Peru (pərū') , Span. Perú (pārū'), officially Republic of Peru, republic (2005 est. pop. 27,926,000), 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 and People

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.
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., and the earliest known American civilization emerged there in the Norte Chico region c.3000 B.C. Peru 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.