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151-555: Mismi is about 160 km (99 mi) west of Lake Titicaca and 700 km (435 mi) southeast of Peru's capital city, Lima , in the Arequipa Region . It is one of the highest points of Colca Canyon . There are several glaciers on the peak. In 1982 Jean-Michel Cousteau led a large scale scientific exploration of the Amazon from its mouth to its origin. The "Cousteau Amazon Expedition" cost eleven million dollars and culminated in

302-439: A constitutional monarchy , 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. Upper Peru (present-day Bolivia) remained as a Spanish stronghold until the army of Simón Bolívar liberated it three years later. José de San Martín was declared Protector of Peru. Peruvian national identity

453-500: 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 Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and MRTA , which caused great havoc throughout the country. The Peruvian armed forces, frustrated with the inability of the García administration to handle the nation's crises, drafted

604-691: A 136-m-long drill core of sediments from the bottom of Lake Titicaca at a depth of 235 m (771 ft) and at a location just east of Isla del Sol. This core contains a continuous record of lake sedimentation and paleoenvironmental conditions for Lake Titicaca back to about 370,000 BP. For this period of time, Lake Titicaca was typically fresher and had higher lake levels during periods of expanded regional glaciation that corresponded to global glacial periods . During periods of reduced regional glaciation that corresponded to global interglacial periods, Lake Titicaca had typically low lake levels. Lacustrine sediments and associated terraces provide evidence for

755-788: A float plane Papagaiu, for air support and reconnaissance, and the Peruvian Air Force offered a high elevation helicopter to reach the upper levels of the Chila mountain range in Peru . Expedition support bases were established in Cuzco , in the mountains, in Arequipa , and high in the Chilca mountain range at Caylloma for the quest to find the origin of the Amazon. Many locations were remote, making it necessary to surmount language, terrain and logistical difficulties, as

906-467: A floating restaurant in 2001. Inca survived until 1994, when she was broken up. Ollanta is no longer in scheduled service, but PeruRail has been leasing her for tourist charter operations. Peru Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America . It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia , in the east by Brazil , in the southeast by Bolivia , in

1057-485: A gift, or school supplies for the children on the island. The islanders hold nightly traditional dance shows for the tourists, where they offer to dress them up in their traditional clothes and allow them to participate. Taquile is a hilly island located 45 km (28 mi) east of Puno. It is narrow and long and was used as a prison during the Spanish Colony and into the 20th century. In 1970, it became property of

1208-618: A high biodiversity with 21,462 species of plants and animals reported as of 2003, 5,855 of them endemic , and is one of the megadiverse countries. Peru has over 1,800 species of birds (120 endemic ), over 500 species of mammals , over 300 species of reptiles, and over 1,000 species of freshwater fishes . The hundreds of mammals include rare species like the puma , jaguar and spectacled bear . The Birds of Peru produce large amounts of guano , an economically important export. The Pacific holds large quantities of sea bass , flounder , anchovies , tuna , crustaceans , and shellfish , and

1359-524: 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

1510-429: A maximum depth of 40 m (131 ft). The overall average depth of the lake is 107 m (351 ft). Five major river systems feed into Lake Titicaca. In order of their relative flow volumes, these are Ramis, Coata, Ilave, Huancané, and Suchez. More than 20 other smaller streams empty into Titicaca. The lake has 41 islands, some of which are densely populated. Having only a single season of free circulation,

1661-569: 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 Juan Santos Atahualpa in 1742, and Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II in 1780 around

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1812-667: 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 social freedom ; it is an active member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation , the Pacific Alliance , the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and

1963-499: A powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in the pre-Columbian Americas with their capital in Cusco . The Incas of Cusco originally represented one of the small and relatively minor ethnic groups, the Quechuas . Gradually, as early as the thirteenth century, they began to expand and incorporate their neighbors. Inca expansion was slow until about the middle of

2114-566: A result of these and other changes, the Spaniards and their creole 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 Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian. The Treaty of Tordesillas was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal . The need to ease communication and trade with Spain led to

2265-399: 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 Fujimorism held power over much of Peruvian society through maintaining control of institutions and legislation created in the 1993 constitution, which

2416-480: A single extended family. Some of the islands have watchtowers and other buildings, also constructed of sedges. Historically, most of the Uros islands were located near the middle of the lake, about 14 km (9 mi) from the shore; however, in 1986, after a major storm devastated the islands, many Uros rebuilt closer to shore. As of 2011 , about 1,200 Uros lived on an archipelago of 60 artificial islands, clustering in

2567-454: A six-hour television documentary titled "Cousteau's Amazon" released in 1983. It offered study information to last years and gave insights into the biology and geology of the largest river system on earth. This expedition was broken into three separate groups and the upper Amazon section was covered by "The Flying Expedition" tasked with exploring the upper third to Arequipa from the river's origin. Traditionally, explorers and geographers define

2718-480: Is Lima . At 1,285,216 km (496,225 sq mi), Peru is the 19th largest country in the world , and the third largest in South America . Peruvian territory was home to several cultures 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

2869-497: Is an intermontane basin. This basin is a pull-apart basin created by strike-slip movement along regional faults starting in the late Oligocene and ending in the late Miocene . The initial development of the Tinajani Basin is indicated by volcanic rocks , which accumulated between 27 and 20 million years ago within this basin. They lie upon an angular unconformity which cuts across pre-basin strata . Lacustrine sediments of

3020-501: Is divided into six sectors or suyus for crop rotation purposes. The economy is based on fishing, terraced farming based on potato cultivation, and tourist-generated income from the roughly 40,000 tourists who visit each year. Situated on the Bolivian side of the lake with regular boat links to the town of Copacabana, Bolivia , Isla del Sol ("Island of the Sun") is one of the largest islands of

3171-510: Is home to many sharks, sperm whales , 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 flora . The coastal deserts produce little more than cacti , apart from hilly fog oases and river valleys that contain unique plant life. The Highlands above

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3322-530: Is nonendemic). Reeds and other aquatic vegetation are widespread in Lake Titicaca. Totora sedges grow in water shallower than 3 m (10 ft), less frequently to 5.5 m (18 ft), but macrophytes , notably Chara and Potamogeton , occur down to 10 m (33 ft). In sheltered shallow waters, such as the harbour of Puno , Azolla , Elodea , Lemna and Myriophyllum are common. The Tinajani Basin, in which Lake Titicaca lies,

3473-480: Is occasionally referred to as Lago Chucuito. Stanish argues that the logical explanation for the origin of the name Titicaca is a corruption of the term thakhsi cala, which is the 15th- to the 16th-century name of the sacred rock on the Isla del Sol. Given the lack of a common name for Lake Titicaca in the 16th century, the Spaniards are thought to have used the name of the site of the most important indigenous shrine in

3624-462: Is occasionally referred to as Lago Mayor, and the small lake as Lago Menor. In Peru, these smaller and larger parts are referred to as Lago Pequeño and Lago Grande, respectively. With a surface area of 8,372 km (3,232 sq mi) and an elevation of 3,812 m (12,507 ft), Lake Titicaca is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. That claim is generally considered to refer to commercial craft. Numerous smaller lakes around

3775-457: Is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. Titicaca is the second largest lake in South America, both in terms of the volume of water and surface area. It has a surface elevation of 3,812 m (12,507 ft). The lake is located at the northern end of the endorheic Altiplano basin high in the Andes on the border of Peru and Bolivia. The western part of the lake lies within

3926-530: Is the selva (jungle), a wide expanse of flat terrain covered by the Amazon rainforest 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 endorheic basin of Lake Titicaca , and the Amazon basin, which empties into

4077-522: Is threatened by water pollution and the introduction of new species by humans. A 2011 United Nations report found alarming concentrations of cadmium, arsenic, and lead in various parts of the lake. In 2012, the GNF nominated the lake "Threatened Lake of the Year". Given the various Indigenous groups that occupied the Lake Titicaca region, it likely lacked a single, commonly accepted name in prehistoric times and at

4228-678: Is uncertain—it may date back to the Late Pliocene. Lake Cabana possibly dates to the Middle Pleistocene. Lake Ballivián existed between 120,000 and 98,000 BP. Two high lake stands, between 72,000 and 68,000 BP and 44,000–34,000 BP, have been discerned for Lake Minchin within the Altiplano. Another ancient lake in the area is Ouki . The high lake levels of Lake Tauca have been dated as having occurred between 18,100 and 14,100 BP. Underwater excavations and surveys in and around Khoa reef, near

4379-466: The auto-golpe ("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

4530-464: The 2006 elections . In 2006, Alberto Fujimori's daughter, Keiko Fujimori , entered Peru's political arena to continue her father's legacy and espouse Fujimorism. In May 2008, Peru became a member of the Union of South American Nations . In April 2009, former president Alberto Fujimori was convicted of human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in killings and kidnappings by

4681-510: The Ayacucho massacre and Juliaca massacre 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 authoritarian or civilian-military government . Peru is located on the central western coast of South America facing the Pacific Ocean. It lies wholly in

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4832-581: The Bolivian railways' 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) meter gauge line at Guaqui . The lake has had a number of steamships, each of which was built in the United Kingdom in "knock down" form with bolts and nuts, disassembled into many hundreds of pieces, transported to the lake, and then riveted together and launched. In 1862 Thames Ironworks on the River Thames built

4983-716: The Caral–Supe civilization (the earliest civilization in the Americas and considered one of the cradles of civilization ), the Nazca culture , the Wari and Tiwanaku empires, the Kingdom of Cusco , and the Inca Empire , the largest known state in the pre-Columbian Americas. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and Charles V established a viceroyalty with the official name of

5134-467: The Grupo Colina death squad during his government's battle against leftist guerrillas in the 1990s. During the presidencies of Ollanta Humala , Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Martín Vizcarra , the right-wing Congress led by Keiko Fujimori obstructed much of the actions performed by the presidents. On 5 June 2011, Ollanta Humala was elected president, with his cabinet being successfully censured by

5285-523: The Huaca Prieta settlement. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using techniques such as irrigation and terracing ; camelid husbandry and fishing were also important. Organization relied on reciprocity and redistribution because these societies had no notion of market or money. The oldest known complex society in Peru, the Caral/Norte Chico civilization , flourished along the coast of

5436-638: 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 latifunda system and modernized agriculture through a more equitable redistribution of land (90% of the peasants formed cooperatives or agricultural societies of social interest). Land

5587-567: The Plan Verde , which involved the genocide of impoverished and indigenous Peruvians, the control or censorship of the media in Peru , and the establishment of a neoliberal economy controlled by a military junta . Alberto Fujimori assumed the presidency in 1990 and, according to the head of the National Intelligence Service (SIN) Rospigliosi, an understanding was established between Fujimori, Vladimiro Montesinos , and some of

5738-713: The Puno Region of Peru, and the eastern side is located in the Bolivian La Paz Department . The lake consists of two nearly separate subbasins connected by the Strait of Tiquina , which is 800 m (2,620 ft) across at the narrowest point. The larger subbasin, Lago Grande (also called Lago Chucuito ), has a mean depth of 135 m (443 ft) and a maximum depth of 284 m (932 ft). The smaller subbasin, Wiñaymarka (also called Lago Pequeño , "little lake"), has an average depth of 9 m (30 ft) and

5889-581: The River Clyde in Scotland built SS  Coya . She was 52 m (170 ft) long and was launched on the lake in 1893. In 1905, Earle's Shipbuilding at Kingston upon Hull on the Humber built SS  Inca . By then, a railway served the lake, so the ship was delivered in kit form by rail. At 67 m (220 ft) long and 1,809 tons (1,994 U.S. tons), Inca was the lake's largest ship thus far. In

6040-540: The Sapa Inca , to be the " child of the sun ." Atahualpa (or Atahuallpa), the last Sapa Inca , became emperor when he defeated and executed his older half-brother Huáscar in a civil war sparked by the death of their father, Inca Huayna Capac. In December 1532, a party of conquistadors (supported by the Chankas , Huancas , Cañaris and Chachapoyas as Indian auxiliaries ) led by Francisco Pizarro defeated and captured

6191-473: The Southern Hemisphere , its northernmost extreme reaching to 1.8 minutes of latitude or about 3.3 kilometres (2.1 mi) south of the equator , covers 1,285,216 km (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 Andes mountains run parallel to

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6342-684: The Tiwanaku peoples (around 650–1000 AD) built a major temple on the Island of the Moon. Pottery vessels of local dignitaries dating from this period have been excavated on islands in Lake Titicaca. Two of them were found in the 19th century and are now in the British Museum in London. The structures seen on the island today were built by the Inca ( circa 1450–1532) directly over the earlier Tiwanaku ones. Suriki lies in

6493-521: The Uros (or Uru) people from layers of cut totora, a thick, buoyant sedge that grows abundantly in the shallows of Lake Titicaca. The Uros harvest the sedges that naturally grow on the lake's banks to make the islands by continuously adding sedges to the surface. According to legend, the Uru people originated in the Amazon and migrated to the area of Lake Titicaca in the pre-Columbian era , where they were oppressed by

6644-548: The War of the Pacific , which lasted until 1884. Bolivia invoked its alliance with Peru against Chile. The Peruvian Government 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

6795-545: The World Trade Organization ; and is considered as a middle power . Peru's population includes Mestizos , Amerindians , Europeans , Africans and Asians . The main spoken language is Spanish , although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechuan languages , Aymara , or other Indigenous languages . This mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art , cuisine , literature , and music . The name of

6946-523: The human rights violations committed in the last years of violence. His Programa Nacional de Población also resulted with the forced sterilization of at least 300,000 poor and indigenous women. In early 1995, once again Peru and Ecuador clashed in the Cenepa War , 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

7097-483: The internal conflict between the state and guerrilla groups, interspersed with periods of economic growth. Implementation of Plan Verde shifted Peru towards neoliberal economics under the authoritarian rule of Alberto Fujimori and Vladimiro Montesinos in the 1990s, with the former's political ideology of Fujimorism leaving a lasting imprint on the country's governance that continues to present day. The 2000s marked economic expansion and poverty reduction, but

7248-541: The introduced rainbow trout and the silverside Odontesthes bonariensis . In addition to the Titicaca orestias, native fish species in the lake's basin are other species of Orestias , and the catfish Trichomycterus dispar , T. rivulatus , and Astroblepus stuebeli (the last species not in the lake itself, but in associated ecosystems). The many Orestias species in Lake Titicaca differ significantly in both habitat preference and feeding behavior. About 90% of

7399-630: The war of independence in North America , and Native uprisings all contributed to a favorable climate to the development of emancipation ideas among the C riollo 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

7550-642: The 1529 Capitulación de Toledo , which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. In 1561, the rebel Lope de Aguirre 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 Viceroyalty of Peru , which became the Peruvian Republic from its independence until 1979 , 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 BCE in

7701-474: The 1860s Peru enjoyed a period of stability under the presidency of Ramón Castilla , through increased state revenues from guano 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 Juan Antonio Pezet , Mariano's government. Peru, with

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7852-493: The 1920s, Earle's supplied a new bottom for the ship, which also was delivered in kit form. Trade continued to grow, so in 1930, Earle's built SS  Ollanta . Her parts were landed at the Pacific Ocean port of Mollendo and brought by rail to the lake port of Puno. At 79 m (260 ft) long and 2,200 tons (425 U.S. tons), she was considerably larger than the Inca , so first a new slipway had to be built to build her. She

8003-606: The Amazon" and until 1982 several were in the running. But, in 1971, Loren McIntyre discovered the true source of the Amazon before anyone else. This has since been confirmed by satellite. Using an international team of twelve and bringing in expeditionary specialists from Germany, France, Argentina, Peru and the US, Jean-Michel Cousteau put together resources and logistics spanning a thousand miles of unknown jungle. The Upper Amazon expedition (The Flying Expedition) included an Eastern European multi-axled articulated Land Rover for use on land,

8154-560: The Amazon. The largest lake in Peru , Lake Titicaca between Peru and Bolivia high in the Andes, is also the largest of South America. The largest reservoirs , all in the coastal region of Peru, are the Poechos , Tinajones, San Lorenzo, and El Fraile reservoirs. Although Peru is located entirely in the tropics , the combination of tropical latitude, mountain ranges, topography variations, and two ocean currents ( Humboldt and El Niño ) gives Peru

8305-526: 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 basins . Those that drain toward

8456-543: The Bolivian part of lake Titicaca (in the southeastern part also known as lake Wiñaymarka). Suriki is thought to be the last place where the art of reed boat construction survives, at least as late as 1998. Craftsmen from Suriqui helped Thor Heyerdahl in the construction of several of his projects, such as the reed boats Ra II and Tigris , and a balloon gondola. The dual gauge car float Manco Capac links PeruRail 's 1,435 mm ( 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ) standard gauge line at Puno with

8607-605: The Chimu flourished from about 1140 to 1450. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo . In the highlands, both the Tiahuanaco culture, near Lake Titicaca in both Peru and Bolivia, and the Wari culture, near the present-day city of Ayacucho , developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between 500 and 1000 CE. In the 15th century, the Incas emerged as

8758-615: 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 Coricancha in the city of Cusco. The church employed the Inquisition , 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

8909-572: The Fujimorist Congress. Beginning with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski , Congress used broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the 1993 Constitution of Peru that allowed impeachment of the president without cause to place pressure on the president, forcing him to resign in 2018 amid various controversies surrounding his administration. Vice president Martín Vizcarra then assumed office in March 2018 with generally favorable approval ratings as he led

9060-404: 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 Andean 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

9211-442: The Inca Emperor Atahualpa in the Battle of Cajamarca . 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 Viceroyalty of Peru with its capital at Lima , which was then known as "La Ciudad de los Reyes" (The City of Kings). The conquest of Peru led to spin-off campaigns throughout

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9362-416: 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 syncretism found in many Latin American countries, in which religious native rituals have been integrated with Christian celebrations. In this endeavor,

9513-421: The Island of Khoa, have recovered thousands of artifacts. These artifacts consist of ceramic feline incense burners, carved juvenile llamas, and well-crafted metal, shell, and stone ornaments. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Lake Titicaca was a mythical place and the location of a pilgrimage complex for the Incas . Part of this complex included Khoa reef as a location where offerings were dropped into

9664-414: The Kingdom of Peru that encompassed most of its South American territories, with its capital in Lima . Higher education started in the Americas with the official establishment of the National University of San Marcos in Lima in 1551. Peru formally proclaimed independence from Spain in 1821, and following the military campaigns of Bernardo O'Higgins , José de San Martín , and Simón Bolívar , as well as

9815-479: The Lower Tinajani Formation, which are exposed within the Tinajani Basin, demonstrate the presence of a pre-Quaternary, ancestral Lake Titicaca within it between 18 and 14 million years ago (Mya). Little is known about the prehistory of Lake Titicaca between 14 Mya and 370,000 BP because the lake sediments dating to this period lie buried beneath the bottom of Lake Titicaca and have not yet been sampled by continuous coring. The Lake Titicaca drilling project recovered

9966-400: 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; Ministry of War and Navy , to Bernardo de Monteagudo; and Ministry of Finance, to Hipólito Unanue. From the 1840s to

10117-437: The Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity " by UNESCO. Knitting is exclusively performed by males, starting at age eight. The women exclusively make yarn and weave. Taquileans are also known for having created an innovative, community-controlled tourism model, offering home stays, transportation, and restaurants to tourists. Ever since tourism started coming to Taquile in the 1970s, the Taquileños have slowly lost control over

10268-403: The Pacific Ocean are steep and short, flowing only intermittently. Tributaries of the Amazon River 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 Ucayali , the Marañón , the Putumayo , the Yavarí , the Huallaga , the Urubamba , the Mantaro , and

10419-404: 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 Cupisnique culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BCE along what is now Peru's Pacific coast was an example of early pre- Inca culture . The Chavín culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BCE

10570-423: 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 Altiplano plateau as well as the highest peak of the country, the 6,768 m (22,205 ft) Huascarán . The third region

10721-406: 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,

10872-571: The Philippines. The commercial and population exchanges between Latin America and Asia undergone via the Manila Galleons transiting through Acapulco, had Callao at Peru as the furthest endpoint of the trade route in the Americas. In relation to this, Don Sebastian Hurtado de Corcuera , governor of Panama was also responsible for settling Zamboanga City in the Philippines by employing Peruvian soldiers and colonists. African slaves were added to

11023-570: The Spanish government over its colonies. After fighting for the independence of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, José de San Martín created the Army of the Andes and crossed the Andes in 21 days. Once in Chile, he joined forces with Chilean army General Bernardo O'Higgins and liberated the country in the battles of Chacabuco and Maipú in 1818. On 7 September 1820, a fleet of eight warships arrived in

11174-461: The Taquile people, who have inhabited the island since then. The current population is around 2,200. The island is 5.5 by 1.6 km (3.42 by 0.99 mi) in size (maximum measurements), with an area of 5.72 km (2.21 sq mi). The highest point of the island is 4,050 m (13,290 ft) above sea level, and the main village is at 3,950 m (12,960 ft). Pre-Inca ruins are found on

11325-515: 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

11476-417: 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

11627-512: The anti-corruption constitutional referendum movement. The COVID-19 pandemic 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 Vizcara's removal from the presidency by Congress . Widely seen as a coup by Congress, its head, the newly seated President Manuel Merino , faced protests across

11778-608: 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 United States 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

11929-502: The bombings of Tarata and Frecuencia Latina 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 terruqueo , a fearmongering tactic that was used to accuse opponents of terrorism, Fujimori established a cult of personality by portraying himself as a hero and made left-wing ideologies an eternal enemy in Peru. Those incidents subsequently came to symbolize

12080-496: The boundary between those two countries. In a military coup on 29 October 1948, General Manuel A. Odría 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 populist 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

12231-697: The church came to play an important role in the acculturation 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 Bourbon Reforms , a series of edicts that increased taxes and partitioned the Viceroyalty . The new laws provoked Túpac Amaru II's rebellion and other revolts, all of which were suppressed. As

12382-448: 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 Viceroy that Peru be granted independence, however, all negotiations proved unsuccessful. The Viceroy of Peru, Joaquín de la Pazuela named José de la Serna commander-in-chief of

12533-407: The contemporary writer Inca Garcilaso de la Vega , 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 Pedro Arias Dávila and went on to relate more instances of misunderstandings due to the lack of a common language. The Spanish crown gave the name legal status with

12684-448: The country in the 1570s with gold and silver mining as its main economic activity and Amerindian forced labor as its primary workforce. With the discovery of the great silver and gold lodes at Potosí (present-day Bolivia) and Huancavelica , the viceroyalty flourished as an important provider of mineral resources. Peruvian bullion provided revenue for the Spanish Crown and fueled a complex trade network that extended as far as Europe and

12835-495: The country may be derived from Birú , the name of a local ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel , Panama City, in the early 16th century. Spanish conquistadors , who arrived in 1522, believed this was the southernmost part of the New World . When Francisco Pizarro invaded the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Perú . An alternative history is provided by

12986-579: The country, and after five days, Merino resigned from the presidency. Merino was replaced by President Francisco Sagasti , who led a provisional, centrist government, and enforced many of Vizcarra's former policies. Elections were held on 11 April 2021, and Pedro Castillo of the Free Peru 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

13137-456: The country. After the country experienced chronic inflation , the Peruvian sol was replaced by the inti in mid-1985, which itself was replaced by the nuevo sol 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

13288-773: The coup d'état of the general Pinochet . General Edgardo Mercado Jarrin (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 Francisco Morales Bermúdez Cerruti seized power and broke with the policies of his predecessor. His regime occasionally participated in Operation Condor in collaboration with other American military dictatorships. President Alan García 's economic policies distanced Peru from international markets further, resulting in lower foreign investment in

13439-400: The decisive battle of Ayacucho , it completed its independence in 1824 . In the ensuing years, the country first suffered from political instability until a period of relative economic and political stability began due to the exploitation of guano that ended with the War of the Pacific (1879–1884). Throughout the 20th century, Peru grappled with political and social instability, including

13590-470: The deeper waters, which are always between 10 and 11 °C (50 and 52 °F). Lake Titicaca is home to more than 530 aquatic species. The lake holds large populations of water birds and was designated as a Ramsar Site on August 26, 1998. It has also been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA), in both Bolivia and Peru, by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of many bird species. Several threatened species such as

13741-500: The empire was Quechua , 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 Huacas , but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti , the sun god and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama . The Incas considered their King,

13892-415: The families on Amantani open their homes to tourists for overnight stays and provide cooked meals, arranged through tour guides. The families who do so are required to have a special room set aside for the tourists and must conform to a code specified by the tourist companies that help them. Guests typically take food staples (cooking oil, rice, etc., but no sugar products, as they have no dental facilities) as

14043-558: The fifteenth century, when the pace of conquest began to accelerate, particularly under the rule of the emperor Pachacuti . Under his rule and that of his son, Topa Inca Yupanqui , 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

14194-460: The first parliament was assembled. The newly founded Peruvian Congress named Bolívar dictator of Peru, giving him the power to organize the military. With the help of Antonio José de Sucre , they defeated the larger Spanish army in the Battle of Junín on 6 August 1824 and the decisive Battle of Ayacucho on 9 December of the same year, consolidating the independence of Peru and Upper Peru. Upper Peru

14345-529: The fish species in the basin are endemic , including 23 species of Orestias that only are found in the lake. Titicaca is home to 24 described species of freshwater snails (15 endemics, including several tiny Heleobia spp.) and less than half a dozen bivalves (all in family Sphaeriidae ), but in general these are very poorly known and their taxonomy is in need of a review. The lake also has an endemic species flock of amphipods consisting of 11 Hyalella (an additional Titicaca Hyalella species

14496-469: The fissure, the water was deep enough to float a small craft, and realized that they were presented with an opportunity. Utilizing pack llamas, kayaker Caril Ridley was brought to the site, and in June 1982, navigating by kayak, became the first person to run the origins of the Amazon. Later expeditions refined the understanding of the river's many origins and its subsequent course to the Atlantic Ocean. In 2001, it

14647-653: The following three decades. A final peace treaty in 1929, signed between Peru and Chile called the Treaty of Lima , returned Tacna to Peru. Between 1932 and 1933, Peru was engulfed in a year-long war with Colombia over a territorial dispute involving the Amazonas Department and its capital Leticia . In 1941 Peru and Ecuador fought the Ecuadorian–Peruvian War , after which the Rio Protocol sought to formalize

14798-499: The fray and since then became Peru's greatest hero. Almost five years of war ended with the loss of the department of Tarapacá and the provinces of Tacna and Arica , in the Atacama region. Francisco Bolognesi and Miguel Grau 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

14949-400: The headwaters of Apurímac River are the source of the Amazon River and pointed to Mismi as the most probable source of the Amazon. Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca ( / t ɪ t ɪ ˈ k ɑː k ə / ; Spanish : Lago Titicaca [ˈlaɣo titiˈkaka] ; Quechua : Titiqaqa Qucha ) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru . It

15100-520: The help of Bolivia , Chile and Ecuador , 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

15251-415: The highest part of the island, and agricultural terraces on hillsides. From the hillsides of Taquile, one has a view of the tops of Bolivian mountains. The inhabitants, known as Taquileños , are southern Quechua speakers. Taquile is especially known for its handicraft tradition, which is regarded as being of the highest quality. "Taquile and Its Textile Art" were honored by being proclaimed " Masterpieces of

15402-479: The highlands near Cuzco. In the early 19th century, while most South American nations were swept by wars of independence , Peru remained a royalist stronghold. As the elite vacillated between emancipation and loyalty to the Spanish monarchy, independence was achieved only after the occupation by military campaigns of José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar . The economic crises, the loss of power of Spain in Europe,

15553-534: The hillsides. No cars and no hotels are on the island. Since machines are not allowed on the island, all agriculture is done by hand. A few small stores sell basic goods, and a health clinic and six schools are found. Electricity was produced by a generator and provided limited power a few hours each day, but with the rising price of petroleum, they no longer use the generator. Most families use candles or flashlights powered by batteries or hand cranks. Small solar panels have recently been installed on some homes. Some of

15704-661: The huge Titicaca water frog and the flightless Titicaca grebe are largely or entirely restricted to the lake. In addition to the threatened Titicaca grebe, some of the birds associated with water at Titicaca are the white-tufted grebe , Puna ibis , Chilean flamingo , Andean gull , Andean lapwing , white-backed stilt , greater yellowlegs , snowy egret , black-crowned night-heron , Andean coot , common gallinule , plumbeous rail , various ducks , wren-like rushbird , many-colored rush-tyrant , and yellow-winged blackbird . The Titicaca orestias has likely become extinct (last seen in 1938) due to competition and predation by

15855-525: The iron-hulled sister ships SS Yavari and SS Yapura under contract to the James Watt Foundry of Birmingham . The ships were designed as combined cargo, passenger, and gunboats for the Peruvian Navy . After several years' delay in delivery from the Pacific coast to the lake, Yavari was launched in 1870 and Yapura in 1873. Yavari was 30 m (100 ft) long, but in 1914 her hull

16006-465: 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 Catholicism , with Spanish clerics believing like Puritan divines of English colonies later that the Native Peoples "had been corrupted by

16157-583: The lake is monomictic , and water passes through Lago Huiñaimarca and flows out the single outlet at the Río Desaguadero , which then flows south through Bolivia to Lake Poopó . This only accounts for about 10% of the lake's water balance . Evapotranspiration , caused by strong winds and intense sunlight at high altitude, balances the remaining 90% of the water loss. It is nearly a closed lake. Since 2000, Lake Titicaca has experienced constantly receding water levels. Between April and November 2009 alone,

16308-475: The lake. Lake Titicaca has a borderline subtropical highland / alpine climate with cool to cold temperatures for most of the year. The average annual precipitation is 610 mm (24 in) mostly falling in summer thunderstorms. Winters are dry with very cold nights and mornings and warm afternoons. Below are the average temperatures of the town of Juliaca , in the northern part of the lake. The "Floating Islands" are small, human-made islands constructed by

16459-482: The lake. Geographically, the terrain is harsh; it is a rocky, hilly island. No motor vehicles or paved roads are on the island. The main economic activity of the approximately 800 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy. Over 180 ruins remain on the island. Most of these date to the Inca period around the 15th century AD. Many hills on the island contain terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. Among

16610-414: The largest vessel afloat on Lake Titicaca was the 2,200-ton (2,425 U.S. tons), 79 m (259 ft) SS Ollanta . Today, the largest vessel is most likely the similarly sized train barge/float Manco Capac , operated by PeruRail . The cold sources and winds over the lake give it an average surface temperature of 10 to 14 °C (50 to 57 °F). In the winter (June – September), mixing occurs with

16761-473: The local population and were unable to secure land of their own. They built the sedge islands, which could be moved into deep water or to different parts of the lake, as necessary, for greater safety from their hostile neighbors on land. Golden in color, many of the islands measure about 15 by 15 m (50 by 50 ft), and the largest are roughly half the size of a football field. Each island contains several thatched houses, typically belonging to members of

16912-410: The loyalist army to protect Lima from the threatened invasion by San Martín. On 29 January, de la Serna organized a coup 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

17063-499: The mass day-tourism operated by non-Taquileans. They have thus developed alternative tourism models, including lodging for groups, cultural activities, and local guides who have completed a 2-year training program. The local Travel Agency, Munay Taquile, has been established to regain control over tourism. The people in Taquile run their society based on community collectivism and on the Inca moral code ama sua, ama llulla, ama qhilla, (do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy). The island

17214-526: 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

17365-420: The more outstanding Chimu and Moche . 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,

17516-451: 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 Peruvian Amazon , 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

17667-653: The mountain team made their way up the Selinque River to the flanks of the Mismi. At this mountain's base, Cousteau dispatched a team of German alpinists who climbed the 18,000 feet (5,486 m) volcano and returned in two days. During their descent, they found melt water dropping into a fissure. This cleft varied from two meters to half a meter wide, angling down the slope. This stream flowed nearly fifty meters before disappearing, emerging again lower downstream to flow between stones and continue its course. They discovered that within

17818-418: 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

17969-442: 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 Huáscar , the main ship of the Peruvian navy, commanded by Admiral AP Miguel Grau, who died in

18120-466: 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 Dina Boluarte . She became the country's first female president. Castillo was arrested after trying to flee to the Mexican embassy and

18271-410: The origin of a river system by tracking the longest tributaries while heading upstream, as volume can change dramatically from month to month. In a system as complex as the Amazon basin with dozen of streams as candidates in previously poorly mapped areas, no consensus could plausibly be substantiated for some time, and the origin was left to speculation. Half a dozen sites claimed title to "The Origin of

18422-612: The past existence of five major prehistoric lakes that occupied the Tinajani Basin during the Pliocene and Pleistocene . Within the northern Altiplano (Tinajani Basin), these prehistoric lakes were Lake Mataro at an elevation of 3,950 m (12,960 ft), Lake Cabana at an elevation of 3,900 m (12,800 ft), Lake Ballivián at an elevation of 3,860 m (12,660 ft), Lake (North) Minchin at an elevation of 3,825 m (12,549 ft), and Lake (North) Tauca at an elevation 3,815 m (12,516 ft). The age of Lake Mataro

18573-536: The port of Paracas under the command of General José de San Martín and Thomas Cochrane , who was serving in the Chilean Navy. Immediately on 26 October, they took control of the town of Pisco . San Martín settled in Huacho on 12 November, where he established his headquarters while Cochrane sailed north and blockaded the port of Callao in Lima. At the same time in the north, Guayaquil was occupied by rebel forces under

18724-453: The proper name of the lake is titiq’aq’a, which means gray, discolored, lead-colored puma. This phrase refers to the sacred carved rock found on the Isla del Sol . In addition to names including the term titi and/or caca, Lake Titicaca was also known as Chuquivitu in the 16th century. This name can be loosely translated as lance point. This name survives in modern usage in which the large lake

18875-600: The region, thakhsi cala on the Isla del Sol, as the name for the lake. In time and with usage, this name developed into Titicaca. Locally, the lake goes by several names. The southeast quarter of the lake is separate from the main body (connected only by the Strait of Tiquina ) and the Bolivians call it Lago Huiñaymarca (also Wiñay Marka, which in Aymara means the Eternal City) and the larger part Lago Chucuito. The large lake also

19026-409: The roughly circular 15 km (6 sq mi) island. Two mountain peaks, called Pachatata (Father Earth) and Pachamama (Mother Earth) and ancient ruins are on the top of both peaks. The hillsides that rise up from the lake are terraced and planted with wheat , potatoes , and vegetables. Most of the small fields are worked by hand. Long stone fences divide the fields, and cattle and sheep graze on

19177-454: The ruins on the island are the Sacred Rock, a labyrinth-like building called Chinkana , Kasa Pata, and Pilco Kaima. In the religion of the Incas, the sun god was believed to have been born here. During 1987–92, Johan Reinhard directed underwater archaeological investigations off of the Island of the Sun, recovering Inca and Tiahuanaco offerings. These artifacts are currently on display in

19328-492: The same time, however, civil rights were severely restricted and corruption was rampant throughout his regime. Odría was succeeded by Manuel Prado Ugarteche . However, widespread allegations of fraud prompted the Peruvian military to depose Prado and install a military junta, via a coup d'état led by Ricardo Pérez Godoy . Godoy ran a short transitional government and held new elections in 1963, which were won by Fernando Belaúnde Terry who assumed presidency until 1968. Belaúnde

19479-504: The site museum of the village of Challapampa. Isla de la Luna is situated east from the bigger Isla del Sol. Both islands belong to the La Paz Department of Bolivia. According to legends that refer to Inca mythology Isla de la Luna (Spanish for "island of the moon") is where Viracocha commanded the rising of the moon. Ruins of a supposed Inca nunnery (Mamakuna) occupy the eastern shore. Archaeological excavations indicate that

19630-495: The south by Chile , and in the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is a megadiverse country , with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west, to the peaks of the Andes mountains extending from the north to the southeast of the country, to the tropical Amazon basin rainforest in the east with the Amazon River . Peru has a population of over 32 million, and its capital and largest city

19781-423: The split of the viceroyalty and the creation of new viceroyalties of New Granada and Rio de la Plata at the expense of the territories that formed the Viceroyalty of Peru ; this reduced the power, prominence and importance of Lima as the viceroyal capital and shifted the lucrative Andean trade to Buenos Aires and Bogotá , while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated the progressive decay of

19932-596: The subsequent decade revealed long-existing sociopolitical vulnerabilities , exacerbated by a political crisis instigated by Congress and the COVID-19 pandemic , precipitating the period of unrest beginning in 2022 . The sovereign state of Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions . Its main economic activities include mining , manufacturing , agriculture and fishing, along with other growing sectors such as telecommunications and biotechnology . The country forms part of The Pacific Pumas ,

20083-427: The time the Spaniards arrived. The terms titi and caca can be translated in several ways. In Aymara , titi can be translated as either puma , lead , or a heavy metal. The word caca ( kaka ) can be translated as white or grey hairs of the head and the term k’ak’a can be translated as either crack or fissure, or alternatively, comb of a bird. According to Weston La Barre , the Aymara considered in 1948 that

20234-620: 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 Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba 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 Francisco de Toledo reorganized

20385-565: The war were followed by a period of stability under the Civilista Party , which lasted until the onset of the authoritarian regime of Augusto B. Leguía . The Great Depression caused the downfall of Leguía, renewed political turmoil, and the emergence of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). The rivalry between this organization and a coalition of the elite and the military defined Peruvian politics for

20536-499: The water level dropped by 81 cm (32 in), reaching the lowest level since 1949. This drop is caused by shortened rainy seasons and the melting of glaciers feeding the tributaries of the lake. Water pollution is also an increasing concern because cities in the Titicaca watershed grow, sometimes outpacing solid waste and sewage treatment infrastructure. According to the Global Nature Fund (GNF), Titicaca's biodiversity

20687-407: The western corner of the lake near Puno , Titicaca's major Peruvian port town. The islands have become one of Peru's tourist attractions, allowing the Uros to supplement their hunting and fishing by conveying visitors to the islands by motorboat and selling handicrafts. Amantani is another small island on Lake Titicaca populated by Quechua speakers. About 4,000 people live in 10 communities on

20838-411: The world are at higher elevations, such as the 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) crater lake of Ojos del Salado , which at an elevation of 6,480–6,500 metres (21,260–21,330 ft) is the overall highest lake in the world, and the 280 km (110 sq mi) Lake Puma Yumco , which at an elevation of 5,030 m (16,500 ft) is the highest large lake in the world. For many years,

20989-423: 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 2022–2023 Peruvian political protests , 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

21140-495: Was dogged by insurgent 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 Barrios Altos massacre and La Cantuta massacre by Government paramilitary groups, and

21291-663: Was forged during this period, as Bolivarian projects for a Latin American Confederation floundered and a union with Bolivia proved ephemeral. Simón Bolívar launched his campaign from the north, liberating the Viceroyalty of New Granada in the Battles of Carabobo in 1821 and Pichincha a year later. In July 1822, Bolívar and San Martín gathered in the Guayaquil Conference . Bolívar was left in charge of fully liberating Peru while San Martín retired from politics after

21442-543: 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

21593-519: 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

21744-538: Was launched in November 1931. In 1975, Yavari and Yapura were returned to the Peruvian Navy, which converted Yapura into a hospital ship and renamed her BAP Puno . The Navy discarded Yavari , but in 1987, charitable interests bought her and started restoring her. She is now moored at Puno Bay and provides static tourist accommodation while her restoration continues. Coya was beached in 1984, but restored as

21895-467: Was lengthened for extra cargo capacity and she was re-engined as a motor vessel . In November 1883, during the final phase of the War of the Pacific , the Chilean military command sent the Chilean torpedo boat  Colo Colo to the lake, via railroad, from Mollendo to Puno to control the area . It was the first warship to navigate the lake. In 1892, William Denny and Brothers at Dumbarton on

22046-564: Was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, with their religious center in Chavín de Huantar . 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 Paracas , Nazca , Wari , and

22197-479: Was recognized for his commitment to the democratic process. On 3 October 1968 another coup d'état led by a group of officers led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado brought the army to power with the aim of applying a doctrine of "social progress and integral development", nationalist and reformist, influenced by the CEPAL theses on dependence and underdevelopment. Six days after the golpe, Velasco proceeded to nationalize

22348-434: Was sworn in as the new president of Peru after a narrow win in a tightly contested run-off election. That same year, Peru celebrated the bicentenary of independence . Castillo faced multiple impeachment votes during his presidency from the right-wing controlled Congress and on 7 December 2022, just hours before Congress was set to begin a third impeachment effort , Castillo tried to prevent this by attempting to dissolve

22499-480: 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 Quechua language – spoken by nearly half the population but hitherto despised by

22650-529: Was verified that one of the headwaters of the Amazon River has its glacial source on the Mismi. An expedition of the National Geographic Society discovered that the Qarwasanta stream flowing into Apurímac River originates on the northern slopes of the mountain and then runs its course through other tributaries and rivers to help form the main Amazon River. Brazilian scientists in 2007 confirmed that

22801-580: 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 Valentín Paniagua took on the responsibility of conducting new presidential and congressional elections. Afterwards Alejandro Toledo became president in 2001 to 2006. On 28 July 2006, former president Alan García became President of Peru after winning

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