WHAT IS PERU LIKE

With an area of 1285,216 km2 and a population of 26 million (1997), Peru is the third largest and the fourth most populated country in south America after Argentina, Brazil and Colombia. It is roughly divided into three regions: the Coast, a desert plain running the length of the sea shore; the Sierra or Highlands formed by the Andean mountain range; and the Jungle, an entanglement of tropical forests. This is a very simplified division, but provides a general picture of Peru’s territory, even though it has an exceptional variety of weather conditions and altitudes, and supports 83 of the 103 living ecosystems existing in the world.

The jungle occupies more than half of the territory (60%), the Sierra or Highlands almost 30% and the Coast 10%. The latter is, however, the most populated area containing more than 52% of the population, while 35% lives in the Andean area, and the Jungle is inhabited by the remaining 13%. The situation was quite different in 1940, when of each 100 Peruvians, 65 lived in the Sierra or Highlands, 28 on the Coast and 6 in the Jungle. Meanwhile, in 1963 half of the population lived in rural areas, which today are occupied by lees than 30%. The importance of the Coast continues the historic trend which started with the Conquest.

Before the arrival of the Spaniards, the main center of civilization was in the Andes, but with the country’s incorporation into the Western World, the importance of the Highlands, although maintained during the Colonial and part of the Republican era, gradually began to decline.

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