Piura is a coastal region in northwestern Peru. "Piura" is derived from the Quechua word pirhua, whose approximate meaning is "supply base", as the area was used by the Incas as a stop to get provisions during their conquest of the area's original inhabitants. Known for its warm tropical and dry or semi-tropical beaches, exquisite food and hospitable people; the region's capital is Piura and its largest port cities, Paita and Talara, are also among the most important in Peru.
The Piura Region is bordered by the Tumbes Region to the north, southern Ecuador,Lambayeque Region on the south, the Cajamarca Region on the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west.
The territory of the Piura Region has many climate variations due to its geographical location.
It is just of 4 degrees south the equator yet receives both ocean currents at the same time: the cold Humboldt Current (13-20 °C) and the warm El Niño Current (20-27 °C). This makes the Piura Region a confusing land both tropical and arid at the same time.
The coast is divided by the Peruvian subtropical desert of Sechura on the south and bushy like savanna tropical-dry forests to the center and north of the region. There are also small tropical valleys where rice and coconut fields are common, especially around the Piura and Sullana rivers.
There is a high Amazon climate (selva alta) as one goes away from the coast on to the sierra, Paramo climates and cooler temperatures appear as one climbs the sierra.
Topography is smooth in the coast and rough in the Sierra. There are many desertic plains in the southern region. The Sechura Desert, located south of the Piura River, is Peru's largest desert and one of the worlds examples of how a tropical desert looks and boundaries a tropical terrain to the north. The Bayóvar depression, which is the lowest point in the country, is located in this desert.
The morphological forms most common in the coast are the dry ravine that suddenly become copious when there are heavy rains, forming tropical dry forests all over. Other features are half-moon shaped dunes, the marine terraces such as those of Máncora, Talara and Lobitos. Valleys formed by fluvial terraces from the Chira River and Piura Rivers.
To the east, valleys are more or less deep and have been eroded by fluvial waters forming equatorial tropical-dry-forests. The major peak surpasses 3000 m. The Paso de Porculla, to the southwest of the territory is only 2,138 meters high and is the lowest of the Peruvian Andes.
The rivers crossing its territory belong to the Pacific watershed and to the Amazon Basin. The Chira River is the most important and flows its waters into the Pacific Ocean. The Piura River, whose banks hold the city of the same name, only flows its waters into the sea during summer, which is the rainy season
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