then under the Chanka, who displaced the Quechuas until Pachacuti conquered the region after the Chanka-Inca War. Francisco Pizarro founded the city on 7 November 1533 as San Pedro de Andahuaylas la Grande, de la Corona, leaving a wooden cross that now stands beside the main square, and work began on the Cathedral of San Pedro. The province was created on 21 June 1825 by decree of the government of Simón Bolívar, within the Department of Cusco, and was added to Apurímac by the law of 28 April 1873. The city has its own airport with flights to Lima.