Description
The city of Arequipa, founded by the Spanish as early as 1540 at an altitude of 2,370 metres, now has a population of around two hundred thousand and lies in a narrow high-altitude basin where agriculture is only possible thanks to artificial irrigation. It owes its nickname, ‘the White City’, to the white tuff used as a building material. Arequipa is dominated by the 5,842-metre-high Misti, one of Peru’s few active volcanoes. Only during the summer rainy season is its smooth cone covered by a cap of snow. - Book: Picture 7 - Peru - 1976
