HISTORY OF ICA: MOST RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS - HISTORY - 2025

The history of Ica is full of catastrophic events, but also examples of survival and perseverance. Ica is located in the narrow valley formed by the Ica River, in Peru.

This city is the center of the mountain formation called El Gran Tablazo and the western slopes of the Andean Cordillera.

With a population of more than 236,000 inhabitants, Ica has a great economic source thanks to agriculture and agro-exports.

Its crops include asparagus, date palms, cotton and mango. However, one of the most important sources of income is the cultivation of grapes.

Colonial period

In its beginnings, the Spanish under Francisco Pizarro created several cities in Peru.

This Spaniard born in Trujillo (Spain), was an explorer and conqueror, in addition to being decorated as Marquis de los Atavillos for conquering the country in 1532.

That year the Spanish came to this region looking for an area to establish the capital of the viceroyalty. They constituted the Villa de San Galán, where Pisco is currently located.

The city of Ica was founded in 1563 by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera, under the name of Villa de Valverde del Valle de Ica.

For this reason, de Cabrera was decorated a royal official by Diego López de Zuñiga y Velasco, viceroy of Peru. Later, the name of the town would change several times until it was called Ica.

Import of Spanish strains

Pizarro managed to prevail against the Inca Empire with the collaboration of several chiefdoms in the area, establishing Spanish supremacy.

Then, the region was granted to Nicolás de Ribera, who was a pioneer in the production of brandy in 1540. At that time Ica was known under the name of Tacarará.

To make the must used in this concoction, de Ribera used strains from the Canary Islands.

From then on, they assemble the European black grape together with the quebranta to achieve the characteristic flavor of the brandy.

The must was stored in jars made of clay (piscos). The distribution of the famous brandy began to spread throughout Europe and America and became famous.

The port of Pisco became an important reference point for future imports and exports.

Progress and expansion

Ica prospered and the vines spread throughout the valley, with grape varieties such as muscatel, black, millar or quebranta.

Since then, the harvests were abundant and there was such saturation that there were no jars left to store the wine.

Pedro Sánchez Alba was a potter who had to stay in Ica forcibly to teach the locals to make jugs and jars. His technique was much more profitable and unknown to those in the area.

In the year 1586 an earthquake shakes the Villa de Valverde, which was the name of Ica at that time.

The entire population was displaced to Pueblo Viejo after losing their homes. To survive, they began to plant sugar cane crops in the deserts of Los Molinos.

The evolution of the crops and the increase in the variety enriches the population and manages to rebuild the town.

However, the continuous earthquakes make the locals move definitively to another site, which is where Ica is today.

Earthquakes in the history of Ica

The population did not stop growing and evolving with the crops. The importation of date palms is added to the list of products brought from abroad while they continue to export their products.

The earthquakes continued to be devastating, with values ​​up to 8 on the seismological scale.

That did not prevent the proliferation of crops. However, the sum of current climate change together with deforestation means that Ica has to continuously adapt to the inclemencies, which causes a lot of wear and tear.

The last earthquake was in 2007 with 598 dead and 75% of the population destroyed.

References

1. Wikipedia (2007). Ica 2017, from Wikipedia Organization. Website: wikipedia.org
2. History of Ica. 2009, of the Provincial Municipality of Ica 2017. Website: muniica.jimdo.com
3. Unknown. (2009). Agriculture and changes. 2017, of Environment and Conservation of Ica Website: ambienteyconservacion.com.es