El Misti

El Misti rises about 12 kilometers from Arequipa, Peru's second-largest city, reaching an elevation of about 5,822 meters. It is a steep-sided stratovolcano with two nested summit craters, active with fumaroles and hot springs, whose last major eruption occurred between roughly AD 1440 and 1470. Excavations near its summit uncovered remains from an Inca capacocha ceremony tied to that eruption, among the largest known Inca human sacrifice sites. Because more than a million people live in Arequipa within its shadow, El Misti is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and Peru's national geological institute has monitored it since 2005, opening a dedicated volcano observatory in the city in 2013. This entity documents El Misti specifically as a geological formation, an active stratovolcano overlooking Arequipa and monitored as one of the most hazardous volcanoes in South America.