Between the years 400 and 600 BC, the first Peruvian civilization, known as Chavín, originated and flourished in this zone. The importance of this culture lies not only in its antiquity but in the history and culture it shares with other cultures along the Andean and Amazonian territories. As archaeologist Julio C. Tello put it, "Chavín was the mother of all the cultures that later bloomed in the old Peru."[citation needed] The name Chavín comes from the Quechua word Chaupin, which translates as center or headquarters. Tello believed that people came from the Amazonas, scaled the Andes, and developed the Chavín culture.

During the Inca age, the population of the Santa valley was assimilated into the Inca empire by Pachacuti.[citation needed]

The first Spaniards came to Huaylas attracted by the fame of the silver veins of the region. In time, the Spanish destroyed the Inca cities. It was during this time that Jeronimo de Alvarado founded the city of Huaraz. Though in the Colonial Age this city held little importance and its artistic and cultural life did not have much relevance, it became the headquarters for Simón Bolívar during his campaign to liberate Peru.[citation needed]

The 1970 Ancash earthquake devastated the region, killing more than 50,000 people and damaging 186,000 houses in one of the deadliest natural disasters in Peru.

Today, most of the Ancash population is concentrated in the Callejón de Huaylas.