The city is located in the central eastern part of the Piura Region, 981 kilometers from the country's capital, Lima and is near to the border with Ecuador.

Like most of northern Peru, the territory of Piura has been inhabited by their autochthonous group of natives called tallanes and yungas.

Nowadays, Piura is known as the Ciudad del eterno calor, 'the city of eternal heat', because it is hot all year round.

Likewise, the Piura division of 1,000 men contributed victoriously to the independence of Quito, taking part in the Battle of Pichincha, on May 24, 1822.

of English, German and Spanish, in that order, and to a lesser extent Italians and Chinese, who brought their customs and also their knowledge of commerce and industry.

They quickly incorporated themselves into the social fabric, forming families with local ladies and inevitably creating new tastes and habits.

New industries appeared such as deep-sea fishing by whaling fleets, mass production and export trade of toquilla straw hats from Catacaos and annexes.

Miguel Grau is the most renowned and iconic Peruvian naval officer, being known as el Caballero de los Mares (Spanish for "Gentleman of the Seas").

In the 1980s, Piura and the department again experienced an ascending and thriving commercial, industrial and socioeconomic development, despite having been devastated in the 1983 disaster, as a consequence of the El Niño phenomenon, manifested in torrential rains for six months.

The El Niño phenomenon that occurred from late 1997 to mid-1998 found the city better prepared, although two of its bridges fell and were subsequently replaced.

When it seemed that it was going to be a dry season, in February 2017 it began to rain heavily in what later became known as the coastal Niño phenomenon, and in the early hours of March 27, the river overflowed over the center and northern areas.

Piura is experiencing strong development of its commercial sector with the installation of large shopping centers and department stores in no less than five points of the city considered strategic by investors.

Precipitation is sparse except during El Niño events, when rainfall is abundant and water flows through normally dry watercourses, causing flooding and large-scale land movements.

Most of the region is arid, with rainfall concentrated in the high Andean areas, while on the wide plains the main water sources are seasonal rivers flowing from the north: the Chira and the Piura.

The city has an estimated population of 630,244 according to the census carried out by the Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática in 2020.

Cabo Blanco was made famous by visitor Ernest Hemingway in 1956, where he supervised the filming of The Old Man and the Sea.