The Cerro de la Sal was an important source of salt for the pre-Columbian indigenous people of the Amazon Basin in Peru.

Because of the seasonal concentration at the mountain by indigenous people (Indians), especially the Asháninka and Yanesha (Amuesha), Spanish missionaries, settlers, and soldiers were attracted to the Cerro de la Sal as early as 1635.

Cerro de la Sal is used loosely to refer to the surrounding region and to the chain of mountains extending eastward from the salt deposits.

[5] In pre-Columbian times, the indigenous people living in the Cerro de la Sal area had commercial relationships with the Inca Empire, but retained their independence.

[10] Reasons for the seasonality of people at the Cerro de la Sal include the difficulty of navigating the flooded highland rivers during the rainy season and the fact that the Cerro has an elevation above the 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) maximum elevation for the cultivation of manioc, the principal food crop of the indigenous people of the low jungles.

[11] The Spanish religious, military and secular authorities realized the strategic importance of the Cerro de la Sal early in the 17th century.

[12] Roman Catholic Franciscan missionaries were attracted to the Cerro de la Sal because of the seasonal congregation of large numbers of indigenous people there.

[14] From about 1645 to 1651 a Spanish adventurer known as Pedro Bohórquez led an expedition of 40 men to the Cerro de la Sal area in search of the fabled city of Paititi, reputed to be lost in the Amazon rain forests.

From 1742 to 1752, a messianic movement headed by Juan Santos Atahualpa destroyed the missions and the Spanish lost control of Cerro de la Sal and much of the region.

[18] The Peruvian government, now independent from Spain, established a fortress in 1842 at what became the town of San Ramon along the Chanchamayo River 35 kilometres (22 miles) south of the Cerro de la Sal.

However, the advance of the European and Andean settlers (plus Chinese brought in as farm workers[22]) during the rubber boom was inexorable and the indigenous were forced away from the Cerro de la Sal.

The nearby town of Villa Rica was founded in 1928 by settlers of German ancestry from Pozuzo and coffee became the principal cash crop of the region.

Until the 1980s the indigenous people continued to visit Cerro de la Sal and extract salt to carry back to their homes in the more remote parts of the Amazon Basin.