The port city of Callao serves as Peru's chief seaport and is coterminous with a constitutional province that gained autonomous status in 1836 and a constitutional name in 1857.
Callao forms part of the Lima metropolitan area and houses Jorge Chávez International Airport within the Callao district, about 12 km northwest of Lima's historic center.
In 2025 the airport underwent expansion with a new terminal that raised capacity to 40 million passengers per year, and the old terminal was closed for conversion into a logistics center.
The city and province contain seven districts including downtown Callao, Bellavista, Ventanilla, and La Punta, with a 2025 estimated population of 1,226,200 and a provincial area of 147.85 km2.
Local government is split between the Regional Government of Callao and the Provincial Municipality, and since 2023 Pedro Spadaro serves as the incumbent mayor representing province and district functions.
Callao's port has a long naval history dating to Spanish settlement in 1535 and a formal elevation to city status in 1671, anchored by the Real Felipe Fortress and a large naval base on the harbor.
The province also includes nearby islands such as San Lorenzo, El Frontón, the Cavinzas, and the Palomino Islands, the latter noted for sea lions and sea birds in a largely untouched ecosystem.
Security Trends And Historical Risks
Callao has a history of violent events and organized crime that stretches from colonial attacks by privateers to modern security challenges, including terrorist incidents in the 1980s.
In 1986 the government executed prisoners at the El Frontón penal colony and in 1989 a terrorist attack targeting Soviet Navy members injured 33 people, as recorded in local accounts.
The port has been identified as a major exit point for cocaine and is afflicted by organized crime, and homicide rates rose between 2011 and 2015, a trend reported by InSight Crime.
Authorities declared Callao in a state of emergency in December 2015, a measure that extended until April 2016, according to GrupoRPP reporting at the time.
The provincial prison system has housed high profile detainees, including Abimael Guzmán and Vladimiro Montesinos, and the port remains central both to legal trade and illicit flows.
Environmental and infrastructure incidents have also affected Callao, including an oil spill in January 2022 caused by abnormal waves linked to a distant volcanic eruption.
