Peru

Peru lies on the Pacific coast of South America just south of the Equator. To the Quechua Indians Peru means "land of abundance." Sites such as Machu Picchu and Cusco recall the wealth of the Inca civilization, destroyed in the early 16th century by Spaniards, who built an empire on Peru 's gold and silver. The Inca capital was Cusco, but the Spanish founded Lima in 1535 along the coast and made it their capital. The Spanish preferred the lowland coast because of the climate and for trade links to Spain. Lima is an oasis containing more than a quarter of Peru's population—most of European descent or mestizo. The Andean highlands occupy about a third of the country and contain mostly Quechua-speaking Indians. Quechua was the language of the Inca Empire. For almost three hundred years Peru functioned as a Spanish colony, but in the early 19th century native discontent and colonist revolts brought calls of independence, localized uprisings, and then, civil war in 1821, with the Spanish finally defeated in 1824. Over the next century, or so, Peru suffered through many wars, some with neighbors; brutal dictatorial rule, military coups and the subsequent political upheaval that comes with the territory. Only in 1980, Peru finally returned to democratic leadership. Today Peru ranks among the world's top producers of silver, copper, lead, and zinc. Its petroleum industry is one of the world's oldest, and its fisheries are among the world's richest.