Utkhupampa

Utkhupampa is the valley of the Utcubamba River in the northern Peruvian Andes. The river flows north through steep mountain country to join the Marañón, passing lands inhabited by the Chachapoya and other peoples. Its name, from Quechua words for cotton and a plain, recalls the cultivated valleys below the high ridges, where ancient settlements occupied both riverbanks and mountain slopes.