The perfect mix: Diversity in landscape and population in a country with a rich history

Peru is a major metals and minerals exporter that saw steady growth for most of the 2000s and rapid expansion in 2007 and 2008 on the back of high demand for key exports such as copper. The country avoided negative growth in 2009 despite the worldwide economic slump and reduced commodity prices, and the economy returned to boom conditions in 2010, when growth was estimated to have exceeded 8%.

While the 1980s and 1990s were characterised by varying degrees of political violence, stability and democratic rule have been consolidated since 2000. Economic reforms begun in the 1990s and continued throughout the 2000s have liberalised the economy and the country welcomes foreign investment.

Peruvians are proud of their country’s Amerindian heritage and the Incan and other Andean civilisations for which Peru is known throughout the world. They are similarly proud of the diversity of the population and the country’s varied geography, which includes part of the Andes mountain range, in addition to lush rainforest and a long coastline.

GEOGRAPHY: With a surface area of 1,285,216 sq km and 2414 km of coastline, Peru is the third-largest country in South America. The country can be broadly divided into three geographic regions: the narrow coastal strip of plains and deserts in the west (where the capital Lima lies), known as the Costa; the mountainous highlands in the centre, called the Sierra; and the rainforest-dominated east, known as the Selva.

GOVERNMENT: Peru is a constitutional presidential republic and the current constitution dates from 1993. The president, who is elected by popular vote every five years, is responsible for appointing a 17-member Council of Ministers, which is headed by the prime minister. Presidents are barred from serving more than one consecutive term, but can serve multiple non-consecutive terms. Current President Alan Garcia Perez previously served from 1985-1990.

The legislative branch consists of a single-chamber, 120-member parliament known as the Congress of the Republic of Peru, whose members are elected by proportional representation through a party list system every five years and in tandem with the presidential elections. In addition to passing laws, the Congress must approve the ministers appointed by the President. The next presidential and parliamentary elections are due to take place in April 2011.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Peru is administratively divided into 25 regions or departments. Regions are themselves made up of provinces that are in turn divided into districts. Each level of local government is appointed through popular elections.

POPULATION: The country’s population stood at approximately 28.2m at the time of the last national census in 2007 and was estimated by the US Bureau of the Census to be 29.9m in July 2010. It grew at an annual rate of 1.6% between 1993 and 2007, but population growth was estimated in July 2010 to have slowed to around 1.1%. According to the 2007 census, 30.5% of the population is aged 14 or under, while 63.1% is between the ages of 15 and 64.

Some 75.9% of the population lived in urban areas in 2007, up from 70.1% in 1993. Just over half of Peruvians live in the narrow Costa region, compared to around 31% in the central Sierra region and 13% in the eastern Selva jungle region, according to 2007 census data. Lima is by far the biggest city, with a population of 8.47m at the time of the 2007 census. The second-largest is the south-western city of Arequipa, with a population of 749,000, followed by the northwestern city Trujillo, with 683,000 inhabitants.

RELIGION: The majority of Peruvians are Christian. The constitution does not specify an official religion but “recognises the Catholic Church as an important element in the historical, cultural and moral formation of Peru.” According to the 2007 census, the great majority of Peruvians – around 81% – are Catholic, while another 12.5% are evangelical Protestants.

There are small communities belonging to other faiths and denominations, including other Protestant denominations, Judaism, Islam, and syncretic and Amerindian religions. The consititution provides for freedom of religious opinion and practice, which the government respects. The country has several important religious events, such as the festival of Corpus Christi, which is celebrated 60 days after Easter Sunday and involves statue-bearing processions. It is particularly popular in the south-eastern city of Cuzco. Major cities such as Lima and Arequipa contain numerous well-maintained colonial-era Spanish churches.

LANGUAGE: The official languages are Spanish, which is spoken by around 84% of the population, and the Amerindian language Quecha, spoken by around 13%. Quecha and a number of other native American languages, such as Aymara and Ashaninka, are primarily spoken in the Andean highlands. English is widely spoken among the business community.

CULTURE AND HERITAGE: Peruvian culture displays strong Native American – specifically Incan – influences. Around 45% of Peruvians are indigenous Amerindians and 37% are of mixed Amerindian and European heritage. The culture is also marked by the fusion of indigenous Peruvian traditions with European – predominantly Spanish – and African influences.

Peru boasts a wide range of arts and crafts, with a thriving handicraft export industry. Traditional products include wooden carvings, pottery, sculpture and jewellery, much of which is influenced by the country’s Incan heritage, featuring complex Amerindian geometric designs and patterns. Most Peruvians, especially younger people, wear Western-style clothing, and businesspeople are expected to wear Western-style business suits. However, in rural areas many indigenous people such as Quecha Peruvians wear traditional outfits or a mixture of indigenous and Western clothing. Traditional items include the hand-woven poncho worn by men, knitted caps with ear flaps, known as chullo, and colourful pollera – multi-layered woolen skirts or petticoats.

There are numerous traditional Peruvian dances. The best-known is the courtship dance, the marinera, which is performed throughout the country and has numerous regional variations. Other notable dances include the alcatraz and the festejo, which originated in African slave communities and can take the form of competitions, and the huayno of the Andean highlands, which originates from Peru’s Inca civilisation. Dancing is often accompanied by traditional Peruvian music. This includes both Andean music played on a variety of local instruments – such as panpipes and the charango, which is similar to a small guitar – and Afro-Peruvian music, which has its roots in African slave communities brought over in the colonial era.

Football is very popular in Peru, as is bullfighting, with fights predominantly taking place on Sundays and public holidays. The most famous bullring is the 14, 000-capacity Plaza de Acho in the Rimac district of Lima, which is reputedly the oldest in the Latin America and the second-oldest in the world, dating from 1766.

CLIMATE: In keeping with its diverse geography, the climate varies widely across Peru. The coastal plains and deserts in the west are relatively warm and arid, while the central mountainous highlands are much colder and the densely rain-forested east is hot, humid and subject to heavy rain. Temperatures are generally pleasantly mild in Lima, though humidity levels can be high. The coldest month in Lima is August, when the temperature varies between 13° and 19° Celsius. The capital is at its hottest during the summer months of January to March, when the temperature peaks at 28° and seldom falls below 19°.

The winter months of July to September see the most rainfall in Lima, an average of 8mm per day, while precipitation levels drop to close to zero between December and April. The city is often enveloped by mist that comes in from the sea, known as garúa, between April and November. Temperatures are slightly lower but still mild in Arequipa, though its rainy season takes place between January and March.

NATURAL RESOURCES: Peru is a minerals and metals producer of global importance. In 2008 mining and minerals represented around 7% of GDP, and almost 60% of exports, with total minerals exports worth around $18.7bn. Around $20bn worth of investment is currently in the pipeline for the sector. In 2008 the country was the world’s largest producer of silver, the third-largest global producer of copper, bismuth, tin and zinc, the fourth-largest producer of lead and molybdenum and the fifth-largest global producer of gold. By value, its largest mineral export in 2008 was copper, with exports standing at around $7.7bn, followed by gold, with exports of around $5.6bn.

Peru is a net oil importer, with proven oil reserves of around 470m barrels and production of around 148,000 barrels per day (bpd) in 2009, versus consumption of 157,000 bpd. Natural gas reserves stood at 334bn cu metres in 2009, ranking Peru 39th in the world, with annual production of around 3.4bn cu metres. Its largest gas fields include the Aguaytia field in Ucayali, in the eastern rainforest region, and the Camisea field in the south-eastern region of Cuzco.