CALLAO, a city, chief port and constitutional province of Peru. Pop. (1927), 53,258, about 50,000 of whom were in the city.
The province (area 141 sq.m.), a low peninsula south of the Rimac river, includes the city and its suburbs, Bellavista to the east, with a large Anglo-American colony, La Punta, at the west ern extremity of the peninsula, a bathing resort with casino, pier, hotels, private houses and naval academy, and Chucuito, between La Punta and Callao; also the islands of San Lorenzo, Fronton, Los Palominos and other islets. San Lorenzo (I by 41 m. in ex tent, i,o5o ft. high) has an arsenal and submarine base, Los Palominos, a revolving light with a visibility of 18 miles. Though politically and administratively a province, Callao has the stand ing of a department. The climate is temperate and equable, although the sky is overcast for half the year. Agricultural pro ducts include sugar, maize, fruits and vegetables for local markets. The city 4' S., 13' W.) is the port of Lima, 81 m. dis tant, with which it is connected by train, electric tramway and automobile. This section of the Central railway was opened in 1851, the first in South America. The Avenida del Progreso, built in 1924, is a modern, reinforced concrete highway.
The harbour of Callao, a bay sheltered by a tongue of land on the south (La Punta) and by San Lorenzo, is one of the best anchorages on the Pacific coast of South America. The city is south of the bay, 8 ft. above sea-level. The houses are mostly adobe, of poor design, the streets narrow and ill-paved. Recent public improvements, however—widening and paving the streets, beautifying the plazas, restoring the castle of Real Felipe (1770 75), building reservoirs to double the water-supply and new sys tems of sewage disposal, as well as many imposing new edifices— are fast changing the appearance of Callao. A slaughter-house and refrigerating plant, the first of its kind in Peru, was finished in 1927. It supplies meat to Lima and vicinity and handles dairy products and fruit for the local trade. Among the principal build ings are the customs-house, prefecture, post-office, court-house, barracks, churches, hospitals, markets, clubs and large commer cial houses. There are five plazas with statues of national heroes. Business activities are largely connected with shipping and for warding merchandise. As Callao handles most of the imports of the country, there are many wholesale firms, banks, steamship offices and consulates. Manufactories include flour-mills, brew eries and bottling works, foundries, machine-shops and others of less importance. There are 11 primary schools with 104 teachers and 5,536 pupils (1926), also secondary and commercial schools and a recently established school of fisheries. Callao is a port of call for many foreign steamship lines. The Peruvian line, Com pana Peruana de Vapores y Digue del Callao, runs between Peruvian ports and Panama. In 1926, 1,402 vessels with a tonnage of 2,628,696, entered the port of Callao.
Chief exports are sugar, cotton, wool, hides, silver, copper, vanadium lead and other minerals ; chief imports, machinery, vehicles, implements, food-stuffs, cotton and other textiles, build ing materials, paint, jute, paper and general merchandise for personal, household and industrial uses. As improvement of harbour and docks is centrally important, a contract closed with a North American firm in 1928, provides for the con struction of new docking facilities in addition to those al ready in use. Two granite breakwaters, with an entrance Soo ft. wide, will enclose an area of 667 acres. The main channel will be 37 ft. deep, with a depth of 32 ft. over the rest of the dredged area. Four piers, 600 ft. long, will be built, two of which will have fireproof sheds with water service, tracks for freight cars, cement ways for trucks and crane equipment. At a cost of $6, 300,000, this new terminal will be finished in 1932 and will be called Terminal Leguia. Callao handles at present an average of 125,000 tons a year exports, and 400,000 tons imports. The new facilities will have a capacity of 1,000,000 tons. The port area is large enough to include other docks as needed.