Jump to content

Portal:Peru

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Introduction

The Peru Portal
The Peru Portal
Republic of Peru
República del Perú (Spanish)
CapitalLima
12°2.6′S 77°1.7′W / 12.0433°S 77.0283°W / -12.0433; -77.0283
ISO 3166 codePE

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered to the north by Ecuador and Colombia, to the east by Brazil, to the southeast by Bolivia, to the south by Chile, and to 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 is Lima. At 1,285,216 km2 (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 Caral–Supe civilization, the earliest civilization in the Americas and considered one of the cradles of civilization. Notable succeeding cultures and civilizations include 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 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'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. Peru has recently gained international recognition for its vibrant gastronomy, blending Indigenous, Spanish, African, and Asian influences. Lima is now considered a global culinary capital, home to award-winning restaurants like Central and Maido. (Full article...)

Entries here consist of Good and Featured articles, which meet a core set of high editorial standards.

Site of the battle at the terraces of Ollantaytambo

The Battle of Ollantaytambo (Spanish: Batalla de Ollantaytambo, IPA: [baˈtaʎa ðe oʎantajˈtambo]) took place in January 1537, between the forces of Inca emperor Manco Inca and a Spanish expedition led by Hernando Pizarro during the Spanish conquest of Peru. A former ally of the Spaniards, Manco Inca rebelled in May 1536, and besieged a Spanish garrison in the city of Cusco. To end the stand-off, the besieged mounted a raid against the emperor's headquarters in the town of Ollantaytambo. The expedition, commanded by Hernando Pizarro, included 100 Spaniards and some 30,000 Indian auxiliaries against an Inca army of more than 20,000.

There is some controversy over the actual location of the battle; according to some, it took place in the town itself, while Jean-Pierre Protzen and John Hemming argue that the nearby plain of Mascabamba better matches the descriptions of the encounter. In any case, the Inca army managed to defend against the Spanish forces from a set of high terraces and flooded their position by channeling water from the Urubamba River, which greatly hindered the Spanish cavalry. Severely pressed and unable to advance, the Spaniards withdrew by night to Cusco. Despite this victory, the arrival of Spanish reinforcements to Cusco forced Manco Inca to abandon Ollantaytambo and seek refuge in the heavily forested region of Vilcabamba, where he established the small independent Neo-Inca State which survived until 1572. (Full article...)

Selected image

Huallaga River
Huallaga River
Photo credit: Bruno Girin

The Huallaga River is a tributary of the Marañón River, part of the Amazon Basin. Old names for this river include Guallaga and Río de los Motilones. The Huallaga is born on the slopes of the Andes in central Peru, and joins the Marañón before the latter reaches the Ucayali River to form the Amazon. (more...)

Selected battle

The Battle of Arica by Juan Lepiani depicts Bolognesi's final moments. Oil on canvas, Lima, Peru.

The Battle of Arica, also known as Assault and capture of Arica Cape, is a belic action of the War of the Pacific. It was fought on June 7, 1880, between forces of Chile and Peru.

After the Battle of Tacna, and the following Bolivian retirement of the war, Peru had to stand alone for the rest of the conflict. The need of a port near to the location of the army, in order to supply and reinforce the troops and the evacuation of the wounded, made the Chilean command to put its attention on the remaining Peruvian stronghold in the Tacna Department. Thus, a fraction of the Chilean army, led by Colonel Pedro Lagos, launched a simultaneous assault from both sides, taking the defenses on a bayonet charge, and captured the Morro de Arica (English: Arica Cape) from the defending Peruvian troops under the command of Colonel Francisco Bolognesi in a last attack up the hill. In this fight the Peruvian Commander died along with several officers and more than 1.000 men. (more...)

In this month

  • August  9, 1970 - Flight LANSA 502 crashes en route from Lima to Cusco killing all but one of the 100 crew and passengers on board.
  • August 15, 2007 - A major earthquake originating off the coast of Peru destroys the city of Pisco.

General images

The following are images from various Peru-related articles on Wikipedia.

Selected article - show another

Since 2016, Peru has been plagued with political instability and a growing crisis, initially between the President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Congress, led de facto by Keiko Fujimori. The crisis emerged in late 2016 and early 2017 as the polarization of Peruvian politics increased, as well as a growing schism between the executive and legislative branches of government. Fujimori and her Fujimorist supporters would use their control of Congress to obstruct the executive branch of successive governments, resulting with a period of political instability in Peru.

Afflicted by corruption, Congress launched an attempt to remove President Kuczynski from power in December 2017, which failed. Following the emergence of a vote buying scandal related to the pardon of Alberto Fujimori in March 2018, Kuczynski resigned under pressure of impeachment. Kuczynski's successor Martín Vizcarra similarly had tense relations with Congress. During Vizcarra's efforts to combat corruption, he dissolved Congress and decreed snap elections in January 2020, which led to Popular Force losing its majority in Congress. Following corruptions scandals and an impeachment attempt in September 2020, Vizcarra was successfully removed and replaced by Manuel Merino on 9 November 2020, which sparked unrest. After five days in office, Merino resigned. His successor, Francisco Sagasti, briefly stabilized the country while having tense relations with Congress. (Full article...)

Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

Categories

Selected quote - show another

Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa

Peruvian writer, politician, journalist, and essayist Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa in The War of the End of the World

Basic facts & figures

More did you know...

Peru Topics

Recognized content

New articles

This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Last updated: 2025-08-02 22:59 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.















Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

Discover Wikipedia using portals

Purge server cache