PERU Past, Present and Future

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PERUPast, Present and Future

• By Rachel Bird
• World Geography Grade 9

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Overview

• Physical Geography
• History
• Culture

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Physical Geography

• Located in South America
• 1.28 million sq km
• slightly smaller than Alaska
• The capital and largest city (8 million) is Lima.
  
• Can you find Lima, Peru on a map?

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Physical Geography

• Has three primary landscapes
• Western coastal plain (costa)
• High Andes in center (sierra)
• Eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin (selva)

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Physical Geography

• Perus costal climate is very dry Lima receiving
  very little rain each year. This a caused by the
  rainshadow effect of the Andes Mountains.
• Perus high Andes are very cold and dry on the
  Western side, while the East side is highland
  cloud-forest.
• Perus Eastern lowland is hot dense jungle which
  receives high levels of annual precipitation.

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History

• Peru is a country with a rich history and
  colorful culture. Both the Moche and Incan
  cultures thrived in ancient Peru. The Incan
  empire existed until the arrival of Francis
  Pizarro and his Spanish Conquistadors in 1532.
  After the conquest the country existed as a
  Spanish Colony until 1821. From its independence
  until today Peru has had a volatile history full
  of coups d etats and military dictators. Peru
  is considered a Democracy, whose current
  President is Alejandro Toledo.

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Incan Empire

• The most widely know Ancient Peruvian culture is
  that of the Incas. The Incan Empire was a
  powerful kingdom that extended from present day
  Equador to Chile. The empires capital is
  present day Cusco.
• From Cusco persons can take day trip to many
  ancient ruins of the Incan Empire. One of the
  most intriguing of all these ancient ruins is
  Macchu Pichu.

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Machu Picchu
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Culture

• 90 of the country practices Roman Catholicism
• In the mountains you can see Catholicism mixed
  with local customs and traditions. Cuscos main
  Cathedral has reliefs of Catholic Saints as well
  as Incan gods. Traditional Catholic ceremonies
  are often mixed with Andean mythology, music and
  costumes.

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Culture

• Ethnic Make-up
• -54 Native American
• -32 Mestizo (mixed European and Indian descent)
  
• -12 Spanish descent
• -2 Black, Asian minority
• Literacy
• definition age 15 and over can read and write
  total population 90.9 male 95.2 female
  86.8 (2003 est.)

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Culture

• Common foods of Peru include
• potatoes
• rice
• guinea pig
• chicken
• Fish
• (The potato is indigenous to Peru. In Peru
  you can find up to 200 different types of
  potatoes)

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Culture

• Languages
• Spanish
• Quechua
• Aymara

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Think about it

• What challenges will these girls face as they
  grow up in Peru?
• What will life be like for them?

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