The town maintains close commercial links with Chile, Bolivia, and Brazil and with the cities connected by the South trainway, as well as with the port of Matarani.

During the viceregal period, it acquired importance for its outstanding economic role,[5] and is characterized by the fidelismo towards the Spanish Crown,[7] which honored Arequipa with titles such as "Very Noble and Very Loyal".

[12] Historical heritage and monumental that it houses and its diverse scenic and cultural spaces turn it into a host city of national and international tourism, in its historical center it highlights the religious architecture viceregal and republican product of mixture of Spanish and autochthonous characteristics,[13] that constituted an own stylistic school called "Arequipeña School"[14] whose influence arrived in Potosí (Bolivia).

[18] A local tradition states that Sapa Inca Mayta Cápac received a petition from his subjects to reach the valley of the River Chili.

The local chief, not understanding the question, assumed they were asking for permission to sit down and gave the aforementioned affirmation, which sounded to the Spanish like "Arequipa".

[22] On 2 September 1940, Francisco Mostajo sent a letter to the Mayor of the City to explain his views regarding the color of the Banner of Arequipa, basing his claims on the 'Act of the Oath of King Carlos III " of 11 August 1788.

[23] On 22 December 1540, King Charles I of Spain elevated Arequipa to the rank of city by royal decree, awarding it a coat of arms on which a mythical animal carries a banner inscribed with Karlos V or Del Rey.

Lyrics and music were composed by Emilio Pardo Valle and Aurelio Diaz Espinoza, who won a 1939 contest which the city council organize to dedicate a new anthem.

[25] A Hispanic version of the events, detailed by chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, which has been described as historically inaccurate,[26] suggests that around 1170[dubious – discuss] Huayna Capac stopped in the Chili River valley with his army, calling the area Ari qepay which means "Let's stay here."

One aspect that distinguished Arequipa from other localities in Peru, and Lima, in particular, was the explicit public adherence of the city's ruling classes to the Spanish Crown during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

For these services, King Charles IV issued a Royal Decree in the city of San Lorenzo on 5 December 1805, in which he ordered her to be called and titled Fidelísima.

It was during this period that the Academia Lauretana promoted the creation of the Colegio Nacional de la Independencia Americana and the National University of San Agustín in 1827.

[53] Montero's government had a "National Congress" installed on 22 April 1883 in the cloisters of the Colegio Independencia and the Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, a military backing made up of all males between the ages of 20 and 60They made up an army of 4,000 men and 8,000 to 10,000 National Guardsmenand significant economic support based on the quotas and expenditures imposed on both the economic elite and the various southern agricultural districts.

In a similar twist, on 27 October 1948, General Manuel A. Odría established a junta government after deposing President José Luis Bustamante y Rivero.

[74] Some educational institutions, such as the National University of San Agustin, moved out of the city center to more spacious land lots in peripheral areas to accommodate their growing facilities.

[78] An earthquake in 1958 and a drought in the Altiplano caused a rise in migration, urbanization, and peripheral city growth (suburbs and shantytowns) that continues to this day.

Businessman Jack Dwyre conducted the broadcast through his new company Televisora Sur Peruana in partnership with San Agustin National University as Channel 2 (now TV UNSA).

Writers such as Percy Gibson and Alberto Hidalgo as well as politicians like Hector Cornejo Chavez, Mario Polar Ugarteche and Alfonso Montesinos started their careers working for this newspaper.

An element of culture in Arequipa City is its Spanish dialect which incorporates a distinctive rhythmic way of speaking, which usually elongates the last vowel of the final word in each sentence.

[111] Another dialect from the city surroundings, called loncco, has been largely lost due to migration from other provinces and the standardization of Spanish language by the media.

However, there are contests in schools which promote the writing of poems in the loncco dialect.Literature in Arequipa has a long tradition and many of the city's writers have gained national and international recognition.

In the twentieth century, Mario Vargas Llosa is the most recognized of the Arequipan writers in Peru and abroad, winner of Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, author of novels like The Green House (1966), Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter (1977), among others.

[113] Most known for their nocturnals and portrait photography of women, their photographic archive, which is privately held by descendants of the studio's founders and brothers Carlos and Miguel Vargas, have been restored and digitized.

[126] Since the 1990s banking institutions showed great interest in promoting and managing cultural activities; while private companies joined this movement by sponsoring various projects.

Since the last years of the Spanish colonial period, there were important academic composers like Mariano Melgar (who was best known as a poet), Pedro Jiménez Tirado April and Florentino Diaz, all of them placing Arequipa as one of the Peruvian cities with a renowned musical scene.

; while typical desserts are: queso helado (ice cream made of milk, cinnamon and coconut), buñuelos, dulces de convento and chocolates.

Five significant periods are: In historical existence is accounted for 14 churches or temples, four chapels, five convents and 3 monasteries,[138] among the monuments of this type include: It is the most important neoclassical ediicio Peru, product reconstruction started in 1844 and finished three years later and led by architect Lucas Poblete.

[138] The historic center of Arequipa lacked a wall as we had the city of Lima, they persist despite military monuments as Twentieth Century Prison and Penal Fundo El Fierro women.

[157] The railway network system has been operating in Arequipa since 1871[citation needed], and enables communication between the coast and the mountains and different levels of progress and expansion of population centers located in its path.

It is of great strategic importance in the multimodal communication system in the southern macro region[citation needed], since it is the most effective and economical way to transport heavy loads over long distances.