Chincha Alta

Chincha Alta, often called simply Chincha, is a city in the Ica Region of Peru and the capital of Chincha Province. It is a major port at the mouth of the Chincha River, about 200 kilometres south of Lima, and the article ranks it as the 17th largest city in the country. The place is associated with the Chincha, a warlike seafaring people who arrived in the eleventh century, whose name derives from a word for ocelot, and who were conquered by the Inca armies of Tupac Inca Yupanqui between 1458 and 1460. Spanish rule brought a population decline of 99 percent in the first 85 years, and Africans later settled in large numbers, so that Afro-Peruvian culture and music have thrived in the city. The Chincha Islands off the coast gave their name to the Chincha Islands War between Peru and Spain of 1864 to 1866, and the 2007 Peru earthquake damaged the city along with others near the Pacific coast.