South America: geography, cities, features of the population of Peru

Peru is a land of legends and mysteries. It is a country with amazing traditions, original culture, unique history. What are the features of this country? What are the characteristics of the population of Peru? What is the capital of this country called? These issues are covered in the text of the article.

Geographical features of Peru

Peru occupies a vast territory in the western part of the continent of South America. The state is considered one of the largest on the mainland - after Brazil and Argentina. It borders with Ecuador and Colombia in the north, with Brazil in the east, in the south - with Chile and Bolivia. The country of Peru has a long coastline along the Pacific Ocean, the narrow strip of which is a desert plain - a bone. To the east - the majestic Andes. Here stands one of the highest mountain peaks - Huaskaran. Still east of the interior of the continent is the Amazonian lowland. The climate in the country is varied: on the shore about 20 degrees, in the mountains as well, but dry and windy, intense heat and high humidity in the jungle of the Amazon plain.

History of Peru: the legendary Incas

Peru is one of the most visited countries in South America. Most of all tourists are attracted by the ancient monuments of the Inca Empire, located in the Peruvian Andes. This is a great civilization that existed in the 12-16th centuries. The population of Peru keeps the legends associated with this tribe. As if the ancestor of the tribe was Manko Kapaka, who came from Lake Titicaca. It is an Indian family, the largest in world history. The cult of the Incas was extended to the territory of a number of present Latin American countries - from Ecuador to Argentina. Achievements of supercivilization of the Incas still amaze scientists. For example, their manner of writing - ropes and knots, their administrative division, laws, economics, roads, water pipes and much more. The Inca Empire is largely considered exemplary: due to the strictness of the laws, the tribe lacked corruption, there were no robberies and relatively few crimes. The people of the Incas are unique because the history does not know examples of creating a civilization of this scale in the highlands.

Inhabitants of Peru

The population of Peru is very diverse. About half are the Quechua Indians (by the way, their language is official) and the Aymara. The Quechua people, according to historians, is a descendant of the Incas. A significant part of the population are Mestizos and Creoles - about 30%. A few percent are Spaniards, African Americans, Japanese, Chinese. For many centuries the country is densely populated. For example, during the heyday of the Inca civilization, the number of inhabitants of the state was 4% of the total percent of the world's population. Now the population of Peru is about 31.2 million people.

When considering the religious composition of the inhabitants of the country, it should be noted that more than 80% of the population, including Indians, profess Catholicism. Evangelicals make up about 13%. The rest of the inhabitants are atheists and undecided.

Features of the population

The European discoverers of Peru were the Spaniards. They broke the Inca Empire, created here an immigration center - the current capital of the country - Lima. The onslaught of the Europeans was not too cruel: today many Indian tribes, with their special rituals and traditions, are intact.

The distribution of the inhabitants of the country is not uniform. The population of Peru is concentrated mainly in the natural zone called the Costa. This is the land of the Pacific coast. Less populated is the Sierra, that is, the mountain valleys. Weakly populated with the jungle - the so-called Amazonian jungle.

It is interesting that in this country the largest diaspora in South America has been created. The Japanese even headed the country in the last decade of the 20th century - it's Alberto Fujimori, the first Japanese to head not Japan.

Culture of Peru

The population of Peru is friendly, unselfish and simple. Their culture is unique. Mariner is a romantic and passionate dance of Peruvians, performed under the guitars. The dance with complex steps and white kerchiefs in the hands is calm and gentle, unlike other Latin American dances. Another Peruvian dance - the dance of scissors - is one of the cultural legacies of the organization of UNESCO. Danzaki, male dance performers, perform movements similar to a ritual, to the sounds of harp and violin. Scissors in the hands of men are closed in the most intense moments of dance in a sign of confrontation to evil spirits. Men do not just move beautifully, they demonstrate their acrobatic abilities and virtuoso possession of the subject.
Exceptional costumes of the people of Peru, festivals, traditional ancient holidays.

Capital and large cities

The country of Peru is administratively divided into regions, of which 25. The capital of the state is Lima. It is inhabited by 1/4 of the total population of the country. It is founded by the Spaniards on the Pacific coast city. Here is the historical center of Peru, listed in the UNESCO list. Other major cities in Peru are Arequipa and Trujillo, also founded by the Spaniards on the coast. The population in them is approaching a million.

Tourism in Peru

Tourists from all over the globe Peru attracts with its numerous archaeological monuments, trekking through the jungles of the Amazon, the architecture of the colonial period and many others. One of the most visited tourist centers of the country is the Inca city - Machu Picchu. It is called the City in the sky, as it is built at an altitude of more than 2400 m. The architecture of the city is striking with the unique town-building abilities of the Incas, because each stone is picked up here with surprising accuracy.

Another of the most frequently visited places in Peru is the city of Cusco. He was considered the capital of the Inca Empire. Here a large number of archaeological monuments, full of legends and mysteries of ancient civilization.