PERUVIAN HISTORY
The Pre-Inkas Cultures
Over the course of 5000 years, pre-Inca cultures settled along the Peruvian coast and
highlands. The power and influence of some civilizations was to hold sway over large swaths
of territory, which during their decline, gave way to minor regional centres. Many of them
stood out for their ritual pottery, their ability to adapt and superb management of their natural
resources; a vast knowledge from which later the Inka Empire was to draw.

A few Peruvian civilizations settled in Wantar (Ancash) in around (1200 - 1000 BC). The
power of the civilization, based on nature, was centred in the Chavin de Wantar, temple,
whose walls and galleries were filled with sculptures of feline features.   

The Parakas culture (200 AD - 600 BC) rose to power along the south coast, and was to craft
superb skills in textile weaving considering into the best of the ancient civilizations of the
world.    

The north coast was dominated by the Mochika civilization (200 AD - 600 BC). The culture
was led by authorities in the coastal valleys, such as the Lord of Sipan. The Mochika pots
which featured portraits, and their iconography in general were surprisingly detailed and
showed great skill in design.    

The highlands saw the rise of the Pukara and Tiwanaku culture (500 AD) based in the Kollao
region (which covered parts of modern-day Bolivia and Chile). The Tiawanaku were to
bequeath a legacy of agricultural and the management of a variety of ecological zones.

The Nasca culture (300 AD - 900 BC) were able to tame the coastal desert by bringing water
through underground aqueducts. They carved out vast geometric and animal figures on the
desert floor, a series of symbols forming part of an agricultural calendar which even today
baffles researchers.    

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

The refined Chimu culture (1100 - 1500) crafted gold and other metals into relics and built
the mud-brick citadel of Chan Chan, near the northern coastal city of Trujillo.    

The Chachapoyas culture (800 AD) made the best possible use of arable land and built their
constructions on top of the highest mountains in the northern cloud forest. The vast Kuelap
city is a fine example of how they adapted to their environment.    

The Inka empire (1200 - 1500 BC) was possibly the most organized civilization in South
America. Their economic system, distribution of wealth, artistic manifestations and
architecture impressed the first of the christian chroniclers.  

The Inkas honoured the Mother Earth, Pachamama and the Sun (Inti). The Inka sovereign,
lord of the Tawantinsuyu, the Inka empire, was held to be sacred and to be the descendant of
the Sun. Thus, the legend of the origin of the Inkas tells how the sun sent his children Mallku
Qhapaq and Mama Ocllo (and in another version the four Ayar brothers and their wives) to
found Cusco, the sacred city and capital of the Inka empire.    

The rapid expansion of the Inka Empire stemmed from their extraordinary organizational
skills. Communities were grouped, both as families and territorially, around the ayllu, their
corner of the empire, and even if villagers had to move away for work reasons, they did not
lose their bond to the ayllu. The Inka moved around large populations, either as a reward or
punishment, and thus consolidated the expansion while drawing heavily from the knowledge
of the cultures that had flourished prior to the Inkas.       

The Inka's clan was the panaka, made up of relatives and descendants, except for the one
who was the Inka's successor, who would then form his own panaka. Sixteenth-century
Spanish chroniclers recorded a dynasty of 13 rulers, running from the legendary Mallku
Qhapaq down to Atawallpa, who was to suffer death at the hands of the christians.  

The Tawantinsuyu expanded to cover part of what is modern-day Colombia to the north,
Chile and Argentina to the south and all of Ecuador and Bolivia.

The members of the panaka clans were Inka nobles, headed by the Inka sovereign. The
power of the clans and the Inka was tangible in every corner of the empire, but the might of
the Inkas reached its peak in the architecture of Cusco: the Korikancha or Temple of the Sun,
Ollantaytambo and Sacsaywaman, and above all the city of Machu Picchu.    

For further information about the Inkas, click here: http://incas.perucultural.org.pe  

The encounter between two worlds
The encounter between the Inka culture and Hispanic culture got underway as a result of the
Christian invasion in the early sixteenth century. In 1532, the troops of Francisco Pizarro
captured Inka Atawallpa in the northern highland city of Cajamarca. The indigenous
population was to dwindle during the first few decades of christian rule, and the Vice-regency
of Peru was created in 1542 after a battle between the invaders themselves and the Spanish
Crown.    

Spain's foothold in the New World was consolidated in the sixteenth century when Viceroy
Francisco de Toledo laid down a set of rules governing the colonial economy: the mita
system used indigenous labor to operate the mines and produce arts and crafts. These
activities, together with a monopoly over trade, formed the basis of the colonial economy. But
the changeover in the dynasty and the Borbon reforms in the eighteenth century sparked
dissent among many social sectors. The main indigenous uprising was led by Tupak Amaru II,
which was to set rolling the Creole movement that led to independence of Hispanic America
from the Spanish crown in the early nineteenth century.

Until the seventeenth century, the Peruvian vice-regency covered an area stretching from
Panama down to Tierra del Fuego

The birth of the Peruvian State
Peru was declared an independent nation by Jose de San Martin in 1821, and in 1824 Simon
Bolivar put an end to the War of Independence. However, despite efforts to organize the
young Peruvian republic, in the nineteenth century the country had to face up to the cost of
the struggle: a tough economic crisis and a tradition of military strongmen who gave civilians
little chance to govern.    

By 1860, thanks to income from guano, cotton and sugar, Peru was able to do without
enforced labor imposed on the indigenous population and African slaves alike. Chinese and
European immigrants swelled the workforce and integrated with Peru's society. The country
was linked up by a railway network, and during the mandate of President Manuel Pardo, Peru
organized its first civilian government. The first Japanese immigrants were to arrive at the end
of the nineteenth century.

But in 1879, the country found itself at war with Chile. Peru was defeated and left bankrupt.
After another spell of military regimes, Peru returned to civilian rule, giving rise to a time
called "the Aristocratic Republic". The economy was dominated by the land-owning elite, and
an export-oriented model imposed. The success of the rubber boom lent fresh splendor to
the myth of El Dorado.

Peru Today
The early part of the twentieth century was marked by a drawn-out civilian dictatorship
headed by President Augusto Leguia. The project to modernize the country, creating works
for a New Fatherland left the State heavily in debt and unable to deal with the 1929 crash. It
was also a time of intellectual creativity, symbolized by the founder of the APRA party, Victor
Raul Haya de la Torre and Jose Carlos Mariategui, the father of Socialist beliefs in Peru and
the centre of intellectual and artistic thinking in the country during his short life.    

After the fall of Leguia, military regimes once again rose to the forefront, despite apparently
having run their course with the presidencies of Prado in 1939 and Bustamante y Rivero in
1945; but in 1948 a new military government was formed by Manuel Odria. Over the next
eight years, major public works were built amidst severe political repression.

Peru, which has made major efforts to forge friendly relations with neigh-bor countries, has
managed to overcome long-running border conflicts. Navigation conditions along the Amazon
River led to agreements with Brazil, until in 1909 the frontier between the two nations was
finally established. After lengthy debate, the border treaty with Colombia was approved by
Congress in 1927, and Colombians were granted an access route to the Amazon River. In
1929, after border disputes with Chile resulting from armed conflict, the will to improve
relations led both nations to sign a treaty whereby the city of Tacna was returned to Peru.

The border with Bolivia was marked by mutual accord in 1932. Finally, after several armed
conflicts and diplomatic controversies with Ecuador, Peru in 1999 managed to get the 1942
Rio Protocol to prevail, closing the final chapter of the dispute over the territory within the
Cordillera del Kondor mountain range, shoring up Peru's relations with Ecuador.    

In 1968, the armed forces staged a coup d'etat and overthrew then-President Fernando
Belaunde. The first few years of the military regime stood out from other dictatorships in Latin
America in that Peru's military had socialist sympathies. Led by General Juan Velasco, the
military regime expanded the role of the State in a bid to solve the problems that had
impoverished the country. Thus the State nationalized the oil industry, the media and carried
out an agrarian reform. Velasco was replaced by General Francisco Morales-Bermudez, who
bowed to public pressure and called for a Constituent Assembly.    

Belaunde was re-elected in 1980, but the deep-lying poverty spurred the birth of two
insurgencies which unleashed a wave of violence for over a decade. After the government of
Alan Garcia (1985-1990), Alberto Fujimori was elected president in 1990, but shut down
Congress in 1992 and decreed an emergency government. He was re-elected in 1995 and
2000, but public discontent forced him to call fresh elections for 2001. Valentin Paniagua was
then chosen to head a caretaker government. In July 2001, Dr. Alejandro Toledo Manrique
took office as the Constitutional President of the Republic of Peru.
Pachamama
Journeys
the path of beauty