| Kingdom of Peru Reino del Perú | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
||||||
| Motto: "Land of four corners" |
||||||
| Anthem: ---- (----) ("----") Royal anthem: ---- (----) ("----") |
||||||
 |
||||||
 |
||||||
| Capital (and largest city) | Lima | |||||
| Official languages | Spanish Quechuan Aymara |
|||||
| Religion | -- | |||||
| Demonym | Peruvian | |||||
| Government | Federal constitutional parliamentary monarchy | |||||
| - | Sapa Inca | Huascar II | ||||
| - | Prime Minister | -- | ||||
| Legislature | National Assambley | |||||
| Federal Kingdom | ||||||
| - | ---- | ---- | ||||
| - | ---- | ---- | ||||
| - | ---- | ---- | ||||
| - | ---- | ---- | ||||
| - | ---- | ---- | ||||
| Area | ||||||
| - | Total | 1,344,314 km2 519,043 sq mi |
||||
| Population | ||||||
| - | estimate | 70,510,740 | ||||
| GDP (PPP) | estimate | |||||
| - | Total | USD 1 307 158 mill. | ||||
| GDP (nominal) | estimate | |||||
| - | Total | USD 30 407 mill. | ||||
| HDI |  0.879 – Very high |
|||||
| Calling code | .pe | |||||
Peru, officially the Kingdom of Peru, is a sovereign country in the Americas. It is located in the west of South America, constituted as a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Its capital and most populous city is Cusco.
Its territory of 1,344,314 km² is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west, while it borders Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, and Bolivia to the southeast. Its territory is made up of diverse landscapes: the valleys, plateaus, and high peaks of the Andes unfold to the west towards the desert coast and to the east towards the Amazon. It is one of the countries with the greatest biological diversity and greatest mineral resources in the world, which is why it is included among the seventeen megadiverse countries in the world.
Ancient Peru was a region of successive civilizations from the emergence of Caral-Supe in 3200 BC. C. The Inca Empire was the last indigenous or autochthonous state, which dominated a large part of western South America towards the 15th century. With the advent of the following century, the Inca Conquest took place, after which the territory was configured as a viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire. Although the New Laws of 1542 recognized the Indians as free subjects of the Spanish Crown, the implementation of the encomiendas meant that the economy of the viceroyalty was articulated around the exploitation of silver and gold with forced labor of indigenous people and African slaves in mines and estates. The Bourbon reforms of the 18th century gave rise to various uprisings against colonial authority, the greatest exponent of which was the rebellion of Túpac Amaru II.
With the occupation of Spain and the promulgation of the constitution of 1812, ideas of political autonomy spread throughout Spanish America. Independence was formally proclaimed in 1821. The country experienced constant stability and economic progress during the 19th century, increasing the nation's power in the region (mainly with silver mining and the production of vicuña and alpaca wool, guano and rubber among the most notable resources during this time). By the 20th century, economic growth began to slow due to various problems that the country was going through, including the well-known Great Depression, recovering in the middle of the century by entering World War II alongside Mexico and the Allies. In the early 1960s and the following years, the country experienced great economic and industrial growth, in what was known as the "Peruvian Miracle", gaining international importance in the following years.
Peru is a pioneering and advanced industrial and technological nation, largely self-sufficient in energy thanks to its relatively extensive fossil fuel deposits and extensive nuclear and hydroelectric power generation. Being one of the most developed countries, it has a diversified economy, which makes it independent due to its large deposits and abundant natural resources as well as trade, particularly with its neighboring countries.
Etymology[]
There are many versions about the etymological origin of the name Peru; here are the most well-known ones.
First version[]
The word "Peru" is derived from Virú. The first Spaniards to arrive in the country asked some natives what they called the place, to which they replied "Virú" (ancient pre-Inca culture, from the Virú River, north of Peru). The Spanish understood the name as "Peru" and from there comes the name. Thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the southernmost regions in 1525, these were designated Virú or Peru. The Spanish Crown gave the name legal status in 1529 with the Capitulation of Toledo, which designated the then recently confronted Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the name Viceroyalty of Peru which would become, in turn, the Incanate of Peru at the time of independence from Spanish rule.
Second version[]
According to historian Raúl Porras Barrenechea, the name "Peru" was not known to the Incas, but was imposed in the early years of the conquest by Spanish explorers. They took it from the name of a chief named "Biru", who lived near the Gulf of San Miguel in Panama, where he ruled a small region of the Panamanian coast south of the gulf at the beginning of the 16th century. Over time, the Spanish began to call Peru not only that small region, but the entire large country located further south. The treasures found in the land of the Incas ended up making the name of Peru synonymous with wealth.
Other versions[]
From the first explorations, Vasco Núñez de Balboa received the first news about a distant country where people drank and ate from gold vessels; these clues were too vague to conjecture the existence of the Inca Empire. Later Balboa, accompanied by Francisco Pizarro, after discovering the South Sea, reached the Gulf of San Miguel, where he received more convincing news about the existence of the sought-after country. The traveler Badajoz, deviating from Balboa's route, headed west and discovered new lands, where he snatched some jewels and gold objects from its aboriginal inhabitants.
Similarly, the licentiate Gaspar de Espinosa conquered the province of "Peruquete", a name that some historians consider gave rise to the name "Peru". According to the chronicler Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo, "after the execution of Balboa in Darien, there was no talk of anything else but the rich and distant province of Peru"; Oviedo also says that on the map of Andagoya, the Cartagena River bore the name "Pirú". Almost at the same time (1519), Pascual de Andagoya undertook a journey towards the Levant and, upon reaching the province called Chochama, he collected more concrete news about the Inca Empire: he reached another province called Virú or Birú where a river of the same name also ran.
History[]
Goverment and politics[]
Pachakuti III, Sapa Inca of Peru.
Peru is a federal constitutional parliamentary monarchy, which evolved from a unitary state into a federation after World War II. The bicameral parliament consists of a Senate and a Chamber of Representatives. The former is a mix of directly elected senior politicians and representatives of communities and regions, while the latter represents all Peruvians over the age of eighteen in a system of proportional representation. Peru is one of the few countries where voting is compulsory, and thus has one of the highest voter turnout rates in the world.
The federal government, formally appointed by the king, must have the confidence of the House of Representatives. It is headed by the prime minister. The king or queen is the head of state, although he or she has limited prerogatives. Real power is vested in the prime minister and the various governments of the country. The judicial system is based on civil law and comes from the Napoleonic Code. The Court of Appeals is one level below the Court of Cassation, an institution based on the French Court of Cassation.
Foreign Relations[]
Peru enjoys strong ties with Mexico, Bolivia, Colombia, despite their past border conflicts, Argentina, Chile, China and Mexico. It works closely with its colleagues at UNALAT on political, economic, military and security issues. It has close ties, especially trade ties, with its closest neighbours through the Andean Community, the Central American Common Market and Mercosur. In addition, Peru maintains excellent relations with several member countries of the European Union, especially Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands.
Other states with which Peru maintains strong ties of friendship include Japan, China, Korea and Russia in East Asia, Israel and Iran in the Middle East, and Egypt, Ethiopia and South Africa in Africa.
Peru has been a member state of the UN since October 31, 1945 and of UNALAT since April 4, 1945, being one of its founding members. He has served on its Security Council on five occasions: in the periods 1955-1956, 1973-1974, 1984-1985, 2006-2007, 2018-2019. The Peruvian lawyer and politician Javier Pérez de Cuéllar was Secretary General of the United Nations between 1982 and 1992.
Peru's global presence and influence are amplified through its commercial relations, its official development aid and its Armed Forces, which maintain nearly twenty military installations and other deployments around the world.
Armed Forces[]
Peruvian MiG-29 armed with R-27 BVR missiles and R-73 infrared.
The country's defense falls to the Royal Peruvian Armed Forces, whose mission is to maintain the country's territorial integrity, preserve independence and ensure that the Constitution and laws are respected and upheld. Its commander-in-chief is the Minister of Defense, and in case of war the Prime Minister assumes command. It is divided into three branches, each with a commander-in-chief, who are accountable to the Ministry of Defense. These are the Army, the Navy and the Air Force. It also has a medical corps integrated into the army but not dependent on it, totaling 68,950 personnel.
The Peruvian Armed Forces are part of the United Nations Blue Helmets.
