Tarapoto

Tarapoto is a commercial hub in San Martín Province of the San Martín Department in northern Peru, on the high jungle plateau east of the low jungle, about 356 metres above sea level and an hour by air from Lima. It was founded in 1782 as Santa Cruz de los Motilones de Tarapoto by the Spanish bishop Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón. Although Moyobamba is the regional capital, Tarapoto is the largest city of the region, with 180,073 residents within the city limits at the 2017 census, and the third largest Amazonian city after Pucallpa and Iquitos. It is linked by highway to Yurimaguas and the Upper Amazon. Tourists use it as a base for excursions into the rainforest, and the Universidad Nacional de San Martín serves the region. The city, nicknamed the City of Palms, is surrounded by the Cordillera Escalera conservation area to the north and by a farming valley of rice, corn, coffee, cocoa and tobacco to the south.