The capital of the Peruvian Amazon, Iquitos, has long escaped the grasp of Spanish settlers. This jungle city containing close to 500 000 inhabitants can still not be reached by land. The earliest documentation regarding its founding is a Spanish text mentioning the put up of a Jesuit mission at the Nanay River around 1757. There the Jesuits tried to gather indigenous people native to the jungle environment of the Amazon for thousands of years. They worked at this for over a century. The name of the city comes from an indigenous group of people called the Iquitos. Those were the main inhabitants of the city when founded.

Thanks to the rubber boom the city grew tremendously. Because of this, the city is a splendid mix of ethnicities and cradle to a very unique culture. Today the city is a very popular destination for travelers looking for a real jungle adventure. Surrounding the city in the jungle you can find several lake lodges and resorts. Each year over 250 000 people visit the city, trying to find that real Amazon experience and visit some ethnic communities.