APURIMAC, an interior highland department of southern Peru. Area, 8,187 sq.m.; pop. (1927) estimate 280,00o. The de partment was created in 1873 and comprises five provinces. Its physical features and productions are very similar to those of Ayacucho (q.v.), with the exception that sugar-cane is cultivated with noteworthy success in the low valley of the province of Abancay. The capital, Abancay, 83m. S.W. of Cuzco, which is only a village in size but is rich in historical associations, and Andahuaylas, in the north-west part of the department, are its principal towns.