Mollendo

Mollendo, city, Peru, on the Pacific coast. Founded in 1872, its site was chosen by the American engineer Henry Meiggs, builder of the Arequipa-Mollendo Railroad. Additional rail connections to local mines and to Puno and Lake Titicaca, supplemented by its artificial harbour and the Pan-American Highway, have made Mollendo an export-import point for southern Peru and Bolivia, although after 1941 much of its port trade was lost to Matarani, just to the northwest. The irrigated Tambo River valley, southeast of the city, yields rice, sugar, cotton, grain, and fruits. Mollendo has fish canneries, cement works, textile mills, and cheese factories. Its beaches have attracted a growing tourist trade. Pop. (2005) 22,650.