Arequipa

Peru's second city has spent five centuries defining itself against Lima—and the volcanic rock beneath it provides the perfect metaphor. Arequipa sits at 2,335 meters in the shadow of El Misti volcano, built almost entirely from sillar, a white volcanic ashite stone that gives it the nickname 'La Ciudad Blanca' (The White City). The stone is lightweight, insulating, and earthquake-resistant—properties that matter in a seismic zone where major tremors struck in 1868, 2001, and regularly in between.

Founded by the Spanish in 1540, Arequipa developed as the commercial hub of southern Peru, controlling trade routes between the Pacific coast, the altiplano, and Bolivia. Its merchant class cultivated a distinct regional identity, fiercely independent of Lima's centralized control. This rivalry has produced more Peruvian presidents than any city outside the capital and at least one attempted secession (1883). UNESCO designated the historic center a World Heritage Site in 2000, recognizing the sillar architecture as culturally significant.

Modern Arequipa has roughly 841,000 city residents and 1.1 million in the metro area. Copper mining from the Cerro Verde mine—one of the world's largest open-pit copper operations—dominates the regional economy. Agriculture (onions, garlic, peppers) in the surrounding irrigated valleys and wool processing from alpaca herds in the highlands provide secondary income. Tourism to Colca Canyon (one of the world's deepest) and the historic center contributes growing revenue.

Arequipa's volcanic geology shapes its identity and its risk profile simultaneously. El Misti last erupted in the 15th century, but volcanologists classify it as active. A major eruption or earthquake could devastate a metro area of over one million people built from the very stone the volcano produced. The city is literally constructed from its own geological threat—a physical manifestation of how communities build prosperity on the same forces that can destroy them.