Ica, Peru Ica, Peru The city of Ica () (Quechua: "Ika") is the capital of the Ica Region in southern Peru. While the area was long inhabited by varying cultures of indigenous peoples, the Spanish "conquistador" Gerónimo Luis de Cabrera claimed its founding in 1563. As of 2005, it had an estimated population of over 219,856. The city suffered extensive damage and loss of life during the 2007 Peru earthquake. The city is located on the Ica River about 300 km to the south of Lima, along the desert coast of southern Peru. Further south along the Pan-American Highway lies the city
Peru as loose confederation of cities scattered along the coast of northern Peru and southern Ecuador, the Chimu flourished from about 1140 to 1450. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo. In the highlands, both the Tiahuanaco culture, near Lake Titicaca in both Peru and Bolivia, and the Wari culture, near the present-day city of Ayacucho, developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between 500 and 1000 AD. In the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in