Qualla: Department of Loreto https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Department of Loreto https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto Department of Loreto: Introduction https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto/ Photo credit Marie Robinson Wright, Public domain. Almost a third of Peru fits inside Loreto's borders. Slightly smaller than Germany or Japan, and more sparsely populated than either, the department sprawls across the country's northern Amazon, stitched together by rivers rather than highways. Its capital is Iquitos - a city of several hundred thousand people that cannot be reached by road from anywhere else in Peru. You arrive by plane or by boat. That geographical fact shapes everything about Loreto, from the wars that were fought over its borders to the fish the vendors sell by the kilo at the Belen market.

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Image: Marie Robinson Wright | Public domain

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/6r71-department-of-loreto-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Department of Loreto: Orellana's River https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto/ Photo credit Forest, Joseph (1865-19..). Auteur du texte, Public domain. The accidental discovery started in Guayaquil. On February 4, 1541, Francisco de Orellana sailed south to join Gonzalo Pizarro's expedition searching for cinnamon and gold on the eastern slopes of the Andes. By the time the expedition reached the Napo River the following year, th...

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Image: Forest, Joseph (1865-19..). Auteur du texte | Public domain

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/6r71-department-of-loreto-orellanas-river.mp3 0:06 2 full Department of Loreto: A Province That Kept Being Moved https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto/ Photo credit Viellerobe, A. (18..-19..). Auteur du texte, Public domain. The Spanish Crown never managed to rule the Amazonian lowlands the way it ruled the Andes. The territory bounced administratively between the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Viceroyalty of New Granada for brief periods, and the only consistent Spanish presence was the Jesuits, Domini...

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Image: Viellerobe, A. (18..-19..). Auteur du texte | Public domain

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/6r71-department-of-loreto-a-province-that-kept-being-moved.mp3 0:06 3 full Department of Loreto: Who Lives There Now https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto/ Photo credit No precisado., Public domain. Loreto is home to Amazonian indigenous peoples including the Amahuaca, the Urarina, and dozens of smaller groups whose languages and practices vary with the river basin. The 2017 census found that 82 percent of residents identified as mestizo, 11.4 percent as other - almost entir...

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Image: No precisado. | Public domain

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/6r71-department-of-loreto-who-lives-there-now.mp3 0:06 4 full Department of Loreto: Eight Provinces, Fifty-Three Districts https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto/ Photo credit LLs, CC BY 4.0. The department divides into eight provinces composed of 53 districts. Alto Amazonas is centered on Yurimaguas; Datem del Maranon on San Lorenzo; the province of Loreto itself on Nauta, near where the Maranon and Ucayali rivers meet to form the Amazon proper. Mariscal Ramon Castil...

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Image: LLs | CC BY 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/6r71-department-of-loreto-eight-provinces-fifty-three-districts.mp3 0:06 5 full Department of Loreto: Things to Taste https://qualla.com/department-of-loreto/ Photo credit Yourecoveredinbees, CC BY 4.0. Loreto eats like Amazonia. Motelo is turtle-meat soup. Juanes are rice tamales wrapped in bijao leaves and filled with chicken or fish, eaten most ceremoniously on June 24 for the Fiesta de San Juan when whole neighborhoods gather on the Nanay and Amazonas riverbanks to drink and...

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Image: Yourecoveredinbees | CC BY 4.0

]]> Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/r/7/1/department-of-loreto-wp/6r71-department-of-loreto-things-to-taste.mp3 0:06 6 full