Amazonas in the Colonial Epoch

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In the History of Peru, the Amazonas in the Colonial Epoch is a term used to refer to the history of the Amazonian people during the Colonial Epoch.

A few years after its foundation, the prosperity of the region began to demonstrate itself in magnificent constructions in the city of Chachapoyas, with big courts, wide lounges and architectural characteristics adapted to the zone.

The colonial aspect of Chachapoyas stays almost intact until now, and it is one of the most attractive characteristics of this old city.

A refined religious feeling was one of the characteristics that distinguished the settlers of this department during the colony. In the same year of the foundation of Chachapoyas, the first church was built. Its first priest was Hernando Gutiérrez Palacios. Later the churches of Santa Ana, San Lázaro and Señor de Burgos were built.

Three religious convents were also established: San Francisco, La Merced and that of the betlehemitas. The majority of the persons who settled in Chachapoyas from the time of its foundation were people with nobility, but poor. They were living in a modest and worthily way and they devoted themselves to agriculture and mining. Many settlers achieved a loose economic position, keeping, nevertheless, the austerity of the customs that was one of the highlight points of Chachapoyas social life.

With time the settlers were spreading to other zones of the region, such as Luya, city that was established in 1569 by the governor Lope García de Castro, ratified later in its administrative organization by the viceroy Francisco de Toledo.

There it bloomed an agriculture of varied production and the upbringing of dairy, sheep and equine cattle.

In one of his pastoral visits, Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo visited the principal populations of this department in this epoch.