Peru

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western . It is bordered in the north by and , in the east by , in the southeast by , in the south by , and in the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is a , with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west, to the peaks of the mountains extending from the north to the southeast of the country, to the tropical rainforest in the east with the . Peru has a of over 32 million, and its capital and largest city is . At 1,285,216 km² (496,225 sq mi), Peru is the , and the .

was home to during the ancient and medieval periods, and has one of the longest histories of civilization of any country, tracing its heritage back to the 10th millennium BCE. Notable pre-colonial cultures and civilizations include the (the earliest civilization in the Americas and considered one of the ), the , the and empires, the , and the , the largest known state in the Americas. The conquered the region in the 16th century and with the official name of the Kingdom of Peru that encompassed most of its South American territories, with its capital in . Higher education started in the Americas with the official establishment of the in Lima in 1551.

Peru formally proclaimed independence from Spain in 1821, and following the military campaigns of , , and , as well as the decisive , it . In the ensuing years, the country first suffered from political instability until a period of relative began due to the exploitation of that ended with the (1879–1884). Throughout the 20th century, Peru grappled with political and social instability, including the between the state and guerrilla groups, interspersed with periods of economic growth. Implementation of shifted Peru towards under the authoritarian rule of and in the 1990s, with the former's political ideology of leaving a lasting imprint on the country's governance that continues to present day. The 2000s marked economic expansion and poverty reduction, but the subsequent decade revealed long-existing , exacerbated by a instigated by and the , precipitating the period of .

The of Peru is a republic divided into . Its main economic activities include , , agriculture and fishing, along with other growing sectors such as and . The country forms part of , a political and economic grouping of countries along Latin America's Pacific coast that share common trends of positive growth, stable macroeconomic foundations, improved governance and an openness to global integration. Peru ranks high in ; it is an active member of the , the , the and the ; and is considered as a .

Peru's population includes , , , and . The main spoken language is , although a significant number of Peruvians speak , , or other . This mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as , , , and .

The name of the country may be derived from Birú, the name of a local ruler who lived near the , Panama City, in the early 16th century. Spanish , who arrived in 1522, believed this was the southernmost part of the . When invaded the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú.

An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer , son of an Inca princess and a conquistador. He said the name Birú was that of a common Amerindian who was happened upon by the crew of a ship on an exploratory mission for governor and went on to relate more instances of misunderstandings due to the lack of a common language.

The gave the name legal status with the 1529 , which designated the newly encountered as the province of Peru. In 1561, the rebel declared himself the "Prince" of an independent Peru, which was cut short by his arrest and execution. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination , which became the Peruvian Republic from its until , when it adopted its current name of Republic of Peru.

The earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 12,500 in the settlement. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using techniques such as and ; husbandry and fishing were also important. Organization relied on and because these societies had no notion of market or money. The oldest known complex society in Peru, the , flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BCE. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal and Andean regions throughout Peru. The culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BCE along what is now Peru's was an example of early pre-.

The that developed from 1500 to 300 BCE was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, with their religious center in . After the decline of the Chavin culture around the beginning of the 1st century CE, a series of localized and specialized cultures rose and fell, both on the coast and in the highlands, during the next thousand years. On the coast, these included the civilizations of the , , , and the more outstanding and .

The Moche, who reached their apogee in the first millennium CE, were renowned for their irrigation system which fertilized their arid terrain, their sophisticated ceramic pottery, their lofty buildings, and clever metalwork. The Chimu were the great city builders of pre-Inca civilization; as a loose confederation of walled cities scattered along the coast of northern Peru, the Chimu flourished from about 1140 to 1450. Their capital was at outside of modern-day . In the highlands, both the culture, near in both Peru and Bolivia, and the Wari culture, near the present-day city of , developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between 500 and 1000 CE.

In the 15th century, the emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the in the with their capital in . The Incas of Cusco originally represented one of the small and relatively minor ethnic groups, the . Gradually, as early as the thirteenth century, they began to expand and incorporate their neighbors. Inca expansion was slow until about the middle of the fifteenth century, when the pace of conquest began to accelerate, particularly under the rule of the emperor . Under his rule and that of his son, , the Incas came to control most of the Andean region, with a population of 9 to 16 million inhabitants under their rule. Pachacuti also promulgated a comprehensive code of laws to govern his far-flung empire, while consolidating his absolute temporal and spiritual authority as the God of the Sun who ruled from a magnificently rebuilt Cusco. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the mountain ranges, from southern Colombia to northern Chile, between the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Amazon rainforest in the east. The official language of the empire was , although hundreds of local languages and dialects were spoken. The Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as "The Four Regions" or "The Four United Provinces." Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire, most of them concerning local sacred , but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of , the sun god and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of . The Incas considered their King, the , to be the "."

Atahualpa (or Atahuallpa), the last , became emperor when he defeated and executed his older half-brother in a civil war sparked by the death of their father, Inca Huayna Capac. In December 1532, a party of (supported by the , , and as ) led by defeated and captured the Inca Emperor Atahualpa in the . After years of preliminary exploration and military conflicts, it was the first step in a long campaign that took decades of fighting but ended in Spanish victory and colonization of the region known as the with its capital at , which was then known as "La Ciudad de los Reyes" (The City of Kings). The conquest of Peru led to spin-off campaigns throughout the viceroyalty as well as expeditions towards the Amazon Basin as in the case of Spanish efforts to quell Amerindian resistance. The last Inca resistance was suppressed when the Spaniards annihilated the in in 1572.

The Indigenous population dramatically collapsed overwhelmingly due to epidemic diseases introduced by the Spanish as well as exploitation and socio-economic change. Viceroy reorganized the country in the 1570s with gold and silver mining as its main economic activity and Amerindian as its primary workforce. With the discovery of the great silver and gold lodes at (present-day Bolivia) and , the viceroyalty flourished as an important provider of mineral resources. Peruvian provided revenue for the Spanish Crown and fueled a complex trade network that extended as far as Europe and the Philippines. The commercial and population exchanges between Latin America and Asia undergone via the transiting through Acapulco, had at Peru as the furthest endpoint of the trade route in the Americas. In relation to this, Don , governor of Panama was also responsible for settling in the Philippines by employing Peruvian soldiers and colonists. were added to the labor population to expand the workforce. The expansion of a colonial administrative apparatus and bureaucracy paralleled the economic reorganization.

With the conquest started the spread of Christianity in South America; most people were forcefully converted to , with Spanish clerics believing like Puritan divines of English colonies later that the Native Peoples "had been corrupted by the Devil, who was working "through them to frustrate" their foundations. It only took a generation to convert the population. They built churches in every city and replaced some of the Inca temples with churches, such as the in the city of Cusco. The church employed the , making use of torture to ensure that newly converted Catholics did not stray to other religions or beliefs, and monastery schools, educating girls, especially of the Inca nobility and upper class, "until they were old enough either to profess [to become a nun] or to leave the monastery and assume the role ('estado') in the Christian society that their fathers planned to erect" in Peru. Peruvian Catholicism follows the found in many Latin American countries, in which religious native rituals have been integrated with Christian celebrations. In this endeavor, the church came to play an important role in the of the Natives, drawing them into the cultural orbit of the Spanish settlers.

By the 18th century, declining silver production and economic diversification greatly diminished royal income. In response, the Crown enacted the , a series of that increased taxes and partitioned the . The new laws provoked and other revolts, all of which were suppressed. As a result of these and other changes, the Spaniards and their successors came to monopolize control over the land, seizing many of the best lands abandoned by the massive native depopulation. However, the Spanish did not resist the across the meridian. The was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while . The need to ease communication and trade with Spain led to the split of the viceroyalty and the creation of new viceroyalties of and at the expense of the territories that formed the ; this reduced the power, prominence and importance of Lima as the viceroyal capital and shifted the lucrative trade to and , while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated the progressive decay of the Viceroyalty of Peru.

Eventually, the viceroyalty would dissolve, as with much of the Spanish empire, when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These movements led to the formation of the majority of modern-day countries of South America in the territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru. The conquest and colony brought a mix of cultures and ethnicities that did not exist before the Spanish conquered the Peruvian territory. Even though many of the Inca traditions were lost or diluted, new customs, traditions and knowledge were added, creating a rich mixed Peruvian culture. Two of the most important Indigenous rebellions against the Spanish were that of in 1742, and Rebellion of in 1780 around the highlands near Cuzco.

In the early 19th century, while most South American nations were swept by , Peru remained a stronghold. As the elite vacillated between emancipation and loyalty to the Spanish monarchy, was achieved only after the occupation by military campaigns of and .

The economic crises, the loss of power of Spain in Europe, the , and Native uprisings all contributed to a favorable climate to the development of emancipation ideas among the population in South America. However, the Criollo oligarchy in Peru enjoyed privileges and remained loyal to the Spanish Crown. The liberation movement started in Argentina where autonomous juntas were created as a result of the loss of authority of the Spanish government over its colonies.

After fighting for the independence of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, created the and in 21 days. Once in Chile, he joined forces with Chilean army General and liberated the country in the battles of and in 1818. On 7 September 1820, a fleet of eight warships arrived in the port of under the command of General José de San Martín and , who was serving in the Chilean Navy. Immediately on 26 October, they took control of the town of . San Martín settled in on 12 November, where he established his headquarters while Cochrane sailed north and blockaded the port of in Lima. At the same time in the north, was occupied by rebel forces under the command of Gregorio Escobedo. Because Peru was the stronghold of the Spanish government in South America, San Martín's strategy to liberate Peru was to use diplomacy. He sent representatives to Lima urging the that Peru be granted independence, however, all negotiations proved unsuccessful.

The Viceroy of Peru, named commander-in-chief of the loyalist army to protect Lima from the threatened invasion by San Martín. On 29 January, de la Serna organized a against de la Pazuela, which was recognized by Spain and he was named Viceroy of Peru. This internal power struggle contributed to the success of the liberating army. To avoid a military confrontation, San Martín met the newly appointed viceroy, José de la Serna, and proposed to create a , a proposal that was turned down. De la Serna abandoned the city, and on 12 July 1821, San Martín occupied Lima and declared Peruvian independence on 28 July 1821. He created the first Peruvian flag. (present-day Bolivia) remained as a Spanish stronghold until the army of liberated it three years later. José de San Martín was declared Protector of Peru. Peruvian national identity was forged during this period, as Bolivarian projects for a floundered and a proved ephemeral.

Simón Bolívar launched his campaign from the north, liberating the in the Battles of in 1821 and a year later. In July 1822, Bolívar and San Martín gathered in the . Bolívar was left in charge of fully liberating Peru while San Martín retired from politics after the first parliament was assembled. The newly founded named Bolívar dictator of Peru, giving him the power to organize the military.

With the help of , they defeated the larger Spanish army in the on 6 August 1824 and the decisive on 9 December of the same year, consolidating the independence of Peru and Upper Peru. Upper Peru was later established as Bolivia. During the early years of the Republic, endemic struggles for power between military leaders caused political instability.

Once independence was proclaimed, San Martín assumed military-political command of the free departments of Peru, under the title of Protector, according to a decree given on August 3, 1821. 74 The works of the Protectorate contributed to the creation of the National Library ( in favor of knowledge), the approval of the National Anthem, and the abolition of the mita (in favor of the indigenous people). On December 27, 1821, San Martín created three ministries: Ministry of State and Foreign Affairs, committing Juan García del Río; , to Bernardo de Monteagudo; and Ministry of Finance, to Hipólito Unanue.

From the 1840s to the 1860s Peru enjoyed under the presidency of , through increased state revenues from exports. In 1864, a Spanish expedition occupied the Chincha Islands (guano producers) and unleashed an international incident with great consequences in Peruvian internal politics, which led to a coup d'état against President , Mariano's government. Peru, with the help of , and , sent a declaration of war on Spain. After the battle of Callao on May 2, 1866, the Spanish Navy withdrew from Peru. The government of José Balta was lavish in infrastructure works (construction of the Central Railway ) although the first signs of excess government spending were already perceived. By the 1870s the guano resources had been depleted, the country was heavily indebted, and political in-fighting was again on the rise.

By 1859, some 41,000 Peruvians had died in the constant civil wars that shook the country since 1829. Thanks to the money from the sale of guano, Peru began to modernize with different public works such as railways; the civil and military bureaucracy grew; The indigenous people stopped paying tribute and the slaves achieved their freedom; The migration policy of Germans, Austrians, Irish and Italians began.

On April 5, 1879, Chile declared war on Peru, unleashing the Pacific War. The casus belli was the confrontation between Bolivia and Chile over a tax problem in which Peru was compromised by the Treaty of Defensive Alliance signed with Bolivia in 1873. However, Peruvian historiography is unanimous in maintaining that the deep cause of This war was Chile's ambition to take over the nitrate and guano territories of southern Peru.92 In the first stage of the war, the naval campaign, the Peruvian navy repelled the Chilean attack until October 8, 1879, the day in which the naval combat of Angamos was fought, where the Chilean navy with its ships Cochrane, Blanco Encalada, Loa and Covadonga cornered the monitor Huáscar, the main ship of the Peruvian navy commanded by Admiral AP Miguel Grau, who died in the fray and since then became Peru's greatest hero.

In 1879 Peru entered the , which lasted until 1884. invoked its alliance with Peru against Chile. The tried to mediate the dispute by sending a diplomatic team to negotiate with the Chilean government, but the committee concluded that war was inevitable. Peruvian historiography is unanimous in maintaining that the deep cause of this war was Chile's ambition to take over the nitrate and guano territories of southern Peru and Bolivia.

In the first stage of the war, the naval campaign, the Peruvian navy repelled the Chilean attack until October 8, 1879, the day in which the naval combat of Angamos was fought, where the Chilean navy with its ships Cochrane, Blanco Encalada, Loa and Covadonga cornered the monitor , the main ship of the Peruvian navy, commanded by Admiral AP Miguel Grau, who died in the fray and since then became Peru's greatest hero. Almost five years of war ended with the loss of the and the provinces of and , in the Atacama region. and are both renowned heros of the war. Originally Chile committed to a referendum for the cities of Arica and Tacna to be held years later, to self determine their national affiliation. However, Chile refused to apply the Treaty, and neither of the countries could determine the statutory framework. The War of the Pacific was the bloodiest war Peru has fought in. After the War of the Pacific, an extraordinary effort of rebuilding began. The government started to initiate a number of social and economic reforms to recover from the damage of the war. Political stability was achieved only in the early 1900s.

Internal struggles after the war were followed by a period of stability under the , which lasted until the onset of the authoritarian regime of . The caused the downfall of Leguía, renewed political turmoil, and the emergence of the (APRA). The rivalry between this organization and a coalition of the elite and the military defined Peruvian politics for the following three decades. A final peace treaty in 1929, signed between Peru and Chile called the , returned to Peru. Between 1932 and 1933, Peru was engulfed in a over a territorial dispute involving the and its capital .

In 1941 Peru and Ecuador fought the , after which the sought to formalize the boundary between those two countries. In a military coup on 29 October 1948, General became president. Odría's presidency was known as the Ochenio. He came down hard on APRA, momentarily pleasing the oligarchy and all others on the right, but followed a course that won him great favor with the poor and lower classes. A thriving economy allowed him to indulge in expensive but crowd-pleasing social policies. At the same time, however, were severely restricted and corruption was rampant throughout his regime. Odría was succeeded by . However, widespread allegations of fraud prompted the Peruvian military to depose Prado and install a military junta, via a led by . Godoy ran a short transitional government and held new elections in 1963, which were won by who assumed presidency until 1968. Belaúnde was recognized for his commitment to the democratic process.

On 3 October 1968 another led by a group of officers led by General brought the army to power with the aim of applying a doctrine of "social progress and integral development", nationalist and reformist, influenced by the theses on dependence and underdevelopment. Six days after the golpe, Velasco proceeded to nationalize the International Petroleum Corporation (IPC), the North American company that exploited Peruvian oil, and then launched a reform of the state apparatus, an agrarian reform. It was the biggest agrarian reform ever undertaken in Latin America: it abolished the system and modernized agriculture through a more equitable redistribution of land (90% of the peasants formed cooperatives or agricultural societies of social interest). Land was to be owned by those who cultivated it, and large landowners were expropriated. The only large properties allowed were cooperatives. Between 1969 and 1976, 325,000 families received land from the state with an average size of 73.6 acres (29.8 hectares). The "revolutionary government" also planned massive investments in education, elevated the language – spoken by nearly half the population but hitherto despised by the authorities – to a status equivalent to that of Spanish and established equal rights for natural children. Peru wished to free itself from any dependence and carried out a third-world foreign policy. The responded with commercial, economic and diplomatic pressure. In 1973 Peru seemed to triumph over the financial blockade imposed by Washington by negotiating a loan from the International Development Bank to finance its agricultural and mining development policy. The relations with Chile became very tense after the coup d'état of the . General (Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Army) and Admiral Guillermo Faura Gaig (Minister of the Navy) both escaped assassination attempts within weeks of each other. In 1975 General seized power and broke with the policies of his predecessor. His regime occasionally participated in in collaboration with other American military dictatorships.

President 's economic policies distanced Peru from international markets further, resulting in lower foreign investment in the country. After the country experienced , in mid-1985, the Peruvian was replaced by the , which itself was replaced by the in July 1991 (the new sol had a cumulative value of one billion old soles). At the end of the 1980s, the per capita annual income of Peruvians fell to $720 (below the level of 1960) and Peru's GDP dropped 20%, with national reserves running a $900 million deficit. The economic turbulence of the time acerbated social tensions in Peru and partly contributed to the rise of violent rebel rural insurgent movements, like (Shining Path) and , which caused throughout the country.

The Peruvian armed forces, frustrated with the inability of the García administration to handle the nation's crises, drafted the , which involved the genocide of impoverished and indigenous Peruvians, the control or censorship of the , and the establishment of a economy controlled by a . assumed the presidency in 1990 and, according to the head of the Rospigliosi, an understanding was established between Fujimori, , and some of the military officers involved in Plan Verde to abide by the military's demands prior to Fujimori's inauguration. Fujimori would go on to adopt many of the policies outlined in Plan Verde, which led to a precitious drop in infliation from 7,650% at the start of 1990 to 139% in 1991 and 57% in 1992. When Fujimori faced opposition to his reform efforts, he dissolved Congress, suspending the judiciary, arresting several opposition leaders and assuming full powers in the ("self-coup") of 5 April 1992. He then revised the constitution, called new congressional elections, and implemented substantial economic reform, including privatization of numerous state-owned companies, creation of an investment-friendly climate, and sound management of the economy. Nonetheless, these policies did not benefit the poorest much, and inequality persisted despite Fujimori's economic achievements.

Fujimori's administration was dogged by groups, most notably Shining Path, which carried out attacks across the country throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Fujimori cracked down on the insurgents and was successful in largely quelling them by the late 1990s, but the fight was marred by atrocities committed by both the Peruvian security forces and the insurgents: the and by Government paramilitary groups, and the bombings of and by Sendero Luminoso. Fujimori would also broaden the definition of terrorism in an effort to criminalize as many actions possible to persecute left-wing political opponents. Using the , a tactic that was used to accuse opponents of terrorism, Fujimori established a by portraying himself as a hero and made left-wing ideologies an eternal enemy in Peru. Those incidents subsequently came to symbolize the violations committed in the last years of violence. His also resulted with the of at least 300,000 poor and indigenous women.

In early 1995, once again Peru and Ecuador clashed in the , but in 1998 the governments of both nations signed a peace treaty that clearly demarcated the international boundary between them. In November 2000, Fujimori resigned from office and went into a self-imposed exile, initially avoiding prosecution for human rights violations and corruption charges by the new Peruvian authorities.

Peru tried to fight corruption while sustaining economic growth at the start of the 21st century, though held power over much of Peruvian society through maintaining control of institutions and legislation created in the 1993 constitution, which was written by Fujimori and his supporters without opposition participation. In spite of human rights progress since the time of insurgency, many problems are still visible and show the continued marginalization of those who suffered through the violence of the Peruvian conflict. A caretaker government presided over by took on the responsibility of conducting new presidential and congressional elections. Afterwards became president in 2001 to 2006. On 28 July 2006, former president became President of Peru after winning the . In 2006, Alberto Fujimori's daughter, , entered Peru's political arena to continue her father's legacy and espouse Fujimorism. In May 2008, Peru became a member of the . In April 2009, former president was convicted of human rights violations and to 25 years in prison for his role in killings and kidnappings by the during his government's battle against leftist guerrillas in the 1990s.

During the presidencies of , and , the right-wing Congress led by Keiko Fujimori obstructed much of the actions performed by the presidents. On 5 June 2011, was elected president, with his cabinet being by the Fujimorist Congress. Beginning with , Congress used wording in the 1993 Constitution of Peru that allowed impeachment of the president without cause to place pressure on the president, forcing him to in 2018 amid various controversies surrounding his administration. Vice president then assumed office in March 2018 with generally favorable approval ratings as he led the anti-corruption movement. The resulted with Peru experiencing the highest death rate from COVID-19 in the world, exposing much of the inequality that persisted since the Fujimori administration and triggering an economic crisis that led to . Widely seen as a coup by Congress, its head, the newly seated President , faced across the country, and after five days, Merino resigned from the presidency. Merino was replaced by President , who led a provisional, centrist government, and enforced many of Vizcarra's former policies. were held on 11 April 2021, and of the party won the first round, followed closely by Keiko Fujimori, with right-wing parties allied with Fujimori maintaining positions in Congress.

On 28 July 2021, Pedro Castillo was sworn in as the new after a narrow win in a tightly contested run-off election. That same year, Peru celebrated the . Castillo during his presidency from the right-wing controlled Congress and on 7 December 2022, just hours before Congress was set to begin a , Castillo tried to prevent this by attempting to the opposition-controlled legislature and create an "exceptional emergency government." In response, Congress quickly held an emergency session on the same day, during which it voted 101–6 (with 10 abstentions) to remove Castillo from office and replace him with Vice President . She became the country's first female president. Castillo was arrested after trying to flee to the embassy and was charged with the crime of rebellion.

The Boluarte government proved unpopular as she allied herself with the right-wing Congress and the military, betraying her constituents. This resentment led to the , which sought the removal of Boluarte and Congress, immediate general elections and the writing of a new constitution. Authorities responded to the protests violently, with the and occurring at this time, resulting with the most violence experienced in the nation in over two decades. The strong response by the political elite in Lima raised concerns that they sought to establish an or .

Peru is located on the central western coast of South America facing the Pacific Ocean. It lies wholly in the , its northernmost extreme reaching to 1.8 minutes of latitude or about 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) south of the , covers 1,285,216 km² (496,225 sq mi) of western South America. It borders Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the southeast, Chile to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The mountains run parallel to the Pacific Ocean; they define the three regions traditionally used to describe the country geographically.

The costa (coast), to the west, is a narrow, largely arid plain except for valleys created by seasonal rivers. The sierra (highlands) is the region of the Andes; it includes the plateau as well as the highest peak of the country, the 6,768 m (22,205 ft) . The third region is the selva (jungle), a wide expanse of flat terrain covered by the that extends east. Almost 60 percent of the country's area is located within this region. The country has fifty-four hydrographic basins, fifty-two of which are small coastal basins that discharge their waters into the Pacific Ocean. The final two are the basin of , and the Amazon basin, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. Both are delimited by the Andes mountain range. The Amazon basin is particularly noteworthy as it is the source of the Amazon River, which at 6872 km, is the longest river in the world, and covers 75% of Peruvian territory. Peru contains 4% of the planet's freshwater.

Most Peruvian rivers originate in the peaks of the Andes and drain into one of three . Those that drain toward the Pacific Ocean are steep and short, flowing only intermittently. Tributaries of the have a much larger flow, and are longer and less steep once they exit the sierra. Rivers that drain into Lake Titicaca are generally short and have a large flow. Peru's longest rivers are the , the , the , the , the , the , the , and the Amazon.

The largest , Lake Titicaca between Peru and Bolivia high in the Andes, is also the largest of South America. The largest , all in the coastal region of Peru, are the , Tinajones, San Lorenzo, and El Fraile reservoirs.

Although Peru is located entirely in the , the combination of tropical latitude, mountain ranges, topography variations, and two ocean currents ( and ) gives Peru a large diversity of climates. Elevations above sea level in the country range from −37 to 6,778 m (−121 to 22,238 ft) and precipitation ranges from less than 20 mm (0.79 in) annually in desert areas to more than 8,000 mm (310 in) in tropical rainforest areas.

Due to its geography, Peru can be divide into three main climates. The unbroken and relatively slim coastal region has moderate temperatures, low precipitation, and high humidity, except for its warmer, wetter northern reaches. In the mountain region, which covers almost a third of the country, rain is frequent in summer, and temperature and humidity diminish with altitude up to the frozen peaks of the Andes. The , covering more than half of the total area of Peru, is characterized by heavy rainfall and high temperatures, except for its southernmost part, which has cold winters and seasonal rainfall.

Because of its varied geography and climate, Peru has a high biodiversity with 21,462 species of plants and animals reported as of 2003, 5,855 of them , and is one of the countries.

Peru has over 1,800 of birds (120 ), over 500 species of , over 300 species of reptiles, and over 1,000 species of freshwater . The hundreds of mammals include rare species like the , and . The Birds of Peru produce large amounts of , an economically important export. The Pacific holds large quantities of , , , , , and , and is home to many sharks, , and whales. The invertebrate fauna is far less inventoried; at least beetles (Coleoptera) have been surveyed in the "Beetles of Peru" project, led by Caroline S. Chaboo, University of Nebraska, USA and this revealved more 12,000 documented and many new species for Peru.

Peru also has an equally diverse . The coastal deserts produce little more than , apart from hilly and river valleys that contain unique plant life. The Highlands above the tree-line known as is home to bushes, , drought-resistant plants such as , and the largest species of  – the spectacular .

The cloud-forest slopes of the Andes sustain , , and bromeliads, and the is known for its variety of trees and canopy plants. Peru had a 2019 mean score of 8.86/10, ranking it 14th globally out of 172 countries.

Peru is a unitary with a multi-party system. The country has maintained a system under its , which replaced a that leaned the government to a federation to authorize more power to the president. It is also a , in which the central government holds the most power and can create . The Peruvian system of government combines elements derived from the political systems of the United States (a , an autonomous , and a ) and the (a congress, a and ).

The Peruvian government is into three branches:

• Legislature: the unicameral , consisting of 130 members of Congress (on a basis of population), the president of Congress, and the Permanent Commission;
• Executive: the president, the , which in practice controls and serve as a Cabinet to the president, consisting of the and 18 ministers of the state;
• Judiciary: the , also known as the , composed of 18 including a supreme justice, along with 28 , 195 , and 1,838 .

Under its constitution, the president of Peru is both and and is elected to a five-year term without immediate reelection. The president appoints who oversee the 18 ministries of the state, including the , into the . The constitution designates minimal authority to the prime minister, who presides over in which ministers advise the president and acts as a spokesperson on behalf of the . The president is also able to pose to the Congress of Peru, and consequently order the , done in by and in by .

In the Congress of Peru there are 130 members, from 25 , determined by respective population and elected to five-year terms. Bills are proposed by the executive and powers and become law through a vote in Congress. The judiciary is nominally independent, though political intervention into judicial matters has been common throughout history. The Congress of Peru can also pass a , ministers, as well as initiate impeachments and executives. Due to broadly interpreted wording in the , the legislative branch can impeach the president without cause, effectively making the executive branch subject to Congress. In recent history, the legislative body has passed semi-successful impeachment and two successful impeachments; resigned prior to removal in 2000, in 2018, was in 2020 and was removed in 2022. Following a ruling in February 2023 by the , whose members are elected by Congress, judicial oversight of the legislative body was also removed by the court, essentially giving Congress absolute control of Peru's government.

Peru's uses for citizens from the age of 18 to 70, including and abroad. Members of Congress are by constituents in respective districts through . The president is elected in a general election, along with the , through a majority in a . Elections are observed and organized by the , , and the .

Peru uses a for and general elections. Major groups that have formed governments, both on a federal and legislative level, are parties that have historically adopted , , (specifically ), , and .

The was held on 11 April 2021 and resulted in winning the most seats in Congress, although it fell well short of a majority. A presidential runoff between and took place on 5 June 2021 and resulted in the victory of Castillo.

Many Peruvian presidents have been removed from office or imprisoned on allegations of corruption from the 1990s into the 2020s. Alberto Fujimori was serving a 25-year prison sentence for commanding that killed civilians in a counterinsurgency campaign during his tenure (1990–2000). He was later also found guilty of corruption. Former president Alan García (1985–1990 and 2006–2011) killed himself in April 2019 when Peruvian police arrived to arrest him over allegations he participated in the scheme. Former president Alejandro Toledo is accused of allegedly receiving bribes from Brazilian construction firm during his government (2001–2006). Former president Ollanta Humala (2011–2016) is also under investigation for allegedly receiving bribes from Odebrecht during his presidential election campaign. Humala's successor Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016–2018) remains under house arrest while prosecutors investigate him for favoring contracts with Odebrecht. Former president Martín Vizcarra (2018–2020) was controversially ousted by Congress after media reports alleged he had received bribes while he was a regional governor years earlier.

Corruption is also widespread throughout Congress as legislators use their office for and other benefits, despite a large majority of Peruvians disapproving of Congress and its behavior.

Peru is divided into 26 units: , the and the (LIM) – which is independent of any region and serves as the . Under the constitution, the 24 departments plus Callao Province have an elected "regional" government composed of the regional governor and the .

The governor constitutes the , proposes , and creates decrees, resolutions, and regional programs. The Regional Council, the region's , debates and votes on budgets, supervises regional officials, and can vote to remove the governor, deputy governor, or any member of the council from office. The regional governor and the Regional Council serve a term of four years, without immediate reelection. These governments plan regional development, execute public investment projects, promote economic activities, and manage public property.

Provinces such as are administered by a , headed by a mayor. The goal of devolving power to regional and municipal governments was among others to improve popular participation. NGOs played an important role in the process and still influence local politics.

Some areas of Peru are defined as which overlap district areas. The largest of them, the , is the seventh-.

Over recent decades, has historically been dominated by close ties with the United States and Asia, particularly through the (APEC), the , the , , and the (OAS). Peru is an active member of several and is one of the founding members of the . It is also a member of international organizations such as the and the . , a celebrated Peruvian diplomat, served as from 1981 to 1991.

Peru planned to be fully integrated into the (OECD) by 2021, attributing its economic success and efforts to strengthen institutions as meeting factors to be a part of the OECD. Peru is a member of the , and has pursued multiple major free trade agreements, most recently the , the , the , free trade agreements with Japan, and many others.

Peru maintains an integrated relationship with other South American nations, and is a member of various South American intergovernmental agreements, more recently the , , the of Nations, the , and the . Peru has historically experienced , including the international court resolution and the , but the two countries have agreed to work in improving relations.

Peru has participated in taking a leading role in addressing the through the establishment of the .

Peru is the 99th most peaceful country in the world, according to the 2024 .

Peru has the fourth largest military in Latin America. Peru's armed forces – the  – comprise the (MGP), the (EP), and the (FAP), in total numbering 392,660 personnel (including 120,660 regulars and 272,000 reservists) as of 2020. Their primary mission is to safeguard the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country.

Their functions are separated by branch:

• The is made up of the Chief of Staff, two Control Bodies, two Support Bodies, five Military Regions and six Command Rooms.
• The was officially created on 20 May 1929, with the name of Peruvian Aviation Corps. Its main function is to serve as the country's . It also participates in for hard-to-reach populations, organizes air bridges during disasters, and participates in . Its four major are located in the cities of , , and .
• The is in charge of the country's maritime, river, and lake defense. It is made up of 26,000 sailors. Personnel are divided into three levels: superior personnel, junior personnel and seafarers.

The military is governed by both the , , and (CCFFAA). The CCFFAA has subordinates to the Operational Commands and Special Commands, with which it carries out the military operations that are required for the defense and the fulfillment of the tasks that the executive power provides. was abolished in 1999 and replaced by . The is often classified as a part of the armed forces. However, it has a distinct organizational structure and a purely civilian mandate. Its training and operations, particularly over the past two decades as an anti-terrorist unit, have imbued it with distinctly military traits, leading to its portrayal as a de facto fourth military branch with substantial land, sea, and air capabilities, and a work force of around 140,000 individuals.The Peruvian armed forces report through the Ministry of Defense, while the National Police of Peru reports through the Ministry of Interior.

Since the end of the in 2000, the federal government has significantly reduced annual spending in defense. In the 2016–2017 budget, defense spending has constituted 1.1% of GDP ($2.3 billion), the second lowest spending relative to GDP in South America following Argentina. More recently, the Armed Forces of Peru have been used in . In 2020, Peru used its military personnel and even reservists to enforce the strict measures placed during the .

The economy of Peru is the 48th largest in the world (ranked by ), and the income level is classified as upper middle by the World Bank. Peru is, as of 2011, one of the world's fastest-growing economies owing to an economic boom experienced during the 2000s. It has an above-average of 0.77 which has seen steady improvement over the last 25 years.^[] Historically, the country's economic performance has been tied to exports, which provide to finance imports and external debt payments. Although they have provided substantial revenue, self-sustained growth and a more egalitarian have proven elusive. According to 2015 data, 19.3% of its total population is poor, including 9% that lives in extreme poverty. Inflation in 2012 was the lowest in Latin America at only 1.8%, but increased in 2013 as oil and commodity prices rose; as of 2014 it stands at 2.5%. and 8,6 in 2023. The unemployment rate was 3.6% in 2012.

Peruvian economic policy has varied widely over the past decades.^[] The 1968–1975 government of introduced radical reforms, which included , the expropriation of foreign companies, the introduction of an , and the creation of a large state-owned sector. These measures failed to achieve their objectives of and the end of .

Despite these results, most reforms were not reversed until the 1990s, when the government of ended , , restrictions on , and most state ownership of companies.

As of 2010 account for 53% of Peruvian gross domestic product, followed by manufacturing (22.3%), extractive industries (15%), and taxes (9.7%). Recent economic growth had been fueled by stability, improved , and rising investment and consumption. Trade was expected to increase further after the implementation of a signed on 12 April 2006. Peru's main exports were copper, gold, zinc, textiles, and fish meal; its major trade partners were the United States, China, Brazil, and Chile.

Informal workers represent, in 2019, 70% of the labour market according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI). In 2016, almost three million children and adolescents worked in the informal sector.

The country is heavily dependent on for the export of raw materials, which represented 61.3% of exports in 2023. In 2019, the country was the second world producer of and , eighth world producer of , third world producer of , the world's fourth largest producer of , the fifth world's largest producer of , and the world's fourth largest producer of – not to mention gas and of oil. In 2023, it was third largest silver prducer globally. The country has an expectant competitive position in global mining, maintaining mining leadership in Latin America and a solid mining history and trajectory little industrialized; Peru suffers from the international variation of commodity prices.

The Yanacocha mine in is the main source of gold extraction in Peru. It is considered the largest gold mine in South America and the second largest in the world. In 2005, 3,333,088 ounces of gold were produced. An indicator of mining growth can be seen in mining exports, having grown from US$1,447 million in 1990 to US$39,639 million in 2023.

Peru is the world's largest producer of , and one of the 5 largest producers of , , and , one of the 10 largest producers in the world of and , and one of the 15 largest producers in the world of and , also having a considerable production of , , , , and ; its agriculture is considerably diversified. In livestock, Peru is one of the 20 largest producers of in the world.

According to a report by the UN (FAO) published in August 2022, half of Peru's population is moderately (16.6 million people), and more than 20% (6.8 million people), are severely food insecure: they go without food for a whole day, or even several days.

The director of FAO Peru stresses that "this is the great paradox of a country that has enough food for its population. Peru is a net producer of food and one of the major agro-exporting powers in the region. Food insecurity is due to high and low wages, with Peru's minimum wage being one of the lowest in South America and a large informal sector. According to the FAO, the small farmers themselves suffer from hunger. Poorly paid, they also suffer from the impacts of and face the problem of on their land and mining activity that exhausts the soil."

Tourism constitutes the third largest industry in Peru, behind fishing and mining. Tourism is mainly directed towards archaeological monuments, as it has more than one hundred thousand archaeological sites. According to a study by the Peruvian government, the satisfaction rate of tourists after visiting Peru is 94%. It is the fastest growing industry in the country, growing annually at a rate of 25% over the last five years, the highest growth rate of any other country in South America.

Tourism has an impact of 7% of Peru's GDP, it is regulated and stimulated by the Commission for the Promotion of Peru for Exports and Tourism of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism. For this reason, in 2011 Marca Perú was created, which is an initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism in association with Peruvian companies and startups to promote the purchase and consumption of products created in the country. The pillars of this initiative are: exports, tourism and investments. Tourism employs 11% of the country's economically active population (484 000 direct jobs and 340,000 indirect jobs), most of them in hospitality and transportation. Peru is known to be prefect for cultural, eco, adventure, gastronomic, beach, and luxury travel.

The places most visited by tourists are the cities of and its historic center, , which is characterized by its and colonial architecture but its main attractions are the and . is also a large tourist destination, for the historic center, also for the and finally through . The main tourist circuit of the country is the southern circuit, which includes cities such as; , , , Paracas, , and others with architectural, cultural and natural attractions. The second most important route is the , in the department of Áncash, headquarters of adventure tourism and the main point of reference for New Andean gastronomy. Peru has 14 and 11 national parks.

Peru has many other tourist routes. Among these are those of the with the city of as one of its axis, and the Valley as another axis, which in turn is the entrance to the central jungle and the northern city of where is located, the largest adobe citadel in the world, the traditional spa of and the Huacas del Sol and de la Luna belonging to the . , and the rainforest city are also very popular destinations. According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism, the visit of foreign tourists increased by 7% during 2015 and would have generated US$3.5 billion in foreign currency for the country.

The lists the top producing countries each year, based on the total value of production. By the 2019 list, Peru has the 50th most valuable industry in the world ($28.7 billion).

In 2011 and 2016 Peru was the world's largest supplier of . It is also the world's leading producer of alpaca wool, and the most important exporter of cotton textile garments in Latin America, and due to its natural wealth, it is an excellent place for the development of the polymer industry worldwide. The country is in a stage of economic growth and it is expected, in light of the agreements and treaties signed in free trade areas, to become one of the most attractive South American nations for developing business.

Peru's road network in 2021 consisted of 175,589 km (109,106 mi) of highways, with 29,579 km (18,380 mi) paved. Some highways in the country that stand out are the and . In 2016, the country had 827 km (514 mi) of , and was investing in more duplications: the plan was to have 2,634 km (1,637 mi) in 2026. The country's rail network is small: in 2018, the country only had 1,939 km (1,205 mi) of railways.

Peru has important international airports such as , and . The 10 busiest airports in South America in 2017 were: São Paulo-Guarulhos (Brazil), Bogotá (Colombia), São Paulo-Congonhas (Brazil), Santiago (Chile), Lima (Peru), Brasília (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Buenos Aires-Aeroparque (Argentina), Buenos Aires-Ezeiza (Argentina) and Minas Gerais (Brazil). Multiple airport expansions are currently under construction across Peru, the two main ones being the and . , the largest in Peru, is undergoing an expansion which includes the construction of a new runway, control tower and a new terminal, along with new hotels, logistical buildings and cargo sector. Altogether, they make up the Ciudad Aeropuerto, Airport City. It will allow transit of 40 million passengers every year and will be completed in December 2024. Another ambitious airport project is the in . The new airport is set to replace the old, and help passengers bypass a stop in Lima by introducing international routes.

Peru has important ports in , and . The 15 most active ports in South America in 2018 were: Port of Santos (Brazil), Port of Bahia de Cartagena (Colombia), Callao (Peru), Guayaquil (Ecuador), Buenos Aires (Argentina), San Antonio (Chile), Buenaventura (Colombia), Itajaí (Brazil), Valparaíso (Chile), Montevideo (Uruguay), Paranaguá (Brazil), Rio Grande (Brazil), São Francisco do Sul (Brazil), Manaus (Brazil) and Coronel (Chile). The is currently the largest port in Peru, but will soon be overtaken by the , a joint project between and Peru in , north of . When completed, the port will become the largest in Latin America. The first stage of construction is expected to be complete in late 2024.

The electricity sector has experienced notable improvements in recent years. The number of homes with electric lighting grew from 82% in 2007 to 94.2% in 2016. while the quality and effectiveness of service provision improved. Current electricity generation capacity is evenly divided between thermal energy and hydroelectric energy sources. The National Interconnected Electrical System supplies 85% of the connected population, with several isolated systems that cover the rest of the country. Peruvian electricity production totalled 5.1 TWh in the month of October 2022. Of these, 52% came from hydroelectric plants, 38.3% from thermoelectric plants (which use oil, gas and coal) and 9.7% of renewable energy plants like: wind, solar, and others.

In 2021, Peru had, in terms of installed renewable electricity, 5,490 MW in hydropower (34th largest in the world), 409 MW in wind power (49th largest in the world), 336 MW in solar power (62nd largest in the world), and 185 MW in biomass.

According to the , life expectancy for men is 72.6 years, while for women it is 77.9 years. Infant mortality is eighteen per thousand births, having been reduced 76% from 1990 to 2011. The main causes of death of Peruvians are , and , bacterial diseases, ischemic heart diseases and cerebrovascular diseases. According to the 2017 Population and Housing Censuses, 75.5% of the population has some type of health insurance, that is, 22,173,663 people, despite this, 24.5% of the population does not have any type of insurance.

With a population of 33,396,698 inhabitants according to estimates and projections of the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics until the year 2022, Peru is the . Its population density is 25.79 inhabitants per square kilometer and its annual growth rate is 1.1%. 58.8% of the Peruvian population lives on the coast, 27% in the mountains, and 14.2% in the jungle. In 2020, 27 million Peruvians lived in urban areas, which represents 80% of the population. Peru had a population of seven million residents in 1940; between 1950 and 2000, the demographic growth rate of Peru declined from 2.6% to 1.6%, with the population being expected to reach approximately 42 million in 2050.

As of 2017, 79.3% lived in urban areas and 20.7% in rural areas. Major cities include the (home to over 9.8 million people), , , , , , , , and ; all reported more than 250,000 inhabitants in the . Arequipa is Peru's second largest city, with an estimated population of 1,177,000, while Trujillo is the third largest city with 1,048,000. There are 15 known Amerindian tribes in Peru. Peru has a of 75.0 years (72.4 for males and 77.7 for females) according to the latest data for the year 2016 from the .

The economically active population is equivalent to 53.78% of the total population, or about 17,830,500 inhabitants. The largest cities are located on the coast, such as Sullana, Piura, Chiclayo, Trujillo, Chimbote, Lima and Ica. In the mountains, the cities of Arequipa, Cusco, Huancayo, Cajamarca and Juliaca stand out. Finally, in the jungle, is the most important, followed by , , and Tingo María.

Peru is a formed by successive waves of different peoples over five centuries. inhabited Peruvian territory for several millennia before the in the 16th century; according to historian Noble David Cook, their population decreased from nearly 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of .

The 2017 census for the first time included a question on ethnic self-identification. According to the results, 60.2% of the people identified themselves as , 22.3% identified themselves as , 5.9% identified themselves as , 3.6% identified themselves as , 2.4% identified themselves as , 2.3% identified themselves as other ethnic groups, and 3.3% did not declare their ethnicity. In the different stages of Peru's history, ethnic composition has varied, with a continuous decline in the Amerindian proportion, due to multiple socioeconomic and sociocultural factors, birth controls, high mortality rates, exclusion, among others. The country tends towards a slow generalized miscegenation of all ethnic segments that began from the beginning of the colonial period to the present day. Because the majority of the Peruvian population has become mestizo, some feel a superiority complex towards the natives of the mountains and the jungle, either because they do not pronounce a word properly, or simply because they do not know how to read a text well, leading to a kind of towards them.

During the , Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers, mixing widely with each other and with the native population, mainly on the coast (the mountains and the jungle maintained a very little mixed indigenous majority). After independence there was European immigration from Spain, Italy, England, France, and Germany, along with the Middle East. Peru freed its black slaves in 1854. Chinese and Japanese arrived in the 1850s as laborers following the end of slavery, and have since become a major influence in Peruvian society. The first Croatian immigrants came to Peru in 1573 from Dubrovnik.

In recent decades, Peruvian emigration figures have shown a marked growth and currently more than 10% of Peruvians are residing outside the country. This migratory movement has been accentuated since the year 2000, the official figure of Peruvian emigrants is 2,444,634 from 1990 to 2011. This without considering the descendant population, and the illegal floating population that is essentially found in neighboring countries. It is estimated that in the last 82 years, more than 3.5 million Peruvians emigrated from the country. With respect to the main countries of destination for Peruvian emigrants between 1990 and 2011, these were: the United States (31.5%), Spain (16%), Argentina (14.3%), Italy (10.1%), Chile (8.8%), Japan (4.1%) and Venezuela (3.8%).75% of Peruvian emigrants are between 19 and 49 years old, with a slight majority of women. For the most part, Peruvian emigration is a labor migration.

Throughout its history, Peru has received migrations from Europe (mainly Spain and Italy; and to a lesser extent from France, United Kingdom, and from other Central European countries and Southern), sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia (China and Japan). It currently receives a large number of Venezuelan immigrants, who are escaping the economic crisis that their country is suffering.

From 2016, the flow of Venezuelans to Peru increased, going from 6615 residents in that year to around 820,000 until mid-June 2019, being the most important migratory wave of the 21st century in the country. Peru is home to the second largest number of Venezuelan immigrants after Colombia.

According to the Peruvian Constitution of 1993, Peru's official languages are and, in areas where they predominate, and other Indigenous languages. Spanish is spoken natively by 82.6% of the population, and coexists with several native languages, of which the most important is the , spoken by 16.92% of the population, 1.7% and 0.8% speaking another native language. In the urban areas of the country, especially in the coastal region, monolingualism of Spanish predominates; while in many rural areas of the country, particularly in the Amazon, multilingual populations dominate.

Spanish language is used by the government and is the mainstream language of the country, which is used by the media and in educational systems and commerce. Amerindians who live in the Andean highlands speak Quechua and Aymara and are ethnically distinct from the diverse Indigenous groups who live on the eastern side of the Andes and in the tropical lowlands adjacent to the .

Peru's distinct geographical regions are mirrored in a language divide between the coast where Spanish is more predominant over the Amerindian languages, and the more diverse traditional Andean cultures of the mountains and highlands. The Indigenous populations east of the Andes speak various languages and dialects. Some of these groups still adhere to traditional Indigenous languages, while others have been almost completely assimilated into the Spanish language. There has been an increasing and organized effort to teach Quechua in public schools in the areas where Quechua is spoken. In the Peruvian Amazon, numerous Indigenous languages are spoken, including , , and .

Roman Catholicism has been the predominant faith in Peru for centuries, albeit religious practices have a high degree of with Indigenous traditions.^[] Two of its universities, and Universidad Católica San Pablo, are among the country's five top universities. As of the 2017 census, 76% of the population over 12 years old described themselves as ; 14.1% as ; 4.8% as Protestant, Jewish, , and ; and 5.1% as nonreligious.

Amerindian religious traditions continue to play a major role in the beliefs of Peruvians. Catholic festivities like , and Christmas sometimes blend with Amerindian traditions. Pre-Columbian Amerindian festivities remain widespread; , an ancient Inca festival, is still celebrated, especially in rural communities.

The majority of towns, cities, and villages have their own official church or cathedral and . The two saints of Peru are , the first Saint of the Americas, and . The largest cathedral in Peru is the . Other notable churches and cathedrals are the and the .

In Peru, education is under the jurisdiction of the , which is in charge of formulating, implementing and supervising the national education policy. According to the Political Constitution of Peru, education is mandatory and free in public schools for the initial, primary and secondary levels.. It is also free in public universities for students who have satisfactory academic performance and pass the admission exams. Most of the schools in Peru are and .

Education is divided into different levels: Initial education corresponds to the period between zero and five years of age, and is in charge of cribs whose purpose is to provide children with the stimulation required for their comprehensive development and the gardens that offer technical-pedagogical activities. Primary education begins with the first cycle, made up of the first and second grades. The entry age for children is six years old. This level begins in the first grade and ends in the sixth grade of primary school. Secondary education consists of five years, from first to fifth year. Then comes higher education that can be technical, productive, technological or university. To enter universities it is essential to take an admission exam, although the difficulty of this depends on the requirements of the university.

Peru's literacy rate is estimated at 92.9% as of 2007; this rate is lower in rural areas (80.3%) than in urban areas (96.3%). Primary and secondary education are and free in public schools.

Peru is home to one of the oldest institutions of higher learning in the New World. The , founded on 12 May 1551, during the , is the first officially established and the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas.^[] The University of San Marcos is known to be the best in Peru and among the best in South America.

Many of the Peruvian have sources. In the Andes communities of , and , Quechua or Aymara names are overwhelmingly predominant. Their Spanish-based orthography, however, is in conflict with the normalized alphabets of these languages. According to Article 20 of Decreto Supremo No 004-2016-MC (Supreme Decree) which approves the Regulations to Law 29735, published in the official newspaper El Peruano on 22 July 2016, adequate spellings of the in the normalized alphabets of the Indigenous languages must progressively be proposed with the aim of standardizing the naming used by the National Geographic Institute (Instituto Geográfico Nacional, IGN). The National Geographic Institute realizes the necessary changes in the official maps of Peru.

Peruvian culture is primarily rooted in Iberian and Andean traditions, though it has also been influenced by various European, Asian, and African ethnic groups. date back to the elaborate pottery, textiles, jewelry, and sculpture of . The Incas maintained these crafts and made achievements including the construction of . dominated colonial art, though modified by Native traditions.

During this period, most art focused on religious subjects; the numerous churches of the era and the paintings of the are representative. Arts stagnated after independence until the emergence of in the early 20th century. Since the 1950s, Peruvian art has been and shaped by both foreign and local art currents.

Peruvian art has its origin in the . These civilizations arose in the territory of modern Peru before the . Peruvian art incorporated European elements after the Spanish conquest and continued to evolve throughout the centuries up to the modern day.

Peru's earliest artwork came from the culture, which was concentrated on the Pacific coast, and the Chavín culture, which was largely north of between the Andean mountain ranges of the and the . Decorative work from this era, approximately the 9th century BCE, was symbolic and religious in nature. The artists worked with gold, silver, and to create a variety of sculptures and relief carvings. These civilizations were also known for their architecture and wood sculptures.

The Cavernas and Paracas cultures developed on the south coast of Peru between the 9th century BCE and the 2nd century CE. Paracas Cavernas produced complex polychrome and monochrome ceramics with religious representations. Burials from the Paracas Necropolis also yielded complex textiles, many produced with sophisticated geometric patterns. The 3rd century BCE saw the flowering of the urban culture, , in the region. The Moche culture produced architectural works, such as the and the of . They were experts at and and produced original ceramics, textiles, pictorial and sculptural works. Another urban culture, the , flourished between the 8th and 12th centuries in . Their centralized town planning was extended to other areas, such as , and . Between the 9th and 13th centuries CE, the military urban empire rose by the borders of . Centered around a city of the same name in modern-day Bolivia, the Tiwanaku introduced stone architecture and sculpture of a monumental type. These works of architecture and art were made possible by the Tiwanaku's developing , which enabled them to make the necessary tools.

Urban architecture reached a new height between the 14th and 15th centuries in the . The Chimú built the city of in the valley of the , in . The Chimú were skilled and created remarkable works of . The , which united Peru under its hegemony in the centuries immediately preceding the Spanish conquest, incorporated into their own works a great part of the cultural legacy of the civilizations which preceded it. Important relics of their artwork and architecture can be seen in cities like , architectural remains like and and stone pavements that united Cusco with the rest of the Inca Empire.

Peruvian sculpture and painting began to define themselves from the founded by monks, who were strongly influenced by the Sevillian Baroque School. In this context, the stalls of the choir, the fountain of the Main Square of Lima both by , and a great part of the colonial production were registered. The first center of art established by the Spanish was the that taught artists European painting styles. (1611–1681) was one of the first members of the Cuzco school and (1710–1773) was one of the last.

Painting of this time reflected a synthesis of European and Indigenous influences, as is evident in the portrait of prisoner Atahualpa, by D. de Mora or in the canvases of the Italians and Angelino Medoro, the Spaniards Francisco Bejarano and J. de Illescas and the Creole J. Rodriguez.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, the and styles, with their heavy ornamentation and predominantly curved lines, also dominated the fields of architecture and , as for example on the walls of the in Lima.

Peruvian literature refers not only to literature produced in the modern Republic of Peru, but also literature produced in the during the colonial period, and to traditions created by diverse ethnic groups living in what is now Peru during the , such as the , the and the people.

Spaniards introduced writing in the 16th century; colonial literary expression included and . Some of the first chroniclers were writers and soldiers who were responsible for producing official transcripts of military expeditions. There was also a small group of non-official chroniclers or personal diarists who provided unique personal insights on the effort to subdue and colonize the region. For the most part, these chroniclers all wrote from the perspective of Spanish , whose mission was to "civilize" and "reveal the true faith" to the native peoples of Peru. Among the official Spanish chroniclers were , personal secretary of Pizarro, who wrote the Verdadera relación de la conquista del Perú y provincia del Cuzco llamada la Nueva Castilla (The True Narrative of the Conquest of Peru and of Cuzco Province, Otherwise Known as New Castile), in 1534. Indigenous chroniclers were also known, such as who, after familiarizing himself with Spanish culture, wrote Relación de cómo los españoles entraron en Pirú y el subceso que tuvo Mango Inca en el tiempo en que entre ellos vivió (The Narrative of How the Spaniards Entered Piru and Mango Inca's Experiences while Living Among Them) in 1570.

After independence, and became the most common literary genres, as exemplified in the works of . The early 20th century's Indigenismo movement was led by such writers as and . The movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the establishment of magazines Colónida and Amauta, the latter founded in 1926 by the prominent socialist essayist . The influential poet , who was one of its collaborators, wrote modernist and often politically engaged verse in the 1920s and 1930s. Modern Peruvian literature is recognized thanks to authors such as , a leading member of the .

Because of the Spanish expedition and discovery of America, explorers started the which included unknown food in the Old World, including potatoes, tomatoes, and maize. Modern Indigenous Peruvian food often includes corn, potatoes, and . There are now more than 3,000 kinds of potatoes grown on Peruvian terrain, according to Peru's Instituto Peruano de la Papa. Modern blends and with strong influences from Chinese, African, Arab, Italian, and Japanese cooking. Common dishes include , , and . Peru's varied climate allows the growth of diverse plants and animals good for cooking. Peru is known to have one of the best cuisines in the world. The capital, Lima, is home to , which is one of the and serves various Peruvian dishes from each geographical part of the country, the Costa (coast, Sierra (mountains) and Selva (rainforest).

Peruvian cuisine reflects local practices and ingredients – including influences from the Indigenous population including the and cuisines introduced by colonizers and immigrants. Without the familiar ingredients from their home countries, immigrants modified their traditional cuisines by using ingredients available in Peru. The four traditional staples of Peruvian cuisine are , potatoes and other , (, and ) and ( and ). Staples brought by the Spanish include rice, wheat, and meats (beef, pork, and chicken). Many traditional foods – such as , , , and several roots and have increased in popularity in recent decades, reflecting a revival of interest in Native Peruvian foods and culinary techniques. It is also common to see traditional cuisines being served with a modern flair in towns like , where tourists come to visit. Chef has become well known for raising awareness of local ingredients.

Peruvian music has , , and roots. In pre-Columbian times, musical expressions varied widely in each region; the and the were two common instruments. Spaniards introduced new instruments, such as the guitar and the harp, which led to the development of crossbred instruments like the . African contributions to Peruvian music include its rhythms and the , a percussion instrument. include , , , and .

Peruvian music is dominated by the national , the . The charango is a member of the family of instruments and was invented during by musicians imitating the Spanish . In the Canas and regions, the charango is used in courtship rituals, symbolically invoking mermaids with the instrument to lure the woman to the male performers. Until the 1960s, the charango was denigrated as an instrument of the rural poor. After the revolution in 1959, which built the movement (1910–1940), the charango was popularized among other performers. Variants include the , , , and the larger and lower-tuned .

While the Spanish guitar is widely played, so too is the Spanish-in-origin . Unlike the guitar, it has been transformed by Peruvian players over the years, changing from a 12-string, 6-course instrument to one having 12 to 16 strings in a mere four courses. Violins and , also of European origin, are also played. A very famous instrument from Peru is the , dating back to Incan times. It is made of hollow bamboo tubes and is widely played in the Peruvian Andes.

While the Peruvian film industry has not been nearly as prolific as that of some other Latin American countries, some Peruvian movies produced enjoyed regional success. Historically, the cinema of Peru began in Iquitos in 1932 with Antonio Wong Rengifo (alongside a significant early film billboard from 1900) due to the and the influx of foreigners bringing technology to the city. This led to the development of an extensive and distinctive filmography, characterized by a style different fom the films produced in the capital, .

Peru also produced the first animated 3-D film in Latin America, . This film is set in the historical port city of , which during colonial times had to defend itself against attacks by Dutch and British privateers seeking to undercut Spain's trade with its colonies. The film was produced by the company Alpamayo Entertainment, which made a second 3-D film one year later: Dragones: Destino de Fuego.

In February 2006, the film , produced as a joint venture between Peru and Spain and directed by , was set in an imaginary Andean village and describes the stagnating life of Madeinusa performed by and the traumas of post-civil war Peru.

Llosa, who shared elements of 's , won an award at the . Llosa's second feature, ("La Teta Asustada"), was nominated for the for Best Foreign Language Picture, the first Peruvian film in the academy's history to be nominated. The film won the Golden Bear award at the 2009 Berlinale.

The idea of sport dates back to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, though many games and other native forms of entertainment predated the colonial era. More recently, the American ideology of physical education linked to commercialization has had widespread appeal. Sports in the country are divided into several sports federations (one for each sports practice) that are under the tutelage of the highest state entity to regulate their practice, the Peruvian Sports Institute (IPD). Most of the sports federations are based in the in Lima. Peru's largest stadium is which has a capacity of over 80,000, making it the second largest stadium in South America. The country's national stadium is the . Peru has hosted various sporting events, such as the , , and , and the largest sporting event held by the country, the .

is the most popular and widely practiced in the country. The is the most important club tournament in the nation. The men's team has had some important performances on the world stage. They participated in the five times. Likewise, they have been champions of the on two occasions, in and , and impressed at the before going home after withdrawing from a walkover given to Austria in the quarter-final. is considered Peru's greatest footballer. At the club level, stands out with the runner-up in the in 1972 and also with the runner-up in 1997. The only Peruvian clubs with international titles are Cienciano, which won the and the , and Universitario, champion of the .

Other popular sports in Peru are , and . Peru has won multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals at the . The was one of the dominant teams in the 1980s and 90s and won the silver medal at the , losing to the 3–2 after having led by a wide margin. Peru has usually been very good at surfing and volleyball.

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• web directory; 15 October 2008 at the
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• (In Spanish) of the Peruvian Government
• Geographic data related to at