Introducation of Callao

Callao (Spanish: El Callao) is the largest and most important port in Peru. The city is located in the Constitutional Province of Callao, which is the only province of the Callao Region. It is located west of Lima, the country’s capital. Both cities form the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area, a large metropolis that concentrates almost one-third of Peru’s population.

Peru’s foremost port, Callao has long enjoyed historical and commercial importance, having been founded in 1537, originally as a port of embarkation for merchandise to be shipped to Spain. Located 14 km from downtown Lima, Callao still features venerable wooden colonial mansions lined with long and elaborately carved balconies. Visitors can take in sights such as the Plaza Galvez and Plaza Grau squares and the Iglesia Matriz church.

At the end of Saenz Pena Avenue stands the Real Felipe fortress, a vast construction dating back to 1747, when it was built to defend the port from pirates such as Drake, who sacked the city in the sixteenth century. The Real Felipe also played an important role in Peru’s war of independence. One can also visit Chucuito, a small fishermen’s cove lined with Gothic and neo-Renaissance houses, as well as typical wooden homes painted in bright colors nearby. (more…)

Districts in Callao

The Constitutional Province of Callao is divided into six districts, (Spanish: distritos; singular: distrito), each of which is headed by a mayor (alcalde).
Bellavista
Callao (downtown)
Carmen de la Legua Reynoso
La Perla
La Punta
Ventanilla

City highlights of Callo

Callao is built on and around a peninsula, the district of La Punta, once a wealthy residential neighborhood. An historical fortress, the Castillo de Real Felipe (site of “Rodil’s Last Stand”), stands on the promontory overlooking the harbor.

There is also a large naval base in Callao, in which the leader of the Shining Path rebel movement, Abimael Guzman, and Vladimiro Montesinos, the ex-director of internal security during the Fujimori regime are currently imprisoned. Lima’s Jorge Chavez International Airport is located in Callao.

On a bluff overlooking the harbor sits Colegio Militar Leoncio Prado, the military high school Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa attended and made famous in his first novel, La Ciudad y los Perros (1962) (published in English as The Time of the Hero in 1963). The book was later filmed as The City and the Dogs and featured exterior shots of the school. The city also has a university, the National University of Callao.

Callao also several islands, San Lorenzo (currently a military base), El Fronton (a former high security prison), the Cavinzas, and the Palominos, where a large number of sea lions and sea birds live in a virtually untouched ecosystem. Residents of Callao are known as chalacos.

Region of Callao

Callao is a region located in the central coast of Peru. It is bordered by the Lima Province on the east, north and south; and by the Pacific Ocean on the west. It includes the city of Callao, which is Peru’s most important port, and the San Lorenzo, El Fronton, Cavinzas and Palomino islands. It is the country’s smallest region.

Political division

The Callao region is composed of only one province, the Constitutional Province of Callao (Spanish: Provincia Constitucional del Callao).