HISTORY

The history of Peru covers, in a continuous way, more than 14 millenniums. In the territory which is now Peru many cultures were developed despite of not having any kind of writing (the quipus are still under study) leaving numerous examples of their art and technology in their graves, aqueducts, cities, terraces, temples, paintings, textiles, huacos, etc. which even today remain uncovered.

BEGINNING The first
Settlers arrived in Peru 20,000 years ago. They brought stone tools and knew only hunting and gathering fruit. But besides that we can see samples of rock art in Toquepala ( TACNA 7600 BC) and the types of housing in Chilca ( LIMA 5800 BC)

According to archaeological investigations, the remains of the oldest Peruvian (7.00 years), as described for broad, elongated head and a height of 1.60 m .

The process of domesticating plants resulted in the agriculture and construction of villages and ceremonial centers. By integrating the cultures, new techniques emerged as textiles, metalwork and pottery, giving rise to the high cultures.

PRE - INCA CULTURES
They settled along 1400 years in the coast and highlands of Peru . Some reached, with its power and influence, large areas of our territory, which led to the decline in the strengthening of small regional centers. All these cultures were characterized by their particular ritual pottery, for a surprising adaptation to the environment and excellent management of natural resources, vast knowledge of which was merged later the Inca culture.

The first Peruvian civilization settled in HUANTAR (Ancash) in the year 1200 - 200 BC. Its power is based on a theocratic order, had its center in the Chavin de Huantar temple, whose walls and galleries abound sculptures of gods with ferocious feline traits.

The Paracas culture (200 BC - 600 AD) was born on the South Coast of Peru. Achieved great development in the art of weaving.

In the North Coast was the Moche culture (200 BC - 600 AD) brought together the military authorities of the coastal valleys, known as the Lord of Sipan. The Huacos Portrait of the Moche culture iconography impress because of their design and management of design.

In the mountains of Peru , the Tiahuanaco culture (200 AD) Was located in the Collao region (which includes territories of Chile and Bolivia ) and bequeathed to Peruvians the cultivation terraces, platforms and management in different ecological agriculture.

The Nazca culture ( 300 BC – 900 AD) defeated the coastal desert with underground aqueducts and left in the field large geometric figures and animals, that apparently, constitute an agricultural calendar which even now astonishes researchers .

The Wari culture (600 AD) introduced the urban pattern in the Ayacucho area and expanded its influence in the Andes .

The refined Chimú culture (700 AD) was devoted to work the gold and other metals. In addition, they built with mud the city of Chan Chan , located in Trujillo .

The Chachapoyas culture (800 AD) used the most of the land and buildings held high in the mountains of North Forest . The greatness of the fortified city of Kuelap is the example of its superb adaptation to the environment.

the incas
The Inca culture (1.200 – 1.500 AD) was the most important civilization of South America. What impressed the chroniclers was its economical organization, the distribution of wealth, its architecture and art. Tahuantinsuyo or the Inca Empire, was able to extend the current, Colombia (the north), Chile (to the south), Bolivia and Ecuador.

The Incas worshiped the Sun (INTI) and the Earth (Pachamama). As sovereign of Tahuantinsuyo, the SON OF THE SUN was considered sacred.

The population had as a central, familiar and territorial core the Ayllu; and even when they had to leave because of work, they did not lose the links with it.

The Inca moved large numbers of people as a reward or punishment, and it was consolidating the expansion, while otter itself with the knowledge of cultures that had been developed previously.

The relative group of the Inca was the Panaca, which was composed of relatives and their descendants, except that it became an Inca and forms a new Panaca. Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth century pointed out that they were thirteen sovereigns from the legendary Manco Capac to the controversial Atahualpa, who lost his life during the Spanish Conquest.

THE BIRTH OF THE PERUVIAN STATE
Peru was declared independent by Don José de San Martín in 1821; in 1824 Simon Bolivar ended with the wars of independence. However, despite efforts to organize the young Republic of Peru in the nineteenth century the country had to face the cost of fighting the tough economic crisis and a military caudillismo giving very few opportunities for civil governments to govern .

By 1860, thanks to the income from guano, cotton and sugar, they could stop the contribution of indigenous and enslavement of blacks. Chinese and Europeans come to expand the workforce and integrate into our society. The country joins itself with railways and it is organized with Manuel Pardo as a president: the first civilian government of Peru . The first Japanese will arrive at the end of the century.

But in 1879 the country is involved in the war with Chile . Peru was defeated and left bankrupt. After a new peak of military caudillismo civilians returned, leading to the period called the "aristocratic Republic": the economy is dominated by the landowning elite and implements an export model in which the success of the exploitation of rubber renewed the Dorado myth.


PerU TODAY
The first years of the twentieth century were marked by a long civil dictatorship led by Augusto B. Leguía. The project to modernize the country and create a "New Homeland" indebted the state, which could not cope with the CRACK of 1929

It was also a season of abundant intellectual creativity, symbolized by the founder of APRA, Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre and Jose Carlos Mariategui, creator of the socialist thought and heart of the Peruvian intellectual and artistic work of the country during his short life.

After the fall of Leguía, resurgent militarism that seemed to have ended with the governments of Prado in 1939 and Bustamante y Rivero in 1945, but in 1948 there is a new military government with Manuel A. Odría to the head. For eight years, major public works were mixed with a harsh political repression.

Peru , in its efforts to establish a harmonious relationship with neighboring countries, has surpassed any border conflict. Navigation conditions on the Amazon River led to agreements with Brazil , until in 1909 was completed to determine the borders between the two countries. After a lengthy discussion, the border treaty with Colombia was approved by Congress in 1927 and was given out to the Colombian Amazon. In 1929, after the territorial disputes with Chile , fruit of the military confrontation, the provision for renewing the relationship led to sign the treaty in which Tacna return to Peru .

Bolivia territorial demarcation was defined by mutual agreement in 1932. Finally, after several armed conflicts and diplomatic controversies with Ecuador , Peru , in 1999, managed to prevail, "Protocol of Peace, Friendship and Limits" signed in 1942, closing the latest chapter in a dispute over the territory of the Cordillera del Cóndor and strengthening the friendship with Ecuador .

In 1968 the Armed Forces, a military coup, deposed the then President of the Republic Fernando Belaunde. The first years of military dictatorship differentiate their inspiration for its contemporary American society. Led by Gen. Juan Velasco, raised a state policy of expansion that should solve the major problems that impoverished the country. To that end, he nationalized oil, the media and an agrarian reform. Francisco Morales Bermúdez, the successor who, pressured by the people, convoked a Constituent Assembly.

In 1980, Belaunde was re-elected, but the crisis experienced by the poorest in the country led to the birth of two subversive movements for ten years that shook the Peru with their violence. After the government of Alan García (1985-1990) President Alberto Fujimori, elected in 1990, closed the congress in 1992 and decreed an emergency government. After his second election in 2000, the citizen complaint demanded new elections, which established the democratic transition government of President Valentín Paniagua. In July 2001, Dr. Alejandro Toledo Manrique took office as President of the Republic.

The current constitutional president of Peru is Dr. Alan García Pérez (2006-2011).