Nazca

Nazca is a city and system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru, the largest city of Nazca Province in the Ica Region. It takes its name from the Nazca culture, which flourished between 100 BC and AD 800 and made the Nazca Lines and the ceremonial city of Cahuachi, and which built underground aqueducts called puquios that still work today. The article gives two versions of the Spanish foundation: 28 October 1548, commissioned by Pedro de la Gasca, or 1591 under Viceroy García Hurtado de Mendoza. A magnitude 7.5 earthquake on 12 November 1996 almost destroyed the city, killing 14 people, injuring 1,500 and leaving about 100,000 homeless, and it was largely rebuilt within twelve years. A Canadian gold mining operation has worked nearby since 1997. The region is among the most arid in the world, with an average annual precipitation of 4 millimetres and temperatures from 10 to 32 degrees Celsius.