 Tarapoto was founded on August 20, 1782 by the Spanish bishop Baltazar Jaime Martínez de Compagnon y Bujanda.Its beginnings date back to the explorations of the Pocras and Chancas (old cultures of the Ayacucho region) who, when being conquered by the Inca Empire, headed a revolution led by the commander Ancohallo; a revolt that, when defeated, forced their tribal members to escape from terrible Inca vengeance.Eventually settling down in the valleys of the Mayo and Cumbaza rivers, in what is now the Department of San Martín, they possibly formed the town of Lamas, before establishing a satellite in the valley of the rivers Cumbaza and Shilcayo, having as a central nucleus the Suchiche Lagoon (dried up in the colony).