Aija Province

The province of Aija is one of the twenty that make up the department of Ancash in Peru. It limits to the north with the province of Huaraz, to the east with the province of Recuay and to by the South and the West with the province of Huarmey. Its territory is crossed by the Cordillera Negra.

History

The province's capital is the city of Aija, named by Antonio Raimondi as "Pearl of the Springs", which, according to tradition, owes its name to a warrior dance of Inca ancestors, the Saya Huanca. These dancers danced repeating "Ha ha Aixa Burr. Another version says that it comes from the passionate exclamation "Ah, Daughter!" of a ruddy Spaniard in love with a maiden, a native flower of this land, back in the time of the Colony.

The province was created from its split from the second Province of Huaraz, thus fulfilling the desire of several generations. The most important milestones in the process followed to achieve this objective are indicated below.

1908-1911: On July 28, 1908, with Mr. Bernardo Pajuelo as district mayor, a solemn session was held in which fiery speeches of regionalism were delivered by Mr. José María Antúnez, Mr. Eliseo Larragán and, the Governor, Don Guillermo Romero Mejía, who launched a harangue to his generation to collect the idea of his elders to convert Aija into a province. On August 15, 1908 they founded the company "El Porvenir de Aija" with a board of directors made up of José María Antúnez (president), Eliseo Larragán (vice president), Guillermo Romero, Enrique Roldán, Nicanor Pajuelo, Macario Ortiz and Humberto Flores.

1916-1917: With the passage of time, only the memory of the Sociedad Porvenir de Aija had remained. Recuay and Carhuaz had already awakened, therefore, the regionalist movement in each one was already more active. On November 12, 1916, in a Public Assembly, under the presidency of Governor Darío Antúnez, the “Pro Nueva Provincia Committee” was founded with the following directive: José María Antúnez (president), Guillermo Romero Mejía (vice president), Enrique Roldán and Dario Antunez. And on November 14, in a continuous assembly, the commissions were appointed to visit the neighboring districts of the northern, central and southern areas of the Vertientes region again and convince them to adhere to the initiative. Those responsible for the task were the board of directors of "El Porvenir de Aija".

1934-1936: In 1934 an important event hit the conscience of the district very hard: Carhuaz had been created as a province in the Constituent Congress that had legislated since 1931, without major opposition. Thus, the aijinos woke up again and, with the adhesion of the District of Succha, the District of Huayán, the District of Malvas and the District of Coris, the province of Aija was created at the insistence of Congress, despite the observations of the Executive Power, through Legislative Resolution No. 8188 of March 5, 1936, splitting off part of the second Province of Huaraz. The news of this victory caused an explosion of euphoria and merriment. The aijinos of that time, young and old, filled the streets and were confused in hugs, in cheers and urras, to the rumble of the rockets and to the sound of the bands of musicians. The inauguration took place on August 30, 1936.

The new province was created made up of 9 districts. Among the 5 existing districts were the Aija District, the Succha District, the Huayán District, the Coris District and the Malvas District. And among the 4 new districts that were created, with said law, were the District of Huacllán, which was annexed to Succha; the District of La Merced, which was annexed to Aija; the District of Tapacocha, which belonged to the District of Cotaparaco; and the District of Cochapeti, which was annexed to Malvas.

Later, the District of Tapacocha was split from the province by the creation of the Province of Recuay on September 30, 1949, from the division of the third Province of Huaraz, and the District of Malvas, the District of Huayán and the District of Cochapeti are split from the province by the creation of the current Province of Huarmey on December 20, 1984.

Geography

It has a moderate climate of approx. 18 °C during the year. Mainly mining area: zinc, silver, tin.

Districts of Aija Province

Nominal genesis

Aixa, modernly Aija, means nothing but "wasteland", pedagogical version of Cerrón Palomino in an essay in Lexis PUCP, 1915-

Capital

The capital of this province is the city of Aija, located in the Aija District.

Administrative division

This province is divided into five districts:

• Aija, which occupies the southeast.
• Coris, which occupies the west side.
• Huacllán, which oquates the central part
• The Merced, which occupies the northern part.
• Succha, which occupies the southern part.

Transportation

Access Routes

Road to Aija on the riverbed

The capital of the province is located 73 km from the city of Huaraz, the capital of the department, located in the Callejón de Huaylas.

The first way to get there is through the PE-3N national highway that starts in Paramonga, as a detour from the PE-1N national highway (Panamericana Norte Highway). 26 km from Huaraz, take a detour to the west in the city of Recuay, through the AN-109 skid trail, and follow another 47 km along a dirt road that passes at almost 4,500 masl, near Huancapetí hill.

The second way to get there is a 72 km route, through the paved national highway PE-14N that begins in Casma, as a detour from the national highway PE-1N (Carretera Panamericana Norte). 33 km from Huaraz, take a detour to the south at the Callán Punta pass located at 4200 m s. no. m. that goes to the District of Coris, through the carriage track AN-1168, and then follows a detour to the southeast, towards the District of La Merced, through the trail AN-1178.

A third way to get to the capital of the province is through the road that comes from the city of Huarmey, along a route of 107 km, through a detour that starts on the national highway PE-1N (North Pan-American Highway), through the AN-109 road. The first 42 km of the route are paved, the next 65 km are unpaved; however, a good part of the last 23 km literally passes through the bed of the Allma river, which in the area called Juchu-Mellizo usually floods and is interrupted during the 4-5 months of rain, as well as being next to a geological fault that in Past earthquakes have caused the detachment of part of the Kjonkja hill. To avoid this step, take a detour in Llanquish and continue to the AN-1167 road that crosses the Keké tunnel, which has been in operation all year since it was completed in 2012.

A fourth way to access it would be to travel the same 42 km paved road of Huarmey-Huamba along the AN-109 road and take the variant that goes along the AN-1161 road of 72 km and passes through the town of San Miguel, goes up to the capital of the district of Huayán and continues until joining the AN-1167 road, in the capital of the district of Succha. Then it continues 23 km through the Keké tunnel to the capital of the province. This route, despite being longer, has spectacular views of the coast and the sea.

Keké tunnel from AN-1167 to Huarmey

Road infrastructure

The different districts of the province are quite disintegrated by road with respect to the provincial capital, with the exception of the District of La Merced, which was previously annexed to the District of Aija, with which they are connected through the carriage trails AN -1175 and AN-1177. In addition to being able to use the trails AN-109 and AN-1178, the District of La Merced is connected to the city of Huaraz through the trail AN-1173 and AN-1174.

The other three districts, Coris District, Huacllán District and Succha District, are better connected with Huarmey, through the AN-109 and AN-1161 trails, and with Huaraz, through the AN trail -1166, AN-1168 and AN-1169. The connections to the hamlets consist of unpaved, unregistered roads and mule tracks.

Public transportation

Public transportation is also divided. The District of Aija and the District of La Merced are very well connected with Recuay and Huaraz, with several passenger transport companies that have several daily frequencies. However, there is no public transportation to Huarmey or the other three districts of the province.

For their part, the District of Succha, the District of Huacllán and the District of Coris are connected with Huarmey and Huaraz through transport companies that have daily or inter-day travel frequencies. Previously, these districts used the mule tracks that crossed the Mellizo bridge to go and stock up on provisions in the Aija District, but now either they do it directly from Huarmey and Huaraz or the suppliers themselves come to leave their products from these cities, two or three times per week.

Tourist attractions

Aija is known as the cradle of geniuses, a name earned thanks to the wise Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo. That is why to this day the place where he lived for several years remains in conservation.

Several archaeological remains, Chuchunpunta and Pirurupunta, are located at the heights of the district. From this point, the entire Aija district can be seen panoramically.

Another place that has not yet been studied, but has tourist potential is Quillayoc, an archaeological site located at the heights of Mount Monserrate,

Authorities

Regionals

• Regional adviser
  • 2019 - 2022: Miguel De los Santos Rosales Tamariz (El Maicito Regional Movement)

Municipals

• 2019 - 2022
  • Mayor: Pedro Moisés Roque Ita, of the El Maicito Regional Movement.
  • Regivers:
  1. Martín Ángel Solís Solórzano (El Maicito Regional Movement)
  2. Margarita Gudelia Ortiz Onofre (El Maicito Regional Movement)
  3. Julián Robin Robles León (El Maicito Regional Movement)
  4. Magda Rebeca Villacorta Huaychani de Minaya (El Maicito Regional Movement)
  5. Cayo Gabriel Antúnez Alva (Movimiento Acción Nacionalista Peruano)

Featured Aijinos

• Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo Gomero, born in the present district of Huacllán.
• Santiago Antunez de Mayolo Rynning, Congressman of the Republic.
• Gabino Uribe, procer de la independencia. Currently a school in the province bears its name.
• Jacinto Palacios Zaragoza, "El Trovador Ancashino", whose musical work was proclaimed Cultural Heritage of the Nation on November 13, 2015.

Festivities

• February 2: Virgin of the Candelaria.
• March-April: Holy Week.
• July 25: Santiago Apostle