National Name: Republica del Peru

President Dr. Alan Garcia (2006)
Area 496,223 sq mi (1,285,220 sq km)
Population (2003 est) 28,409,897 (growth rate: 1.7%); birth rate: 22.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 37.0/1000; density per sq mi: 57
Capital Lima, 8,113,000 (metro. area)
Other Large Cities Arequipa, 837,300; Trujillo, 725,200; Chiclayo, 598,400
Monetary Unit Nuevo Sol
Languages Spanish and Quéchua (both official), Aymara, and other native languages
Ethnicity/Race Indian 45%, mestizo (mixed Indian and European ancestry) 37%, white 15%, black, Japanese, Chinese, and other 3%
Religions Roman Catholic (90%)
Literacy Rate 90.9%
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2001 est.): $132 billion; per capita $4,800. Real growth: –0.3%. Inflation: 1.5%. Unemployment: 9%; widespread underemployment. Arable land: 3%. Agriculture: coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, wheat, potatoes, corn, plantains, coca; poultry, beef, dairy products, wool; fish. Labor force: 7.5 million (2000 est.); agriculture, mining and quarrying, manufacturing, construction, transport, services. Industries: mining of metals, petroleum, fishing, textiles, clothing, food processing, cement, auto assembly, steel, shipbuilding, metal fabrication. Natural resources: copper, silver, gold, petroleum, timber, fish, iron ore, coal, phosphate, potash, hydropower, natural gas. Exports: $7.3 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.): fish and fish products, gold, copper, zinc, crude petroleum and byproducts, lead, coffee, sugar, cotton. Imports: $7.4 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.): machinery, transport equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum, iron and steel, chemicals, pharmaceuticals. Major trading partners: U.S., UK, Switzerland, China, Japan, Chile, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, Colombia.



Peru, in western South America, extends for nearly 1,500 mi (2,414 km) along the Pacific Ocean. Colombia and Ecuador are to the north, Brazil and Bolivia to the east, and Chile to the south. Five-sixths the size of Alaska, Peru is divided by the Andes Mountains into three sharply differentiated zones. To the west is the coastline, much of it arid, extending 50 to 100 mi (80 to 160 km) inland. The mountain area, with peaks over 20,000 ft (6,096 m), lofty plateaus, and deep valleys, lies centrally. Beyond the mountains to the east is the heavily forested slope leading to the Amazonian plains.




Peru was once part of the great Incan empire and later the major vice-royalty of Spanish South America. It was conquered in 1531–1533 by Francisco Pizarro. On July 28, 1821, Peru proclaimed its independence, but the Spanish were not finally defeated until 1824. For a hundred years thereafter, revolutions were frequent; a new war was fought with Spain in 1864–1866, and an unsuccessful war was fought with Chile from 1879 to 1883 (the War of the Pacific).

Peru emerged from 20 years of dictatorship in 1945 with the inauguration of President José Luis Bustamente y Rivero after the first free election in many decades. But he served for only three years and was succeeded in turn by Gen. Manual A. Odria, Manuel Prado y Ugarteche, and Fernando Belaúnde Terry. On Oct. 3, 1968, Belaúnde was overthrown by Gen. Juan Velasco Alvarado. In 1975, Velasco was replaced in a bloodless coup by his premier, Gen. Francisco Morales Bermudez, who promised to restore civilian government. In elections held on May 18, 1980, Belaúnde Terry, the last civilian president, was elected president again. Maoist guerrilla group Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, began their brutal campaign to overthrow the government. The military's subsequent crackdown led to further civilan human rights abuses and disappearances. A smaller rebel group, Tupac Amaru, also fought against the government.

Peru's fragile democracy survived. In 1985, Belaúnde Terry was the first elected president to turn over power to a constitutionally elected successor since 1945. Alberto Fujimori won the 1990 elections. Citing continuing terrorism, drug trafficking, and corruption, Fujimori dissolved Congress, suspended the constitution, and imposed censorship in April 1992. By September, most of Shining Path had been vanquished. A new constitution was approved in 1993.

Fujimori was reelected in 1995, and again in May 2000 to a third five-year term, after his opponent, Alejandro Toledo, withdrew from the contest, charging fraud. In Sept. 2000, Fujimori's intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, was videotaped bribing a congressman. Fujimori announced he would dismantle the powerful National Intelligence Service, which has been accused of human rights violations. Two months later, he stunned his nation by resigning during a trip to Japan. Revelations that Fujimori secretly held Japanese citizenship—and could not be extradited to face corruption charges—enraged the populace.

In Aug. 2003, a truth commission report revealed that 69,000 people were killed during the 1980–2000 wars between rebel groups and the government, about twice the original estimate. The deaths were carried out by the rebels (54%) as well as the military (30%); other militias were responsible for the remainder.