HISTORY OF PAITA

The human groups that settled at the mouth of the Chira Valley in the
what is currently the province of Paita, they started a very slow development process
cultural that took several thousand years. Between 4,000 B.C. and 1,300 B.C., there
developed for the Paiteño human groups the pre-Ceramic period. Throughout
During this time, they gained greater control in navigation and fishing, they improved the
networks and they started in agriculture with the cultivation of pumpkin and pallar.
They began to use cotton to weave their scarce clothes and started in the
manufacturing of utilitarian pottery. During this period, men who had
arriving in Colán and Paita, they enter the valley and settle in Amotape and in
Vichayal (Paredones). During the Initial Ceramic period (1300 BC to 900 BC)
the ancient inhabitants improve their ceramic art, cultivate cotton and the
pumpkin, advancing in the art of weaving and the villages are taking on a more orderly form of
organized towns.

During the Early Horizon period, which spans from 900 BC to 2000 BC, the
Agriculture becomes increasingly important to provide food for the human group.
A greater mastery of the art of navigation is achieved, there is a development in fishing in the
fabric and pottery. Tribal groups are better organized.
The Early Intermediate Horizon Period is a long span that goes from the year 200
Before Christ to the year 900 After Christ. At that time the organization has
advanced, and the relationships between the coastal peoples and those of
interior settled in the valleys. prosperous agriculture and in fishing and navigation
they start using candles. In what is now the province of Paita, they formed
Numerous populated centers, each had its chief, whose ethnic origin is Tiahuanaco.

The Tallanes of Paita, living by the sea, depended on it for existence, but also
they feared him and were filled with great respect for his vastness, they called him NI and the Quechuas
they called her MAMACOCHA.
The Tallanes of Paita worshipped the sea but did not identify it with any little idol.
worship of the sea endured until the colonies, they also worshipped the moon which
they called SHI, and they also worshipped the dead. The most famous shrine was
in the Huaca where there apparently existed a cemetery for important people.
Their language was Sec, which distinguished them from the Mochicas and Chimús. Paita and
Colán was the coastal places of Paiteño where the most had developed.
important humans. Inside, the most important town was Amotape.

The ancient Paiteños had an ancient land trade with other towns.
interior archipelagos and intense maritime traffic. Their dominance of the sea did not help them
the tallanes of Paita to fish, but above all to trade, since the rafts
they were perfected and allowed them to make longer journeys.
The fish were dried and smoked for commercialization and transportation to the interior.
They learned to make nets and improved their boats. Agriculture was
its main activity that marked its degree of development throughout the century
cultural.

Between the years 900 A.D. and 1200 A.D., the Moche became a people
powerful and very evolved that extended its influence to the Tallán territory,
interested in improving their pottery, their irrigation hydraulic works, commerce and the
navigation. Around the year 1400 AD in the region of Trujillo, a
powerful state: The Chimú kingdom led by King or Chimú-Capac warrior and
conquistador named Winchan Guamán who, after bloody battles, subdued the
Mochicas and then he intimated to the tallanes, who seem to have preferred to make a pact and recognize each other.
taxpayers, as they were not in a position to face such a well-trained army
organized like the enemy. The Chimú allowed the tallan curacas to continue
sending their tribes worried about improving the irrigation channels reaching the
agriculture to a flourishing state.

Garcilaso recounts that a year after the weaning of his firstborn son, CUSI
HUALLPA or Huascar, Inca Huaina Capac raised forty thousand men from
war, and with them he went to the kingdom of Quito which he conquered taking as a concubine a
the firstborn daughter of the king who lost that kingdom. Once Quito was conquered, the Inca descended to the
hot land and subjected the valleys of Chacma (Chicama) and Pacasmayu; of Zaña.
Collque Cintu, Tucmi, Sayanca, Motupi, Pichin and Sullana.
He returned to Quito. He prepared an army of fifty thousand soldiers, and
with them he went down to the coast of the sea, until he reached the valley of Sullana, which is the most
near Túmpiz, from where he sent the usual requests for peace or for
war. In this stay, and here the tradition comes into play, the Inca arrived at Colán and very
It would be important to be the Cacique of that place or very beautiful his daughter, that the all-powerful
Cuzco chief took her for himself. From that union was born a descendant of whom, according to the
ancient gentiles, descend the Machré who take pride in their royal lineage. To
the Spanish decided to install a depot that, at the same time, served as a storage.
it would serve as a shelter for the crew members of the ships that came to the north; thus
modestly the Port of Paita was founded. The official foundation took place on the 30th of
April 1532 with the name of Paita and later the Franciscan friars settled.
They called it San Francisco.
At that time, the Tambo of Paita reached a larger population than San Miguel.
Piura, due to many settlers dedicating themselves to port work in its bay
they were melting the ships that were taking the Inca treasures to Panama. There in Paita,
converted into the most well-known point in the Pacific, the ships were supplied for the
long journey.

As the weather troubled the inhabitants of old Piura, says Víctor Eguiguren,
they decided to leave the city moving to the port of San Francisco of the
Good Hope of Paita. It is likely that the exodus took place in 1571. Yes
Yes, there is certainty that in 1571. There is certainty that in 1585 when it passed through Paita the
Viceroy Don Fernando Torres y Portugal Count of Villar Don Pardo, the city of
Piura had been abandoned by its inhabitants to move to Paita.

The transhumance of Piura runs parallel with Paita, so when the Englishman Sir Thomas
Cavendish, in 1587 attacked Paita, setting fire to the city and destroying the convent of the
Merced and the houses of the neighbors, they and the friars went to live in Catacaos.
remaining in the Port the Corregidor and a few inhabitants, arranging more
Ahead of the Viceroy, on December 5, 1587, an inquiry will be made on what part and place
will be able to populate the said city together with Tácala which is in the valley of Catacaos, with which
be as far away as possible from the site and place where the indigenous people are settled
that valley, where it is more convenient to establish said population and that has
abundance of land, grass, water, and firewood good temperament and other things
necessary to pass human life, having to leave a Tambo in Payta.
On February 17, 1588, the viceroy issued a new provision at the request of Juan García.
Torrico. Who on behalf of the neighbors of Paita pleaded for the new city to be
I would name it San Miguel de Piura, which is its proper and ancient name.
had and the one they want him to have, since the one he had from San Francisco suited him
the own port of Paita, a plea that the Viceroy favorably received, dictating in
consequence of the cited providence.