Iquitos has a population of 300,000, and is Peru?s largest jungle city, although Pucallpa has grown rapidly in recent years and now vies with Iquitos for this title. However, there is little doubt that Iquitos is the most interesting of the jungle cities, and in its heyday it was one of the grandest cities in the whole of the Amazon basin.
The jungle area around Iquitos was quite densely populated before the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, and it is estimated that there could have been as many as 300,000 natives living here. However, the arrival of the Spanish, and European diseases with them, decimated the population. The first European to see the Amazon River was the conquistador Francisco de Orellana, who arrived at the river on 12 February 1542, after having left from the Peruvian highlands.
Although missionaries moved into the area, the jungle was largely ignored by the Spanish, and it was only in 1864 that Iquitos was founded. The city quickly found itself at the centre of world interest, as the process of vulcanisation made the rubber tree, indigenous to the Iquitos area, one of the most valuable commodities in the world. Iquitos prospered in the rubber boom, and much wealth was created in this period, when the rubber barons were born. However, this wealth did not last, and when seeds of the rubber tree were smuggled out of Peru, the monopoly enjoyed by Iquitos ended.
Unlike in most of the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos does not have distinct dry and rainy seasons as it is so close to the equator. Instead, it can rain throughout the year, but it is unusual for there to be several days of uninterrupted rain. Therefore, the area is a good jungle destination at all times, especially when it rains heavily further south from October to April, making jungle trips to other destinations more difficult. Despite the uniformity of rainfall in Iquitos, the water level of the Amazon River varies tremendously throughout the year. This is affected by the rainfall in the areas feeding the tributaries of the Amazon, and the Amazon River increases in width by several hundred metres between the months of November and April. These are the best months for viewing wildlife, as the available land area is significantly reduced. Therefore, the wildlife is forced onto a smaller landmass, making it easier to spot.
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