PERUVIAN FACTS
PERU. The Republic of Peru is a land of contrasts: high mountains, dense jungles, and barren deserts are all found in close proximity. The country is the third largest in South America and is one of the major nations bordering on the South Pacific Ocean. Peru has great natural wealth--particularly from its mineral resources--but a rapidly expanding population and serious economic problems have hindered development.
The Andes, the mountain system that forms Peru's backbone, were the home of advanced Indian civilizations centuries before Europeans arrived. Museums around the world display textiles, pottery, and other artifacts from these pre-Columbian cultures. In the Andes of southern Peru there are many archaeological sites, the remains of the great Inca empire. Tourists marvel at such places as Machu Picchu, a deserted mountaintop village that was discovered in 1911, and Cuzco, once the Inca capital city (see Incas).
A small Spanish army led by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca king and seized his empire in 1532 (see Pizarro). For more than three centuries Peru was the richest and most powerful of the Spanish viceroyalties in the New World. In Lima, Cuzco Trujillo and other cities, fine old churches and public buildings are reminders of the colonial period.
Peru's history since it became independent of Spain in 1821 has been a story with few bright spots. Economic progress toward modernization and industrialization has been slow. In the past Peruvians lacked the wealth and technical skills they needed to develop their resources. Foreign money, skills, and ideas have therefore played a large role in the construction of modern facilities.
PEOPLE. Peru was the most densely settled area in South America in pre-Hispanic times. Although the exact population of Inca Peru is unknown, it probably was more than 9 million. During the first century of Spanish domination, the number of Indians declined by almost 90 percent--the result of the introduction of European diseases (smallpox and measles, for example), slavery, overwork, and malnutrition. The country's first accurate census (in 1795) showed the terrible effect of Hispanic domination of the Incas: the population had declined to slightly less than 1 million. The cruelty of the conquerors had no limits and they almost exterminated a Great Culture.
Since World War II the population has grown rapidly. Most parts of the country have had a sharp decline in death rates, caused mainly by sanitation improvements (such as better drinking water and sewage disposal) and better health care. At the same time birthrates have remained high. In 1940 Peru had slightly more than 6 million people; however, by the 1981 census the population had increased to 17,762,231. In 1995 the country had an estimated 23.5 million people.
Peruvian society consists of three broad social groups: people of European ancestry, people of mixed European and Indian descent, and Indians. These groups, however, are based not only on biological inheritance but also on such factors as education, occupation, and wealth. People of relatively unmixed European ancestry form the class of elite rulers of Peruvian society. They are usually well educated, speak Spanish (and usually English or French as a second language), and have high-paying jobs. Peruvians of mixed European and Indian descent speak Spanish (though they may understand one of the Indian languages), can read and write, and usually have an active role in the national political and economic systems. Indians speak little or no Spanish (though they may understand it), usually cannot read or write, wear homemade clothes, and work mainly as rural farmers and herders. In Peruvian society, however, upward mobility is quite possible. Rural Indians can move to a city, become educated, change their clothing style, begin a good job, and thus move into the class of mixed heritage. In addition to these three groups, there are small numbers of people of black African, Chinese, and the very influential Japanese ancestry.
Regional Cultures and Economies
The three regions of Peru are so different from each other that they seem to be worlds unto themselves. Not only are the physical features and climates different, but the cultures and economic conditions of the three zones vary greatly. As a result the inhabitants of one zone often find it difficult to adjust to living conditions in the other areas. For example, the Indians of the high mountain regions have become adapted to hard physical labor in the thin air found in the altiplano region. They can work in mines and fields at altitudes where lowland people have trouble breathing. But the highland Indians are often subject to lung diseases when they move to coastal cities. Both highland and coastal peoples dislike the high humidity and high temperatures found in the montana.
Desert coast. The coastal region is the economic heart of Peru and is its most densely settled area. In the pre-Hispanic period the oases of this region were the home of cultures that arose centuries before the time of the Incas. When the Spanish arrived they built their capital city along the coast so that they could have easy communication back to Spain. Lima is still the capital of Peru and, with a population of more than 6 million people, is clearly the dominant urban center in the country. In fact, more than one quarter of Peru's people live in the Lima metropolitan area.
Several other large cities are located along the coast, particularly in the north. Trujillo, for example, has nearly 500,000 inhabitants and is a manufacturing center. Chimbote, south of Trujillo, has Peru's only large steel mill. In the far north Piura and Chiclayo serve as commercial and political centers. Other cities and towns of the coastal region are ports or distribution centers within the oases where the local agricultural output is processed and marketed. The typical crops of the coastal plain include cotton near Piura, rice near Chiclayo, sugarcane near Trujillo, grapes south of Lima, and fruits and vegetables in the zone around the capital city.
Andean region. The rough and rugged mountains of highland Peru are divided into many parallel ranges. The highest peaks, found in the Cordillera Blanca north of Lima, have elevations of more than 22,000 feet (6,700 meters). In southern Peru many of the mountains are volcanoes. Although they are not as high as the Cordillera Blanca, these volcanoes have beautiful symmetrical cones that are often snowcapped. The high elevations and rough terrain of this region make travel difficult.
Since before the time of the Incas, farming and herding have been the main occupations of the people of the Andean region. Such native plants as potatoes and quinoa (a nutritious grain that is high in protein) have long been domesticated in the Andes. Corn was also grown in this region before the arrival of the Spanish. Many European crops--including wheat, barley, and alfalfa--have been added to the farms of this region. On land too steep and rugged to cultivate or at elevations too high for agriculture, coarse grasses provide pasture for sheep and cattle as well as for two domesticated animals native to the Andes: llamas and alpacas. A related species, the vicuna, lives wild at the highest elevations (see Camel).
The native Indians of the Andes region, descendants of the Incas, live much the same as did their ancestors. In some areas haciendas, or large farms, still exist where the peasants do the owner's work in exchange for the use of small plots on which they can raise their own food. Such peasants--called campesinos--rarely have a surplus of crops to sell and thus contribute little to the national economy. A land-reform program, begun in the 1960s and applied widely in the 1970s, created agricultural cooperatives by expropriating the haciendas of many wealthy families. Unfortunately, the land-reform program was not very successful, and most cooperatives failed.
Scattered throughout the highland region of Peru are a number of cities. Some serve only as market centers for the areas around them or as regional capitals from which the authority of the national government is dispensed. A few cities, however, have developed more significantly. Arequipa in southern Peru has a population of more than 500,000 people and is in the middle of a rich agricultural zone. The altiplano east of Arequipa is one of the major wool-producing regions. The city serves as an outlet for the wool as well as a textile center for the production of alpaca and llama goods. The only other large city in the Andes is Cuzco, which has become a major tourist center. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire, and today tourists from around the world visit the city.
Montaņa region. The eastern part of Peru, though comprising more than half of the territory, contributes little to the economy. Settlement has taken place in only scattered spots along some of the major rivers. The great difficulties of communication and transportation between the montana region and the rest of the country have limited the development of this region. Near Pucallpa northeast of Lima and in the zone around Iquitos--where the Peruvian, Colombian, and Brazilian borders meet--there is exploitation of such forest resources as hardwoods (for veneers) and softwoods (for pulp and plywood). Another development in the montana has been the discovery of petroleum in the northern part of the region, near the Ecuadorian border. Unfortunately, the quantity of oil found has not been great, and because of the isolation of the region production costs are very high. A pipeline over the Andes connects the oil-producing area with the coastal town of Paita.
Many of the Indian inhabitants of the montana area live by hunting, gathering, and fishing. Later immigrants to the region also depend on primitive forms of agriculture; others have developed commercial plantations of such tropical crops as bananas, tea, coffee, and oil palms. Cattle are raised in many parts of the region--on pastures cleared from the tropical forests. In other places, however, the main crop is coca, a shrub from whose leaves cocaine is extracted. The production of cocaine in illegal laboratories hidden deep within the forests presents Peruvian law-enforcement agencies with a tremendous problem. Detection of the illegal fields and laboratories is difficult, and the production and distribution of the cocaine is often controlled by dangerous foreign gangs. The illegal profits from the drug industry do not contribute to the Peruvian economy but serve to subvert the role of government in the administration of large segments of the country. Peruvian police, aided by several international agencies, have worked hard to combat the production of cocaine.
Mining
During the colonial period the major minerals were silver (from mines near Potosi in what is today Bolivia), gold, and mercury. Today copper is the leading mineral export, but lead, zinc, iron, antimony, and manganese are all mined in significant amounts.
Many of the mines in Peru are located high in the Andes--at elevations of 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) or more. Working conditions in the mines are often harsh because of the cold temperatures and thin air at such elevations and the isolation of many of the mineral deposits. Before 1970 foreign companies owned most of the mines and smelters, but government nationalization in the 1970s turned the mining operations over to several public agencies. Poor planning and administration of the mines have lessened output. By the late 1970s foreign companies were once again encouraged to invest in Peru.
The montana region contains little in the way of mineral deposits, but the coastal region has an abundance of minerals--particularly coal and phosphorus. Both the eastern and western slopes of the Andes have great potential for hydroelectric power development. The Canon del Pato near Chimbote, the Urubamba River near Machu Picchu, and the rivers east of Lima are sites of hydroelectric projects.
OFFICIAL NAME : Republic of Peru
LAND AREA: 1,285,216 sq km (496,224 sq mi), third largest nation on the continent. Capital and largest city: Lima (1995 est. Metro pop. Lima 7 million). Elevations : highest --Huascaran, 6,768 m (22,205 ft); lowest--sea level, along the coast. Dwarfed by the vastness of South America, Peru has a vastness of its own. Superimposed on a map of the United States, it would stretch from Chicago and New York City in the north to Miami in the south.
PEOPLE POPULATION (1995): 23,981,000, fourth on the continent. Peru's inhabitants are predominantly Indian (49 %) and mestizo ( of mixed European and Indian heritage, 35 %). Europeans make 12 % of the population, and the remainder 4 % , are mostly Japanese, Black, or Chinese; density: 17.5 persons per sq km (45.2 per sq mi). Distribution (1995): 75% urban, 25% rural. Annual growth (1995): 2.2 %. Official languages: Spanish, Quechua. Major religion: Roman Catholicism (92 %).
EDUCATION AND HEALTH Literacy (1995): 93% of adult population. Universities (1990): 40. Hospital beds (1990): 35,715. Physicians (1990): 21,856. Life expectancy (1992); women--67; men--63. Infant mortality (1995): 51 per 1,000 live births.
ECONOMY GNP (1990): $25.15 billion; $1,360 per capita. Labor distribution (1990): agriculture--34%; services--33.8%; manufacturing and mining--16.6%; trade--15.6%. Foreign trade (1991): imports--$3.5 billion; exports--$3.3 billion; principal trade partners--United States, Japan, European Community. Currency: 1 inti = $ 0.5.
GOVERNMENT TYPE: republic. Government leader (1995): Alberto Fujimori--president. Legislature: constituent assembly. Political subdivisions: 24 departments; province of Callao.
COMMUNICATIONS Railroads (1991): 3,472 km (2,157 mi) total. Roads (1990): 69,942 km (43,460 mi) total. Major ports: 12. Airfields: 25
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