Before the Spanish arrived, Peru was home to various Pre Inca cultures and later, to the Inca Empire.
Francisco Pizarro arrived to Peruvian coasts in 1532 and by the end of the 1530s, Peru became a Viceroyalty and a major source of gold and silver for the Spanish Empire.
Peru declared independence from Spain on July 28, 1821.
The current president is Alejandro Toledo, leader of Perú Posible. This governing party is, with 45 seats, the largest in the 120-seat parliament.
The second and third largest parties are in opposition; respectively Partido Aprista Peruano (short: Apra, 28 seats) and Lourdes Flores Nano led Unidad Nacional (17 seats).
The western coastal plains (costa) are separated from the eastern lowland jungle of Amazon Basin (selva) by the high and rugged Andes in center (sierra). On the border with Bolivia lies Lake Titicaca, the worlds highest navigable lake at 3821 m.
Peruvian Graffiti / g c i 275 Extensive news, comments and context about Peru, its history, culture, politics and society. http://www.gci275.com/peru/
The British Council Peru Information on culture, education, tourism and human rights, information exchange and management. http://www.britcoun.org/peru/english/index.htm
CIA - The World Factbook - Peru An informative and fairly up to date profile of Peru. http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/pe.html
VirtualPeru.net Extensive overall information about Peru, including many quality pictures, tourist information and facts about people, geography and culture. http://www.virtualperu.net
PromPerú Peru's official tourism and investment website. A guide for Peru's age-old sites, towns, festivals, living traditions, and cuisine. http://www.peru.org.pe/defaulteng.htm
Library of Congress, Federal Research Division Peru - A Country Study. Substantial and well organised information from 1992 covering history, economy, government, politics, society, the environment and national security. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/petoc.html
Peru Links Directory The most complete index of Peru. Links to possibly as many as 800 Peru-related sites. The site and navigation are in both English and Spanish. http://www.perulinks.com/pages/english/
U.S. Department of State - Peru Official site from the U.S. Government, provides information and updates related to travel, public affairs, regional issues and news. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2056.htm
Topix.net: Peru News from Peru gathered from various sources on the web. http://rss.topix.net/rss/world/peru.xml
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