Peru - pərooˈ, Span. Perúpārooˈ, officially Republic of Peru, republic (1995 est. pop. 24,087,000), 496,220 sq mi (1,285,210 sq km), W South America. It borders on the Pacific Ocean in the west, on Ecuador and Colombia in the north, on Brazil and Bolivia in the east, and on Chile in the south.
Lima is the capital and largest city.
Land Peru, which varies greatly in climate and topography, falls into three main geographical regions—a narrow strip of desert along the coast, a region of high mountains in the center, and a large area of forested mountains and lowlands in the east. The desert region stretches the entire length (1,410 mi/2,269 km) of Peru's Pacific coastline and owes its aridity to the cold Humboldt, or Peru, Current, which acts as a barrier to the moist air over the Pacific. A persistent warm current (El Niño; see
El Niño–Southern Oscillation) appears off the coast every two to seven years, bringing torrential and damaging rainstorms. The coastal and mountainous regions also are frequently shaken by severe earthquakes. Within the desert are about 40 oases where most of Peru's commercial farming takes place; the principal oases are near Lima,
Chiclayo, and
Trujillo.
Callao (near Lima) and Matarani, Peru's leading ports, are also in the desert region. Near
Pisco and
Ica are large vineyards. Off the coast are small islands, notably the Lobos and Chincha islands, where guano (used as fertilizer) is harvested. The central region (c.200 mi/320 km wide) is made up mostly of three ranges of the Andes Mts., the Cordillera Occidental in the west and the Cordillera Central and its continuation, the Cordillera Real, in the east. The Cordillera Occidental includes the loftiest peaks, notably Huascarán (22,205 ft/6,768 m, Peru's highest point) and El Misti (19,150 ft/5,837 m). The rugged eastern ranges receive considerable rainfall and are drained by numerous rivers, which have cut deep canyons. Subsistence agriculture is practiced in the upper parts of the valleys. Between the eastern and western ranges of the Andes in the south, and extending into Bolivia, is the Altiplano Plateau, which includes small, scattered basins of arable land and pastureland and also part of Lake
Titicaca. The central region includes about 60% of Peru's population; its main cities are
Arequipa,
Huancayo,
Ayacucho, and
Cuzco, an old Inca center. The eastern region includes more than half of the country's land area. It is made up of the highly forested Cordillera Oriental of the Andes and low-lying tropical plains, covered by rain forests and drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The region is generally inaccessible and sparsely inhabited in the north; it is used for the illegal cultivation of coca.
Iquitos is the chief city of the eastern region. People About 45% of Peru's population is indigenous, while mestizos make up about 37% and whites 15%. There are also small numbers of persons of Japanese, Chinese, and African descent. Most of the native inhabitants speak Quechua (an official language) or Aymara; they live in the Andes and have retained much of their traditional way of life. Small groups of indigenous peoples live in the isolated rain forest of E Peru and speak a variety of languages. Most other Peruvians speak Spanish (the other official language) and are Roman Catholic. Power and wealth in the country have traditionally been monopolized by the European-descended inhabitants and by a small number of the mestizos; the bulk of the mestizos and virtually all of the indigenous people are laborers or subsistence farmers. The leading universities are at Lima, Arequipa, Trujillo, and Cuzco. Economy Farming provides the livelihood for the majority of Peruvians, some of whom remain outside the money economy. The chief farm commodities produced are cotton, sugarcane, coffee, wheat, rice, corn, and barley. Although Peru is one of the world's largest producers of coca leaves, production was cut in half between 1995 and 1999 due to a determined government eradication program. However, much coca leaf and paste is still exported, primarily to Colombia, where it is used to make cocaine. Large numbers of poultry, sheep, cattle, llamas, alpacas, and hogs are raised. The country has one of the major fishing industries in the world, mostly small anchovies that are processed into fish meal for use as animal feed. Peru has a large mining industry, the most valuable minerals being copper and silver. Gold, iron ore, coal, and phosphate rock are also extracted. Petroleum is produced along the northern coast and in the Amazon basin, and there is a large refinery at Talara. Peru's principal manufactures include textiles, consumer goods (clothing, footwear, and household appliances), processed food, cement, refined minerals (especially copper, zinc, and lead), and processed fish. There is a substantial tourist industry. The main exports are fish meal, cotton, sugar, coffee, and minerals. The main imports are food, machinery, metals, chemicals, and motor vehicles. Economic development has been hindered by the country's poor transportation network, which has left large blocks of Peru isolated. High inflation and high foreign debt also hindered the economy throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s, Peru made great strides in paying off its international debt, soliciting foreign investment, and privatizing state-owned industries, even as its economy was adversely affected by the Asian financial crisis. Its chief trade partners are the United States, Latin America, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China. Government Under the 1993 constitution (amended in 2002), Peru's chief executive and head of state is the president, who is directly elected for a five-year term. Legislative power is vested in a 120-member unicameral National Congress. Peru is divided into 25 regions that have their own elected presidents and councils. History Early History Peru has been inhabited since at least the 9th millennium b.c. It was later the center of several developed cultures, including the Chavín (see
Chavín de Huántar), the
Chimu, and the
Nazca. In the 12th cent. a.d., the Quechua-speaking
Inca settled around Cuzco, and in the mid-15th cent. they established by conquest a large, well-organized empire that included most of present-day Peru and Ecuador and parts of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. Their fortress city of
Machu Picchu is perhaps the most extraordinary ruin in the Americas. Around 1530 the empire was weakened by civil war initiated by
Atahualpa and
Huáscar, who had been designated as dual heirs by their father,
Huayna Capac. The Spanish Conquest Atahualpa had defeated Huascar for control of the Inca empire by 1532, when Francisco
Pizarro, a Spaniard, arrived on the coast of Peru with a small band of adventurers. Atahualpa agreed to meet Pizarro at
Cajamarca, where he was imprisoned after refusing to accept Spanish suzerainty and Christianity. Although the emperor's followers collected a huge ransom in gold and silver for his release, the Spaniards executed him in mid-1533. By late 1533, Pizarro had captured Cuzco, the Inca capital, and the empire had disintegrated. In 1535, Pizarro founded Lima, which in 1542 became the center of Spanish rule in South America. From 1536 to 1544,
Manco Capac, who had succeeded Atahualpa as emperor, led several unsuccessful uprisings against the Spaniards. At the same time, Pizarro and his brothers and companions (including Sebastián de
Benalcázar) were unsuccessfully challenged by Pedro de
Alvarado and then by Diego de
Almagro and his son, who was defeated (1542) by
Vaca de Castro, a representative of the Spanish crown sent to restore order. Pizarro forced the natives held in
encomienda to work in the mines, on the lands of Spanish landlords, and in the small textile mills (obrajes). The New Laws of 1542, which would have ended the abuses of the encomienda system, caused Gonzalo Pizarro to revolt (1544). He defeated the viceroy, Blasco
Núñez Vela, but was in turn defeated (and executed) by Pedro de la
Gasca in 1548. However, the New Laws were never administered for the benefit of the native peoples. Francisco de
Toledo, who was viceroy from 1569 to 1581, improved administration, defeated a revolt under the Inca Tupac Amaru, and resettled the natives in new villages, or
reductions. The viceroyalty of Peru was expanded to include all of Spanish-ruled South America except Venezuela, and the mining of silver and gold increased. Lima was the administrative, religious, economic, and cultural center of the viceroyalty. In the 18th cent. Peru was drastically reduced in size by the creation of the viceroyalty of
New Granada and a viceroyalty centered at Buenos Aires (see
Argentina); as a result, Lima lost control over considerable trade and mineral wealth. At the same time, government in Peru was reformed, but Spaniards retained almost complete control in the viceroyalty, and the indigenous peoples and creoles (persons of Spanish descent born in Peru) remained powerless and poor. Led by a man who called himself
Tupac Amaru in reference to his alleged Inca ancestor, the native inhabitants revolted in 1780, but were defeated by 1783. There were a few additional uprisings in the early 19th cent. Independence The ideas of the French Revolution, and Napoleon I's conquest (1808) of Spain, led to strong independence movements in all of Spain's Latin American holdings except Peru. Peru's loyalty to Spain was due to the relatively large number of Spaniards who resided there, to the concentration of Spanish power at Lima, and to the efficiency of the government in the viceroyalty. As a result, Peru achieved independence (1821) largely because of the efforts of outsiders, notably José de
San Martín and Simón
Bolívar. After he had ended Spanish rule in Chile in 1818 |
