Oxapampa, due to its mild climate and scenic surroundings, has become a tourist destination since access was improved by highway construction beginning in the 1980s.

[3][4] In March 1857, a group of 300 Tyrolean and Prussian settlers, consisting mainly of poor peasant families and couples who were not allowed to marry in their home countries, boarded the “Norton” to go to Peru.

After two days of quarantine, the settlers took a ship to the port of Huacho, where their belongings were put on mules and men had to continue the journey on foot while women and children were given donkeys to ride on.

[5] In 1858, the male settlers travelled from Santa Cruz to Pozuzo to partition the lands and sow enough so they would be able to live off their crops once their families arrived.

Oxapampa's climate is modified by its altitude which results in lower temperatures year round than the nearby low-elevation tropics.