Ayacucho, Huamanga Province, Ayacucho, Peru

🇵🇪 Ayacucho is the capital city of Ayacucho Region and of Huamanga Province, Ayacucho Region, Peru. During the Inca Empire and Viceroyalty of Peru periods the city was known by the name of Huamanga, and it continues to be the alternative name of the city.

The city's name was officially changed to Ayacucho after a major victory of the revolutionary army led by Bolívar's lieutenants against the royalists.

Simón Bolívar issued the decree on February 15, 1825, changing the name from "Huamanga" to "Ayacucho", referring to a major battle for independence that established once and for all the total independence of the nascent Peruvian Republic, as stated by Bolivar's decree, "Obtained the victory in… Huamanga, its name must be changed, in a way that perennially reminds those inhabitants the origin of their freedom". The name Ayacucho is derived from the Quechua words aya ("death" or "soul") and k'uchu ("corner") in honor of the battle's casualties.

Ayacucho is famous for its 33 churches, which represent one for each year of Jesus' life. Ayacucho has large religious celebrations, especially during the Holy Week of Easter. These celebrations include horse races featuring Peruvian Caballos de Paso and the traditional running of the bulls, known locally as the jalatoro or pascuatoro. The jalatoro is similar to the Spanish encierro, except that the bulls are led by horses of the Morochucos.

Vestiges of human settlements more than 15,000 years old have been found in the site of Pikimachay, about 25 km north of Ayacucho. From 500 to 900, the region became occupied by the Wari culture, which became known as the first expansionist empire based in the Andes before the Inca Empire.

The Ayacucho region was inhabited by varying indigenous cultures for thousands of years. During the Early Intermediate period (200 BC – 600 AD) the Nazca culture settled in the south-west, and the Warpa culture arose in the centre of the Ayacucho region, the Wari Empire emerged as Huarpa cultures interacted with the nearby Nasca Culture at a time of intense interregional exchanges and widespread disruption to existing cultural traditions. During the Middle Horizon period (600 – 1000 AD), at its zenith the Wari state reigned over most of the highlands and coast of Peru, centered near the present-day city of Ayacucho (Huamanga), the Wari became the largest dominant culture in the Andes region before the Inca came into existence. The Wari civilization collapsed by about 1000 AD, the capital city of Wari was abandoned. With the end of the Wari culture, the Late Intermediate period (1000 AD – 1476 AD) is said to begin, while some post-Wari cultures continued to further develop during this era, particularly cultures from coastal Peru, the Late Intermediate era is marked by population decline and substantial cultural regression over extensive areas of the Peruvian highlands, the Ayacucho region became one of the most affected areas, urban planning ceased to be, people abandoned virtually all cities, if not all, and dispersed into rural hamlets. New tribal cultures — well differentiated from the old Wari — arose in the Ayacucho region, over time these became a series of relatively powerful warlike chiefdoms that controlled region, according to colonial chroniclers these tribes were united into a confederacy by the time Inca began to expand, referred in the Spanish accounts as the "Chanca confederacy", an alliance formed by the Chanca, Parinacocha, Vilca, Sora, and Rucana (Lucana) cultures, among other ayllu clans. After a series of fierce battles the Inca managed to defeat and conquer the Chanka confederacy and integrated the area into the Inca Empire, the Inca founded Vilcashuaman within Vilcas' culture territory, one of the most populous cities known to have existed in the Inca Empire, capital of the Inca province (wamani) of Vilcas. Huamanga was another of the administrative centres in the region, founded at a place called Pocra.

Economy The region headed by Ayacucho is rural and one of the poorest of all the country. With the peace of the last 15 years, the citizens work hard to improve the living conditions and attract jobs.