The history of Trujillo has its beginning in ancient times, as the area at the mouth of the Moche River was long a center of successive pre-European cultures. They extended their domains along the northern coast of Peru.
Pre-Columbian era archeological site in the district of
Moche headdress, AD 400 The archaeological history of this region goes back to the early pre-
ceramic period. For example,
Huaca Prieta was occupied as early as 4700 BC. Several ancient cultures developed in this area: the
Cupisnique, the
Moche and
Chimu. Numerous
archaeological sites and monumental remains attest to the high degree of complexity of these civilizations. Among the Cupisnique culture sites are
Caballo Muerto and Huaca Prieta. The Moche culture sites include
huacas: the
Temples of the Sun and Moon south of the city, the Huaca del Dragón (or Rainbow Huaca) and the Huaca Esmeralda to the north, and others. The Chimu culture built its primary settlement at what is known as
Chan Chan, which was the capital, having an estimated 100,000 people at its peak. It is the largest pre-Columbian city built of
adobe and has been designated a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its remains are northwest of the current city center. The present Spanish–Peruvian city of Trujillo was founded in an ancestral territory populated by ancient indigenous civilizations. The Spanish founded new cities expressing their culture in what they called the "
Viceroyalty of Peru".
Southern Moche civilization The Southern Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru with its Huacas del Sol y de la Luna from about AD 100 to 800, during the Regional Development Epoch. The people likely had formed into a group of autonomous polities that shared a common elite culture, as seen in the rich iconography and monumental architecture that survive today. They are particularly noted for their elaborately painted
ceramics,
gold work, monumental constructions (huacas) and
irrigation systems. Moche society was agriculture-based, and the cultural leaders invested in the construction of a network of
irrigation canals for the diversion of river water to supply the crops. Their culture was sophisticated; and their artifacts fully express their lives, including scenes of hunting, fishing, fighting, sacrifice, elaborate ceremonies, and sexual acts.
Chimu Empire The Chimu built and occupied a territory known as
Chimor, with its capital at the city of
Chan Chan, a large adobe city in the
Valley of Moche (around which present-day Trujillo city developed). The culture arose about 900 and flourished into the 14th century. The Chimos were characterized by speaking the
Quingnam language, one of the languages that is certain to have existed in the ancient province of Trujillo: The
Inca ruler
Tupac Inca Yupanqui led a campaign which conquered the Chimu in around 1470. This was just 50 years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Consequently, Spanish chroniclers recorded accounts of Chimu culture from persons who had lived before the Inca conquest. Similarly, archaeological evidence suggest Chimor emerged from the remnants of Moche culture; early Chimu pottery had some resemblance to that of the Moche. Their ceramics are all-black, and their work in precious metals is very detailed and intricate. In the Late Chimu period, about 12,000 artisans lived and worked in Chan Chan alone. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, craft work, and trade. Artisans were forbidden to change their profession, and were grouped together in the citadel according to their area of specialization. Archeologists have noted a dramatic rise in the volume of Chimu craft production, which they attribute to artisans having been brought to
Chan Chan from another area taken in conquest.
Colonial era Spanish foundation Trujillo was one of the first cities in the Americas founded by the
Spanish conquistadors. They arrived in an area that had been inhabited and developed for thousands of years by the
indigenous peoples. According to historian
Napoleón Cieza Burga, the
conquistador Diego de Almagro founded the first settlement in November 1534, By 1544 Trujillo had around 300 homes and 1,000 inhabitants, and an economy booming from the cultivation of
sugar cane,
wheat, and other food crops and the raising of livestock. The Spanish colonists welcomed a diverse array of religious orders from the time of its founding, and there was a boom in church construction in the city during the 16th and 17th centuries. In 1577
Pope Gregory XIII created the
Diocese of Trujillo, and in 1616 construction work commenced on the
cathedral. On February 14, 1619, Trujillo was struck by an
earthquake, resulting in the near-total destruction of the city and the deaths of around 400 of its inhabitants. Rebuilding was slow. The people developed a devotion to
Saint Valentine, on whose day the earthquake hit. The
Jesuits opened a
seminary and school for the education and training of priests; they also served as
missionaries to the indigenous peoples, as they introduced Christianity.
17th century The Wall of Trujillo , showing the
City Walls of Trujillo Due to the proximity of the city to the sea (about away) and the danger of attack by
pirates and privateers, the
Wall of Trujillo was built for defense during the reign of Viceroy Melchor de Navarra and Rocafull and the city mayors
Bartolome Martinez and
Fernando Ramirez Jarabeitia Orellana. This wall was built by an Italian architect, Giuseppe Formento, who began construction on February 19, 1687. Formento based his design on that by
Leonardo da Vinci for the Italian city of
Florence. The wall was designed in an elliptical shape to save costs in its construction, and was completed in 1689. The wall reached a perimeter of and used more than 100,000 bricks. The defensive structure was composed of 15 bastions, 15 shades and 5 covered gates. The
Huamán Gate was oriented westward to the road to the village of the same name. The
Mansiche Gate was located to the north, giving way to the highway. The Miraflores Gate opened to the east. The Sierra Gate was named after the road leading to this region. Lastly, the
Moche Gate gave access to people coming from the south. In 1942 the city developed a master plan; following the path of the ancient wall, it built
Avenida España to encircle the area now called the Historical Center of Trujillo. In the latter half of the 17th century, severe
droughts and
pestilence caused a major economic crisis for the city, which depended on agriculture. Trujillo regained prominence in the 18th century, in part due to the destruction of the city of
Saña by flooding in 1720. Trujillo also suffered from flooding in 1701, 1720, 1728 and 1814; and
earthquakes in 1725 and 1759. By 1760 an estimated 9,200 people were living in the vicinity of the city. The foundation of the Municipality of Trujillo in 1779 coincided with a peak of prosperity for the city. Numerous undeveloped lots remained within the city walls but Trujillo was regarded as one of the most important cities in Northern Peru during the colonial era.
Independence , one of the busiest streets in the historic center of Trujillo. In the background is the historic
Plazuela El Recreo, with tall trees forming the skyline in that part of the city. Inspired by liberal ideas from members of its educational institutions, Trujillo became a principal centre of Peruvian republican sentiments. Led by the city mayor and
intendant José Bernardo de Tagle, the
Intendancy of Trujillo declared its independence from Spain on December 29, 1820. Between 1821 and 1825 the Trujillo region was the only stable and productive land within the nascent republic. In 1823, in response to the counterattack by royalist troops who took the city of Lima, the Congress, convened in Callao, decreed on June 21 to move the seat of government to Trujillo. However, just a few days later, on June 23, the Congress removed José de la Riva Agüero from the office of President of the Republic. Upon learning of these events, Riva Agüero embarked for Trujillo along with his ministers and part of the deputies. Once in the city, on June 26, he established his government seat, dissolved the Congress, and created a Senate of ten members. From there, he governed de facto until August 6, 1823. On March 26, 1824, the Superior Court of the North (now the Superior Court of Justice of La Libertad), the first Superior Court of Justice in Peru, was founded. In the same year, the city welcomed the liberating army of Simón Bolívar, who assumed the government of the country and established in Trujillo the national accounts, the official gazette, and the general staff, on March 8, 1824. Later, by decree of March 26, 1824, Trujillo was designated as the provisional capital of the republic, while Lima was liberated. The years following the revolution saw the growth in the economic influence of the city, compensating for a loss of political power to
Lima when it was designated as the capital, which instead suffered from the resulting political turmoil. The
Moche and
Chicama valleys emerged as new economic enclaves for the
sugar cane industry. Land was increasingly concentrated in large estates and a new "agricultural aristocracy" developed that was linked to and influenced national political power. The policy of free trade and openness to foreign investment attracted an influx of Europeans, principally from
Britain and
Germany. By then, Trujillo had a population of 15,000 and began to grow beyond the city walls. New architectural styles were adopted, influenced by
French and
English Romanticism. During the
War of the Pacific against
Chile between 1879 and 1883, Trujillo contributed troops towards national defence. Although never a site of battle, Trujillo suffered from occupation by Chilean troops and their plundering of the surrounding countryside.
First Independent City of Peru It is considered the "First Independent City of Peru" for three reasons: it proclaimed independence from Spain on December 24, 1820 at the historical "Casa de la Emancipación" (House of Emancipation). Its leaders signed the declaration of independence at the Seminario de San Carlos y San Marcelo and proclaimed independence to an open council meeting in the Plaza de Armas, on December 29, 1820. Finally, on January 6, 1821, its leaders ratified the agreement and the proclamation of the independence of this city, as stated in the document called
Libro rojo (the Red Book) of the Trujillo council. Their actions gained independence for almost all of northern Peru, because the government of Trujillo city ruled what is now the regions of Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, Cajamarca, San Martín and Amazonas. Marquis of Torre Tagle said, "My people. From this time for the unanimous will of the people, Trujillo is free. I put our fate and that of people under the protection of Heaven! Long live the homeland! Long live independence!"
Republican era The Provisional Regulations given by General San Martín in 1821 created the Department of Trujillo, based on colonial administration. This status was acknowledged in the first
Constitution of Peru in 1823. Because of its size and economic wealth, the Department of Trujillo between 1821 and 1825 was the only stable and productive area that could organize and lead the nascent republic. The department encompassed nearly half the country. For the efforts of its people in the war of emancipation, San Martín gave it the title of "Meritorious City Loyal to the Homeland". The municipality of the city, then called a
cabildo, was given the rank of "honorable". In 1823, after the creation of the Republic of Peru, the protectorate of José de San Martín was developed. Before royal troops took the city of Lima, the first President of Peru, Don
José de la Riva Agüero, together with Sánchez Carrión, named Trujillo as provisional capital of the country, which survived for a short period. In 1824 the city received the liberation army of
Simón Bolívar. Taking over the government of the country, he established a temporary government of the country in Trujillo, on March 8, 1824. In 1821 the Court of Appeals was created to replace the Royal Court. Its jurisdiction extended over the present departments of Cajamarca, Piura, Lambayeque, Amazonas (then known as the Chachapoyas), and Huamachuco (then known as Sánchez Carrión). On March 26, 1824
Simón Bolívar established Trujillo's first Superior Court of Justice as the Northern Superior Court. It had been the first high court established in the Republic of Peru with the powers of the Supreme Court.
19th century By the end of the 19th century the five entrances had disappeared from the city, so it was that during this time the
Wall of Trujillo was torn down and allowed the growth of the city. This urban expansion allowed the establishment of the neighborhoods of Chicago, La Unión and Pedro Muñiz. During the administration of Don Víctor Larco Herrera as mayor, the city began upgrading works such as the construction of City Hall, the arrangement and embellishment of the Plaza de Armas and the atrium of the cathedral. It also built the road to the resort of
Buenos Aires, which expanded the city urban planning perspective. Another project was the renovation of the Municipal Theater.
20th century In July 1932, Trujillo was once again at the centre of one of the most important episodes in the history of the Republic of Peru, the
1932 Trujillo uprising, which cost the lives of many citizens. Although this year came to be known as the "year of barbarism", it would also mark the political identity of the city during the second half of the 20th century. The latter half of the 20th century saw the expansion of the city due to a combination of rural-to-urban migration and the consolidation of surrounding districts into the
Trujillo metropolitan area. From 1980 Trujillo took on the aspect and behavior of a particularly dynamic
metropolitan area, by which time the growth of the city and adjoining districts had produced a single metropolitan area, so in the 1980s the nascent Trujillo metropolitan area consisted of the integrated urban districts of
Trujillo,
El Porvenir and
Florencia de Mora, with Víctor Larco Herrera and La Esperanza remaining discontinuous districts. In 1981 the city had 403,337 inhabitants. Also in the 1980s the Trujillo Industrial Park project was begun, located on the north side of the city, in the present La Esperanza district. With the advent of the 1990s, the city of Trujillo was unified with the districts of
La Esperanza and
Victor Larco Herrera and the spread of the city resulted in the districts of
Moche,
Trujillo,
Salaverry, and
Laredo becoming part of the metropolitan area. In the first half of the 1990s, after the emergence of the El Milagro area in
Huanchaco, it was joined to La Esperanza district, and increasing interdependence with the districts of Moche and Laredo, which was cemented Trujillo as a new
metropolis of Peru, then with a population of 589,314 inhabitants.
21st century Modernization of the city opening ceremony, held in Trujillo With the experience of the last two decades of the 20th century, when the city experienced an excessive disordered growth while increasing the costs for providing basic services to the population, the Provincial Municipality of Trujillo created the Trujillo Metropolitan Development Plan 2010, known as "Plandemetru", which was approved by city ordinance on November 30, 1995. Through this was planned the growth and development of the city up to 2010; later the lines of development of the metropolis were governed by the "Strategic Plan for Integral Development and Sustainable Trujillo till 2015" containing general guidelines for the development of the city by 2015.
Sustainable and smart city In November 2010, Trujillo was the first city in Latin America and the
Caribbean to be chosen by the
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to develop the pilot "Sustainable City" project as part of the platform "Emerging and Sustainable Cities of the Inter-American Development Bank". In 2012 Trujillo began to develop, with the support of American technology corporation
IBM, the "Smart City" project, which will try to focus technologically on the two problems of public safety and transportation. ==Geography==