Callao, the chief seaport of Peru, and one of the most important on the Pacific coast, possesses an especial historical as well as commercial interest. As the City of the Kings was the centre of political and social authority under the viceroyalty, Callao was the headquarters of its trade, the counting-house in which business operations connected with the colonial service were carried on. All ships that traded between Spain and its vast Peruvian provinces were obliged to load and discharge their cargo in this port, where every article was registered and the king’s duties were collected. The first buildings of the port were erected in 1537, two years after Pizarro founded Lima; but it was not until a hundred and thirty-four years later, in 1671, that Callao was dignified with the title of city. In the intervening period, the increasing wealth and prosperity of the viceroyalty and the importance of its trade attracted pirates to the coast, the harbor of Callao being made the chief point of attack, as in the case of Drake and Cavendish, elsewhere referred to, and of the Dutch pirates who came later. These invasions, though they wrought great damage to the city, were forgotten in the flourishing period that followed, when Callao grew to be the richest port of the Pacific and its harbor was constantly thronged with vessels bringing in merchandise of all kinds, or loading precious cargoes of gold and silver for the metropolis.

A greater catastrophe than invasion of pirates befell the seaport in the height of its prosperity, when, on the 28th of October, 1746, a terrible earthquake, accompanied by a tidal wave of tremendous volume, completely destroyed the city, about six thousand people perishing in the sea that swept over the falling buildings in a deluge. The task of rebuilding began at once, though not on the same site, which has ever since remained under the sea. The location of the submerged city is indicated between the points of Independencia and Camotal, south of the present site, and in that part of the bay called the Mar Brava (rough sea.) For many years after this calamity, a sentry was stationed on the beach to take charge of any treasure that might be washed ashore, and this post was not dispensed with until after the inauguration of the republic. When the new city was built, the port was fortified and placed in charge of a strong military garrison. The part played by this garrison in the last days of the viceroyalty is well known. Its surrender was the signal of defeat to the royalist cause in Peru.

The foreigner who first sees the harbor and city of Callao from the deck of a steamer, finds the view such a pleasing contrast to anything the neighboring harbors have to offer, that he is not disposed to find fault even with the barren aspect of San Lorenzo to the south, and the monotonous line of houses facing the water front; he is charmed with the beautiful green of the Rimac valley to the north, the distant glimpse of Lima’s church towers, and behind them the purple hills that hide their summits above the clouds. There is much to enjoy also in the busy scene of the harbor; vessels of all nations are loading and discharging their cargoes, tugs bustle about, and, while the pompous whistle of modern steamers announces their arrival, the graceful sailing ship glides silently into port, maintaining with dignity the credit of the good old days, in the face of these rival parvenus of twentieth century transportation.

Nearly all passengers landing at Callao proceed immediately to Lima, and, as soon as the routine of the custom house is finished, there is a general rush for the train or the electric street car which runs to the capital. If the foreigner were to be asked his first impression of Callao, he would probably give a confused description of a place remembered only for its Custom House, the narrow irregular streets and old-fashioned houses of the water front, and the railway tracks to be crossed on the way to the Station. But those who have seen Callao under more favorable circumstances have found many attractions in the social life of its kind and hospitable people and much to admire in the city itself. Under the present administration, important improvements are being carried to completion, notably the work of canalization, which means a great deal to the healthfulness of the city. Block pavements have been laid in the principal streets, the question of sanitation has received special attention, and everything indicates a spirit of progress active in public affairs.

The public buildings of Callao are situated chiefly in the central part of the city, on one of the numerous squares, or plazas. The most conspicuous of these edifices is the custom house, the chief aduana of the republic. It occupies the site formerly enclosed in the city’s fortresses, and is a spacious building; though, it is claimed, the accommodations do not fulfil the requirements of an establishment of this kind, as the first custom house of Peru. The post office building is a solid, well-built structure, overlooking the plaza; the prefecture occupies a large and commodious building, the lower part of which is used for the offices of the police authorities, the Junta Departmental, the treasury and the criminal court; the civil court holds its sessions elsewhere. Callao has a town council, a chamber of commerce, an excellent fire brigade composed of four companies, a benevolent society which maintains the hospitals of Guadalupe and San Juan de Dios, several churches, and three social clubs. There are two protestant churches in the city and two foreign clubs. The English Club has its headquarters in a building overlooking the bay; its broad verandahs, adorned with shrubs and plants, present a very attractive picture from the landing-place. For amusement, there is a theatre and a bull ring, and lovers of sport have their rifle and regatta clubs, besides which there is also the Naval Club and the Italian Club. In the principal plazas of the city, monuments have been erected in honor of the national heroes. The Plaza Grau has a handsome monument in memory of the heroic commander of the Huascar; a statue of General San Martin adorns the beautiful Plaza Matriz; and in the Plaza “Dos de Mayo” stands a marble pillar, supporting a bust of the hero José Galvez, Minister of War, who was killed in the naval battle of 1866, in the bay of Callao.

The constitutional province of Callao was created by a decree of the supreme government in 1836, the name “constitutional” being bestowed by law in 1857, in remembrance of various occasions when its people had defended the constitution of the State. The province extends from the Rimac River on the north to the Mar Brava on the south, and from the Pacific Ocean on the west to the haciendas Chacra Alta, Taboada, and La Legua on the east. It includes the city of Callao, the wards, or barrios, of Bella Vista and La Punta, and the islands of San Lorenzo, Fronton, Palominos, Hormigos de Afuera, and neighboring rocks. The province is governed by a prefect, an intendant of police, commissaries and governors. Bella Vista and La Punta are under the authority of commissaries. The present population of Callao is thirty-five thousand, of which one-tenth are foreigners. Its chief industries are those connected with maritime traffic, though the city has also a number of factories and flour mills. The port is connected with the capital by telegraph and telephone systems, and with all the cities of the world by the Central and South American Telegraph Company, and the West Coast of America Telegraph Company. Most of the consular offices are located in Callao, which is within twenty minutes’ ride of Lima, on the electric car. A business man may reside at the capital without any inconvenience in getting to and from his office. The ride itself is a pleasant paseo, across open country, with agreeable scenes all the way.

Bella Vista is situated a mile east of Callao, where it was founded after the earthquake of 1746, by order of the viceroy, the Count of Superunda. Here the ship-owners, who had charge of the coasting trade at that time, made their homes; and here were established warehouses for the storage of wheat purchased from Chile to supply the market of Lima and its neighborhood during the viceroyalty. These old buildings have now been replaced by modern storehouses. In 1834, the government of Peru ceded to the British Legation a piece of land for the purpose of a Protestant cemetery, and here many distinguished foreigners have been laid to rest. A mausoleum, erected by the Peruvian nation as a proof of gratitude to the hero of the Independence, marks the grave of General Miller, San Martin’s faithful follower.

La Punta is the favorite bathing resort of Callao and of the capital, its beach being thronged throughout the summer season. Its situation marks the southern limit of the harbor, to which it forms a protection from the southeast winds, stretching out for more than a mile into the sea. The harbor is usually entered from the north, the narrow passage between La Punta and the island of San Lorenzo, on the south, being seldom frequented. The bay is large and affords safe anchorage for ships at all times of the year. The only islands in the vicinity are San Lorenzo, Fronton, Palominos, and a few small rocks. San Lorenzo is used as a depository for explosives, and from its quarries are taken stones for paving and other purposes; besides which it provides a good cement for construction work. On the little island of Palominos, south of San Lorenzo, stands a lighthouse, with a revolving light visible eighteen miles distant. The government of Peru is putting up new lighthouses all along its coast, thus meeting an urgent need. Another demand which is being met with especial endeavor is the improvement of all the docks and landing-places of the various ports of the republic. Callao’s dock and wharf, called the Muelle Darsena, is built so that ships may disembark passengers and cargo directly on shore, without requiring, as in nearly all other ports of the Pacific, canoes and lighters to transfer them. In some ports of the West Coast, both in North and South America, the passengers are swung over the ship’s side in baskets; but, though the novelty of the experience may have its charm, this is not a very comfortable mode of landing. The Muelle Darsena at Callao permits of ships of large tonnage anchoring close to its wharf. It encloses a space covering more than fifty thousand square metres, has a pier one hundred and eighty metres long, formed by the extension of one of its side walls, and connects with the shore by means of a bridge nine hundred metres long, constructed on iron piles. In addition to the Muelle Darsena, the port of Callao has a floating dock with capacity to admit vessels drawing twenty-one feet of water and registering five thousand tons; and another floating dock is under construction which will admit vessels of up to seven thousand tons’ register. During the past year many improvements have been initiated, one of the most important being the plan of fortifying the port, in accordance with the best modern system. A new embankment, or breakwater, the “Malecon Figueredo,” is under construction, which will add greatly to the attractiveness as well as the protection of that part of the city which overlooks the harbor. In this work, the supreme government coöperates with the Junta Departmental and the municipality, all being benefited by its results. In giving attention to the improvements that contribute to make Callao a better port, the government believes that the commerce of the country will be greatly advanced thereby. Callao is now visited annually by five hundred steamers and more than a thousand sailing vessels besides the smaller craft engaged in the coasting trade. Every day in the year, one may count twenty or more steamers and twice as many sailing ships anchored in the harbor.

The most important steamship companies of the world are represented in the lines which include the port of Callao in their itinerary. The first company to send steamers to the Pacific Coast was organized largely through the initiative of shippers in this port. The Pacific Steam Navigation Company, incorporated in England by Royal Charter in 1840, began its service on the Pacific Coast under the usual difficulties attending pioneer efforts. The working of the line was impeded by innumerable drawbacks. At first it was a purely coastal service and the mails, passengers and through traffic had to be conveyed across the isthmus of Panamá on mules. Then the Panamá railroad was built and the traffic was fostered; but the rates across the isthmus were very high and the difficulties that attended the despatching of through traffic were so discouraging that the Pacific Company instituted a line of steamers between Liverpool and Valparaiso via the Straits of Magellan, to connect with the coast service plying between that port and Panamá. Later, the line from Liverpool was extended to Callao, and for many years this port was the headquarters of the company, until, in 1896, owing to a falling off in trade after the decline of the guano industry, the chief offices were transferred to Valparaiso. Of late years, however, the company has greatly increased its fleet, and a special line of passenger and cargo boats has been put on for service to Peruvian ports. From a small commencement with two wooden paddle steamers of seven hundred tons’ register, as described by Mr. Frederick Alcock in his book Trade and Travel in South America, the fleet has grown until its register now approximates two hundred thousand tons. Its new steamer, the Orcoma, has a tonnage of eleven thousand five hundred, and the Orita registers nine thousand two hundred and sixty-five tons; in addition to these handsome floating palaces, the fleet numbers eighteen twin-screw steamers of lesser tonnage, all of modern construction and commodious service. Of these, the Oriana, Ortega, and Oronsa, are the largest and most noted for comfort and elegance. At Chucuito, near Callao, where the company owns a large property, the stores and works are being enlarged and improved. The Pacific steamers connect with those of the Royal Mail both at Panamá and Buenos Aires, the latter having no line on the west coast of America, though its magnificent fleet ploughs all the seas, from Southampton to Panamá, to Brazil and Argentina, to the Mediterranean, Suez Canal and India, and, in the Pacific Ocean, to China and Australia.

In addition to the Pacific Steamship Line, there are numerous others trading along the west coast of South America, all of which call at the port of Callao. The South American Steamship Company of Chile has steamers every week from Valparaiso to Panamá and the ports of Peru. The Kosmos Line connects the European ports of Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp, and Havre with San Francisco, California, via the Straits of Magellan and west coast ports of South America. The “Merchant Line” carries on a direct trade between New York and Callao, and the Japanese Steamship Company connects the Peruvian ports with Japan.

Almost all the American and European steamship companies have lines to Panamá, including the Panamá Railway Steamship Company and the Leyland Line, from New York; the Royal Mail, from New York and England; the Hamburg-Pacific, from Germany; the Compagnie Général Transatlantique, from France; the Veloce, from Italy; the Transatlantica Española, from Spain; and the Pacific Mail, from San Francisco. As soon as the Canal is open for traffic, all these lines will extend their itineraries to Callao, which is destined to be the commercial metropolis of the South Pacific.