| Ayacucho | |
| Native Name: | Departamento de Ayacucho (Spanish) Ayakuchu suyu (Quechua) |
| Settlement Type: | Department |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Peru |
| Subdivision Type1: | Subdivisions |
| Subdivision Name1: | 11 provinces and 111 districts |
| Subdivision Type3: | Largest city |
| Subdivision Name3: | Ayacucho |
| Seat Type: | Capital |
| Seat: | Ayacucho |
| Leader Title: | Governor |
| Leader Name: | Wilfredo Oscorima Núñez (2023–2026) |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 43814.8 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | (Capital) |
| Elevation M: | 2746 |
| Elevation Max M: | 5,505 |
| Elevation Min M: | 1800 |
| Population Total: | 616176 |
| Population As Of: | 2017 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Postal Code Type: | UBIGEO |
| Postal Code: | 05 |
| Area Code Type: | Dialing code |
| Area Code: | 066 |
| Iso Code: | PE-AYA |
| Website: | www.regionayacucho.gob.pe |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Principal resources |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Potatoes, wheat, olluco, barley, sheep and handicrafts. |
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Poverty rate |
| Blank2 Info Sec1: | 72.5% |
| Blank3 Name Sec1: | Percentage of Peru's GDP |
| Blank3 Info Sec1: | 0.65% |
Ayacucho (pronounced as /es/), known as Huamanga from its creation in 1822 until 1825,[1] [2] is a department and region of Peru, located in the south-central Andes of the country. Its capital is the city of Ayacucho. The region was one of the hardest hit in the 1980s during the guerrilla war waged by Shining Path known as the internal conflict in Peru.
A referendum was held on 30 October 2005, in order to decide whether the department would merge with the departments of Ica and Huancavelica to form the new Ica-Ayacucho-Huancavelica Region, as part of the decentralization process in Peru. The proposal failed and no merger was carried out.
The department is divided into 11 provinces (Spanish; Castilian: provincias, singular: provincia), which are composed of 111 districts (distritos, singular: distrito).
The provinces, with their capitals in parentheses, are:
According to the 2007 Peru Census, the language learnt first by most of the residents was Quechua (63.05%) followed by Spanish (36.57%). The Quechua variety spoken in Ayacucho is Chanka Quechua. The following table shows the results concerning the language learnt first in the department by province:[3]
| Province | Quechua | Aymara | Asháninka | Another native language | Spanish | Foreign language | Deaf or mute | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cangallo | 29,356 | 24 | 4 | 11 | 3,132 | 3 | 37 | 32,567 | |||
| Huamanga | 104,644 | 223 | 42 | 118 | 102,452 | 72 | 218 | 207,769 | |||
| Huanca Sancos | 8,017 | 29 | 1 | align="right" | - | 1,858 | align="right" | - | 18 | 9,923 | |
| Huanta | 58,333 | 89 | 92 | 40 | 28,184 | 5 | 105 | 86,848 | |||
| La Mar | 64,815 | 64 | 127 | 58 | 12,950 | 1 | 111 | 78,126 | |||
| Lucanas | 26,153 | 152 | 7 | 49 | 35,282 | 10 | 78 | 61,731 | |||
| Parinacochas | 15,491 | 68 | align="right" | - | 30 | 12,576 | 2 | 29 | 28,196 | ||
| Paucar del Sara Sara | 5,223 | 19 | 1 | 15 | 5,140 | align="right" | - | 16 | 10,414 | ||
| Sucre | 9,059 | 25 | align="right" | - | align="right" | - | 2,749 | align="right" | - | 13 | 11,846 |
| Víctor Fajardo | 20,647 | 37 | 2 | 9 | 3,213 | align="right" | - | 38 | 23,946 | ||
| Vilcas Huaman | 19,884 | 14 | 2 | 11 | 2,232 | 1 | 44 | 22,188 | |||
| Total | 361,622 | 744 | 278 | 341 | 209,768 | 94 | 707 | 573,554 | |||
| % | 63.05 | 0.13 | 0.05 | 0.06 | 36.57 | 0.02 | 0.12 | 100.00 | |||