"Proud to be peruvian!" a Peru Travel Page by christian99

That the Paddington Bear was from 'deepest darkest Peru'. The mysterious lost Inca city of Machu Picchu was uncovered in 1911. Peru is one of the most bio-diverse countries in the world, containing 83 of a possible 103 types of ecological zone. The remains of the largest adobe city in the world are located at Chan Chan in northern Peru. The area around Nasca, famous for its geometric lines, is also home to the highest sand dune in the world (2,078m). The Colca Canyon in southern Peru is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon.

Ancient Peru was the seat of several prominent Andean civilizations, most notably that of the Incas whose empire was captured by the Spanish conquistadores in 1533. Peruvian independence was declared in 1821, and remaining Spanish forces defeated in 1824. After a dozen years of military rule, Peru returned to democratic leadership in 1980, but experienced economic problems and the growth of a violent insurgency. President Alberto FUJIMORI's election in 1990 ushered in a decade that saw a dramatic turnaround in the economy and significant progress in curtailing guerrilla activity. Nevertheless, the president's increasing reliance on authoritarian measures and an economic slump in the late 1990s generated mounting dissatisfaction with his regime. FUJIMORI won reelection to a third term in the spring of 2000, but international pressure and corruption scandals led to his ouster by Congress in November of that year. A caretaker government oversaw new elections in the spring of 2001, which ushered in Alejandro TOLEDO as the new head of government.

LOCATION:
Western South America, bordering the South Pacific Ocean, between Chile and Ecuador

CLIMATE:
varies from tropical in east to dry desert in west; temperate to frigid in Andes

TERRAIN:
western coastal plain (costa), high and rugged Andes in center (sierra), eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin (selva)

NATURAL HAZARDS:
earthquakes, flooding, landslides, mild volcanic activity

GEOGRAPHY-NOTE:
shares control of Lago Titicaca, world's highest navigable lake, with Bolivia; a remote slope of Nevado Mismi, a 5,316 m peak, is the ultimate source of the Amazon River

POPULATION:
27,544,305 (July 2004 est.)

AGE STRUCTURE:
0-14 years: 32.1% (male 4,496,146; female 4,340,580)
15-64 years: 62.8% (male 8,709,098; female 8,594,351)
65 years and over: 5.1% (male 660,734; female 743,396) (2004 est.)

ETHNICS GROUPS:
Amerindian 45%, mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 37%, white 15%, black, Japanese, Chinese, and other 3%

RELIGIONS:
Roman Catholic 90%

LANGUAGES:
Spanish (official), Quechua (official), Aymara, and a large number of minor Amazonian languages

LITERACY:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 90.9%
male: 95.2%
female: 86.8% (2003 est.)

NATIONAL HOLIDAY:
Independence Day, 28 July (1821)
Government type:
constitutional republic

CURRENCY:
nuevo sol (PEN)

EXCHANGE RATE:
nuevo sol per US dollar - 3.32(2004)

DISPUTES-INTERNATIONAL:
Bolivia has reanimated its claim to restore the Atacama corridor ceded to Chile and adjoining Peru in 1884 to secure sovereign maritime assess for Bolivian natural gas

ILLICIT DRUGS:
until 1996 the world's largest coca leaf producer; emerging opium producer; cultivation of coca in Peru fell 15 percent to 31,150 hectares between 2002 and the end of 2003; much of the cocaine base is shipped to neighboring Colombia for processing into cocaine, while finished cocaine is shipped out from Pacific ports to the international drug market; increasing amounts of base and finished cocaine, however, are being moved to Brazil and Bolivia for use in the Southern Cone or transshipped to Europe and Africa