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Geography
The Peruvian Amazon is, like Brazil's, under threat. The impact of logging and agriculture has not been so terrible, but US-sponsored efforts to eradicate the coca plant by aerial spraying are a cause for concern. HistoryBy about 6,000 years ago, the hunter-gatherers of the region began to domesticate animals and plant seeds, settling down to a life of leisure on the Pacific coast. Over the centuries, they developed increasingly sophisticated agriculture, large population centers, complex religions, and brilliant ceramics and textiles. In a word, civilization.The Spanish arrived in the early 1500's to a region only recently
consolidated under the Inca empire. Francisco Pizarro mounted a series of
expeditions from Panama, culminating in the capture of the Inca emperor in
1532. After his offer to trade the emperor for an immense quantity of gold
was accepted, he killed the Inca and kept the gold! Over the ensuing
centuries, the Indians would fare little better. Peru declared its independence from Spain in 1821, and its political history since then has been the archetypal South American drama: wars, military dictators, guerilla insurgencies, coups, economic crises and the like. Events took an even more bizarre turn of late, when President-turned-Dictator Fujimori fled the country under a cloud of corruption charges. PeoplePopulation of 25 million, 72% urban. Spanish is the official language, and Roman Catholicism the dominant religion.Peruvians of Spanish descent only account for some 15% of the population; most of the rest are Indian or Mestizo (European-Indian). However, the white elite retain a strong hold on wealth, power and social standing. The UN ranks Peru in the 54th percentile in terms of quality of life, based on life expectancy, education and income; this is mediocre among Latin American countries. EconomyPeru is a middle-income economy, with a GNP per capita of $2,400 per year. The country enjoys substantial mineral resources, including oil. A wide variety of climates allows diverse and productive agriculture, and Peru leads the world in the production of giant corn and coca leaves.Tourism suffered in the early 1990's, when terrorism, crime and cholera managed to scare off most everyone. The situation is much-improved, and Peru received nearly 1 million visitors in 1998, drawn especially by Cuzco, Machu Picchu and the Amazon. Sources: World Bank (1998 data), Dorling Kindersley World Reference Atlas, UNDP Human Development Report, Lonely Planet
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Peru lies just south of
the equator on the Pacific cost of South America. The Andes extend through
the centre of the country, from north to south, flanked to the west by a coastal
desert and to the east by the upper Amazon basin. The climatic regions are
accordingly varied.
