Peru History, Language and Culture
History of Peru
Human settlement in Peru began at least 13,000 years ago, and the archaeological record of the coastal and Andean regions traces a continuous development of increasingly complex societies over thousands of years. Caral-Supe, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the central coast, is among the oldest urban civilisations in the Americas, with monumental platform mounds and planned residential areas dating to around 3000 BCE. Subsequent cultures, including the Chavín, Paracas, Nazca, Moche, Tiwanaku, Wari and Chimú, each developed distinctive artistic, architectural and agricultural achievements on the coast and in the Andes before the rise of the culture that would come to dominate them all.
The Inca Empire, the Tawantinsuyu, emerged from the Cusco Valley in the early fifteenth century and within approximately a hundred years had expanded to become the largest empire in the pre-Columbian Americas, stretching from present-day Colombia to northern Chile and Argentina. At its height it encompassed twelve million people speaking dozens of languages, linked by the Qhapaq Ñan road system and governed through a system of regional administration, mit'a labour taxation and redistribution of resources that has been debated and studied ever since. The Inca built in stone at a standard that still challenges engineers, organised agriculture on a scale that fed populations in environments where it seemed impossible, and maintained a communication system through khipu, knotted cords encoding numerical and possibly narrative information, that is still only partially decoded.
Spanish forces under Francisco Pizarro arrived on the Pacific coast in 1532 during a period of Inca civil war between rival claimants to the throne. The capture and eventual execution of the Inca ruler Atahualpa at Cajamarca, and the subsequent fall of Cusco, dismantled the empire with a speed that shocked contemporaries on both sides of the encounter. Lima was founded in 1535 as the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, which governed all of Spanish South America and became the wealthiest colonial city in the hemisphere, drawing its riches from the silver mines of Potosí in present-day Bolivia and the gold and mercury of the Andes.
Peruvian independence was declared on 28 July 1821 by the Argentine general José de San Martín, following years of military campaigns that had begun in Argentina and Chile. The decisive engagement of the wars of South American independence, the Battle of Ayacucho in December 1824, ended Spanish colonial rule across the continent. The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were marked by the War of the Pacific against Chile from 1879 to 1884, in which Peru lost significant southern territory, including Arica and Tarapacá, and by periods of political instability alternating with foreign investment-led economic growth.
The twentieth century brought military governments, periods of democratic rule, economic crisis and the violent internal conflict of the Shining Path insurgency, which began in 1980 and lasted over two decades, resulting in an estimated 70,000 deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people, predominantly in Andean and Amazonian regions. The Fujimori presidency of the 1990s ended the conflict and stabilised the economy through radical market reforms, but at the cost of documented human rights abuses and eventual corruption convictions. Democratic governance has continued since 2001, though political volatility remains high, with multiple presidential successions through impeachment, resignation and constitutional succession in recent years.
Did You Know?
• Peru is home to the potato. All 3,000-plus varieties found in the Andes descend from wild ancestors domesticated in the Lake Titicaca basin at least 8,000 years ago. The potato subsequently transformed agriculture across Europe and the world.
• The Inca city of Machu Picchu was built and abandoned within approximately a century and a half and was never found by the Spanish. American Hiram Bingham arrived there in 1911 guided by local farmer Melchor Arteaga.
• Peruvian waters, fed by the cold Humboldt Current, are among the most productive fishing grounds on earth and support one of the world's largest fishmeal industries.
Peru Culture
Roman Catholicism remains the dominant religion in Peru, though Indigenous beliefs and traditions continue to influence religious practices in parts of the Andes and Amazon. Smaller communities of Muslims, Jews, Buddhists and people with no religious affiliation are also present, particularly in larger cities.
Language in Peru
Spanish is the official language of Peru and is spoken by the vast majority of the population. It is the language of government, business, media and education throughout the country, and is effectively all that visitors need for practical travel in the main cities and tourist destinations. Peruvian Spanish is generally clear and not heavily accented, and is broadly similar to the standard Latin American variety, making it accessible to those with some prior knowledge of the language.
Quechua, the language of the Inca Empire, is the second most widely spoken language in Peru and holds official language status alongside Spanish. It is spoken by approximately three to four million people, primarily in the southern and central highlands including, Cusco, Puno, Huancayo and adjacent regions. In many highland communities, Quechua is the primary home language and Spanish is spoken as a second language, sometimes imperfectly, particularly among older residents. The Peruvian government has pursued policies of bilingual education in Quechua and Spanish regions since the 1970s with variable consistency.
Aymara is spoken by communities around Lake Titicaca in Puno and in parts of Bolivia. The Amazon basin contains dozens of additional indigenous languages, several of them spoken only by small communities in remote jungle areas. For visitors in the Andes, knowing a few words of Quechua, huñuy kamasqayki for "pleased to meet you", allinllachu for "how are you", and sulpayki for "thank you", is received warmly and opens interactions that formal Spanish exchange rarely achieves.
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