Pasco is one of the twenty-four departments that, together with the Constitutional Province of Callao, form the Republic of Peru. Its capital is Cerro de Pasco. It is located in the center of the country, in the Andean region, bounded on the north by Huánuco, on the east by Ucayali, on the south by Junín and on the west by Lima. With 25 320 km² it is the eighth least extensive department - ahead of Huancavelica, Ica, Apurimac, Tacna, Moquegua, Lambayeque and Tumbes, the least extensive- and with 11.1 inhabitants / km² it is the sixth least densely populated, ahead of Moquegua, Amazonas, Ucayali, Loreto and Madre de Dios, the least densely populated. It was created on November 27,1944, split from Junín.
The western portion corresponds to the Nudo de Pasco, area of high plateaus and puna, seat of mining, while the eastern portion corresponds to the High Jungle or Amazonian yunga inhabited by settlers and indigenous of the Arawak family.