Throughout thousands of years men have occupied the Colca region, and as a result of this occupation there have been Samples of a culture that has contributed with significant inputs to humanity.

Towards the 5000 to 6000 a.C. hunters and gatherers roamed the area following the South American camelid herds and a number of plant species that were food source, from this have remained rock paintings and stone tools in different locations, the presence of these demonstrations  throughout the area which subsequently developed the Cabana and Collagua nations shows a remote presence of hunters - gatherers in search of food, who were gradually domesticating plants and animals as shown by the drawings (engraved paintings and reliefs) in the Mollepunco cave in Callalli, rock shelter that was occupied when they were in processes of domestication of camelids and the transformation of groups of hunters in South American camelid breeders, in their walls there are paintings that represent the activities of gathering and hunting of animals and also low relief prints that represent corals with camels and men pulling ropes with them.



We can see these other cave painting samples in the following districts of the Colca Canyon.

After thousands of years, only through the community work was the task imposed on the adversity of the environment and begin to dominate nature. After thousands of years, it was only through the community work that they were able to impose the adversity of the environment and begin to dominate nature and between 200 BC and 600 A.D, after this long process of domestication of plants and animals, it turned into an agrarian economy where people from the Colca region, begin to build platforms, developing rainfed agriculture and thus changed the andean landscape giving it a peculiar physiognomy.


From 600 A.D.  to 900 A.D. the Wari Empire, from Ayacucho, made its appearance all over this part of the Andes by incorporating into its administration these villages, during this period were established administrative centers that control the different valleys, rain-fed agriculture gives way to irrigation of terraced fields through channels with a construction and hydraulic technology. Two likely ceremonial and administrative centers stand out at this time: Ccachulli (Tuti) and Achachiwa (Cabanaconde), agriculture was the economic activity of the inhabitants of the media - bottom region of the valley while it was pasturage for populations located at higher altitudes.The samples found in Cabanaconde are in the wall which is known as "The Trench", built in stone, of great magnitude in the base of the wall and with a lower proportion at the top, some stones are shaped, while others show a rough appearance, it runs through slopes and peaks of small hills to reach the natural walls that form the canyon.

The samples found in Cabanaconde are in the wall which is known as "The Trench", built in stone, of great magnitude in the base of the wall and with a lower proportion at the top, some stones are shaped, while others show a rough appearance, it runs through slopes and peaks of small hills to reach the natural walls that form the canyon.

The site of Ccachulli (Tuti) also seems to correspond to this time showing structures with circular bases and a dome in elevation form. These walls are double row dry-stoned walls, joined by clay, but it is necessary to clarify that the site has been used since ancient times (late Pleistocene or hunters and gatherers period).

A disintegration of Wari corresponds to of the rise of local societies that separate from the imperial administration, then Collagua society appears in the north and Cabana in the southern region, the following samples of this were period found:----

Approximately in 1450 AD, the Cabanas and Collaguas are incorporated into the Empire of the Incas by Inca Tupac Yupanqui, Dr. Alejandro Malaga Medina quotes: "The royal PANACA of Mayta Cápac, which brought together the descendants of the Incas of the same name is called on to Tupac Ynca Yupanqui the Emperor, who conquered the Collasuyo region, and is one of the generals of the royal PANACA of Mayta Cápac that reaches the Collagua region and establishes in the village of Coporaque, where he married Mama Yacchi and establishes his main kingdom there and build a palace of copper." During that time Coporaque would have been the center of the Inca administration.

About the Inca presence in the area there has been a wide variety of stories and traditions, such as the "Myth of Incarri" in the town of Chivay which states that during the visit of the Inca Mayta Cápac, he was giving various benefits to the villages, such as barley and quinoa to Chivay, water to Maca; winds to Pinchollo; corn to Cabanaconde, gold and silver mines to Tiscar; “cochayuyo” to Sibayo etc. These manifestations are related to the vertical control of different ecological zones that made the ancient inhabitants as a source for their economy and organization.

The arrival of the Spaniards to the area occurs in 1535, the Collaguas and the Cabanas lived at the time in the Colca region, for the process of distribution of land of the Spaniards in the "sharings” were distinguished in the area, which were apparently organized according to the social organization of the existing domains or curacazgos such as Yanquecollaguas, Laricollaguas and Cabana.

Maria Benavides said: "The yanque-collagua population controlled the largest part of the province, that is to say the territory to the east, north and south of Yanque village, and a small area to the west where they founded the town of Achoma.

The lari-collagua controlled the northwest area of the province, north of the Colca River, the village of Lari and a small area south of the river in front of Lari, where the town of Maca was founded. The cabana had the southwest territory of the province, including its capital Cabanaconde, the valley of Arequipa and the coastal desert."

It was Christopher Perez who was given the trusteeship labour of Cabana, Marcos Retamoso and Alonso Rodriguez Picado received the trusteeship labour of Laricollaguas and Gonzalo Pizarro the Yanquecollaguas, which then was given to Francisco de Noguerol Ulloa and then be administered directly by the Spanish Crown.

During this process many actions were taken to control and manage populations, one of these were the royal visits, census in which statistics were obtained such as that the Collaguas were aymara speaking, and said that they came from Collaguata volcano, located in the area Velille; while the Cabanas, spoke quechua a little different from the one spoken in Cuzco, their Apu was the volcano Hualca Hualca and had token the name of Cabana Kunti. Both ethnicities recognized that they settled in the valley, after having expelled its previous inhabitants.

As an ethnic differentiation, they practiced cranial deformation. The two Collagua groups (Laricollagua and Yanquecollagua) did it with a tip form, while the Cabanas, in a wide and flat form. These cranial deformations were banned by order of Viceroy Francisco de Toledo, since then the differentiation would be through their hats.

Between 1571 and 1574 Don Francisco de Toledo undertook a series of reforms within the viceroyalty, to give a more stable politician – administrative form, which established a series of Indian villages, following the Spanish model that brought together the dispersed population. The yanque-collaguas reductions were: Tiscar, Sibayo, Callalli, Tuti, Canocota, Chivay, Coporaque, Yanque and Achoma.

The laricollaguas: Ichupampa, Lari, Maca, Madrigal, and Tapay Caylloma. While the cabana villages were Pinchollo, Cabanaconde, Huambo, Huanca, Lluta and Yura.

Of the 10 reductions in the allocation of Yanquecollaguas, back in 1609, Villanueva de Alcaudete de Coymo wasn’t mentioned again that, probably is Canocota not reported before.

In Laricollaguas this process was more visible, three reductions disappeared: The Brocas, Paradines and Port of Arrebatacapas that also could have been Ichupamapa and  Tapay that were unknown before 1609.

Cabanaconde in turn, was greatly affected, Las Brocas, Oviedo and Puente del Arzobispo disappeared, cases that might be of Pinchollo and Huambo. For 1609, of 24 reductions were only 15.

Currently facts are available on the following reductions:

•    Oropesa de Tisco
•    Alcantara de Callalli
•    Espinar de Tuti
•    Utrera de Cibay (hoy Sibayo)
•    San Francisco de Asis de Caylloma
•    Martin Muñoz de Chivay
•    Villacastín de Coporaque
•    Corral de Almoguer de Yanque
•    Santos Reyes de Achoma
•    Talavera de Lari
•    Miraflores de Maca
•    Las Brocas de Pinchollo
•    Hontiverios de Guambo
•    Puente del Arzobispo de Guanca

The evangelization of the area was conducted by the Franciscan friars, who traveled from early times the Colca region and established two convents, one in Yanque dedicated to the Immaculate Conception and the other in Callalli under St. Anthony of Padua.

Subsequently, by order of the father commissioner Jerónimo de Villacarrillo, the friars left the valley in 1581, giving way to secular priests that took charge of evangelization. This was due to under plans of evangelization, members of religious orders with a defined structure were at first sent to deal with that task, and then, with the creation of dioceses and the establishment of workshops, they were given away to the diocesan priests.

This caused discomfort among the indigenous population that had welcomed the Franciscan friars, and requested there return, that after a few years away they got back to the valley in 1586, but not to all villages but only 8: Chivay, Yanque, Coporaque, Achoma, Tuti, Sibayo, Callalli and Tisco, though not without first overcoming the opposition of the secular.

The friars remained in the valley until the eighteenth century (1788), when by orders had to leave their doctrines. As a result of this process are the various evangelical churches built along the valley that show the fervor of the parish.

The year 1626 marks a milestone in the history of the people of Cayllloma and the Colca Valley, in that year the minerals from Caylloma were discovered, "by the Gamero brothers, Pampacolca neighbors" these rich mines of silver were known as St. Sara, San Cristóbal and Vicuñas; on another hill, known as the Apostles, the mine of San Judas Tadeo, and subsequently many others that led to the founding of 22 sugarcane mills in the area.

The Caylloma mines produced easy profit because they were "crude as the teachers say: and when they have needed more of a mixed grain with another." The minerals of Caylloma, whose deposits of silver were in the surrounding area of the village, made it impossible for the inhabitants of the valley avoid the imposition of the total Mita mining, which would last until the end of the seventeenth century separating it from the economic axis of potosi.

In 1631, the colonial government ordered the installation in Caylloma of "Cajas Reales with Callanan foundry" that lasted until 1781 when commanded to move to Arequipa. The minerals of Caylloma was privileged,  although its climate was very cold due to its height, it brought together a set of advantages, it had, in first place, access to a potential workforce in the nearby Colca Valley and neighboring valleys.

Caylloma soon, a village built at two miles of the original population called Cucho(which was annex of Lari), was transformed into a bustling and active town, with the general appearance of such human groupings.

"Many are the cases that relate to this mineral, born of the excessive clutter of their people, such as deaths, brawls, fires and outrages that could not be overcome."

Mining in Caylloma converted it in the only village that could be called "village of Spanish", while in the other villages of the valley the population remained indigenous throughout the colonial era.

Equally important was the mineral production from Caylloma that the Viceroy Conde Chinchón named them as the third major deposit after Potosi and Huancavelica.

This economic phenomenon made  the villages Caylloma, Tiscar, Sibayo and Callalli enter boom due to its proximity to the mining area, while the agricultural production areas Yanque, Lari and Chivay began to decline significantly, people abandoned the terraced fields and problems started to appear such as malnutrition, hunger, epidemics and mortality.

These mines enter crisis after the rebellion of Tupac Amaru II in 1780 when the “Royal Boxes” were taken to Arequipa due to smugglers attacks in the area for tax evasion.

The first decades of republican life were the transition for the Colca region, Collaguas became a province of the department of Arequipa, and their villages turned into districts. The capital of the province of Caylloma was Caylloma then Yanque, Cabanaconde, Yura, and finally in the 1930s, Chivay.



Project Majes meant changes in the physiognomy of the Colca region through the construction of roads, canals, dams, tunnels, breaking the isolation of the area.