Chincha Islands

The Chincha Islands (Spanish Islas Chincha ) are a group of three small islands 21 km off the southwest coast of Peru near the city of Pisco. They belong to the district of San Clemente immediately north of Pisco. Their total area is 92 hectares or nearly a square kilometer.

Geography

The islands belong administratively to Peru. The islands consist largely of granite rock and bounded on all sides by cliffs, which are inhabited by a large number of seabirds. The two largest islands, Isla Chincha Norte ( 36 ha) and Isla Chincha Centro ( 40 ha) are each 1300 m long and up to 900 m wide, Isla Chincha Norte rises to 34 m at. Isla Chincha Sur (16 ha) with 800 mx 600 m is less half as large as the neighboring islands.

Colonization

The coastline of this region, as are the three islands were inhabited between about 1000 and 1476 by ​​the Chincha before they were conquered by the Incas; on the islands have today only a few remnants back to this settlement.

Importance

Of economic importance, the island group was especially in the 19th century by their guano deposits, which reached up to 30 m thick. So Spain occupied the Peruvian islands in April 1864 to benefit from the guano mining, after which there was the so-called Chincha Islands War between Spain and Peru to 1866. Since the year 1874, the guano deposits are largely exhausted, also the use of guano in the 20th century has been replaced by artificial fertilizers substantially.