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The Republic of Peru is an Andean State located in the central and western part of South America between the 81°19'34.5" and 68°39'27.0" of west longitude and from 0°01'48.0" to 18°21'0.30" of south latitude. Peru is bounded at north by Equator having a 1,529 KM long border and by Colombia with a 1,506 KM long border at south by Chile, with a 169 KM long border; at the east by Brasil, having a 2,822 KM long border, and Bolivia, with a 1,047 KM long border, and at the west side its coasts are wetted by the Pacific Ocean 3,080 KM long.

According to the census performed in 1993, its population reachedup to 22,639,210 inhabitants. Currently, its population is known to be 23,465,000 inhabitants, and a population of 27,952,100 inhabitants is expected for the year 2000. The population density now is 16.5 inhabitants per Km2 with a 2.0% growing rate per year. So at this rate, the peruvian population increases at 500,000 inhabitants per year with a life expectancy of 60 years for 1993; the urban population is equivalent to 71% and the rural population is equivalent to 29%, the main capital cities are those located in the shore (coast) from which the cities of Arequipa, Callao, Trujillo, Chimbote, Chiclayo and Piura (in the coast), Cusco and Iquitos in the highlands and jungle respectively are among the most remarkable ones.

The peruvian territory has 1,285,216 Km2 surface; 52.0% of the peruvian population live in the Coast, that is, more than a half of the whole population; 36.0% is found in the andean region whereas the amazonian plain holds only 12.0% of the whole population.The Republic of Peru has a presidential, unitary and decentralized governmental system; it also has its respective

Congress of the Republic.Regarding the political division, Peru is made up by 24 departments and one Constitutional Province called El Callao; likewise departments are made up by provinces which are 192 (including El Callao) up to 1995; these are in turn made up by 1,808 districts.The most recent Political Constitution was issued on October 31, 1993 being Alberto Fujimori Fujimori as Constitutional President of the Republic of Peru.The capital of the Republic is the city of Lima located in the department of Lima with an altitude of 153 m.a.s.l.

The State Government is divided into three branches: The Executive managed by the President of the Republic who is electedfor a five year-period and is in charge of assigning his ministers; The Legislative which resides in the Congress and has a unique chamber made up by 120 members of the Congress who are elected for a five year-period; The Judiciary, made up by the Supreme Court, whose headquarters are located in Lima; the Superior Courts which work at departmental level and the Judges of the Primary Courts of Claims who perform jurisprudence at provinces' capital cities level. The authorities of departments, provinces and districts (prefects, subprefects and governors) are assigned by the Executive; and local governments (province and district majors) are elected by universal suffrage for a three year period. Currently, the regionalization process is being implemented which looks for the end of Lima's centralism considered as a negative phenomenon for the development of the country, this process also looks for the transference of the decision power to the new autonomous entities (regional entities) over the territory that makes up the region.

Surfase.-There are three geographically well-defined environment zones in the peruvian territory: the coast, a 80 to 150 KM width shore strip; the highlands made up by the andean altiplano zone, and the Jungle which is a large amazonian area currently scarcely populated.The Peruvian Andes extend from the border with Chile and Bolivia, by South, to the border with Equator by north. The following sectors are distinguished:a) The South Andes or Southern Andes comprised between the borders of Peru and Bolivia and the Vilcanota Knot in the boundary between Puno and Cusco.b) The Central Andes comprised between the Vilcanota Knot in the south and the Pasco Knot in the north.c) The North Andes, also called Septentrional Andes which extend from the Pasco Knot up to the border of Equator.The South Andes are made up by two mountain chains: the Western Chain also called Volcanic Chain extends between Tacna, Moquegua and Arequipa departments. This chain has several snow capped mountains and volcanoes like the Omate and Ubinas in Moquegua,the Tutupaca in Tacna and the Pichu Pichu, Misti and Chachani in Arequipa. The Eastern Chain extends between the border of Bolivia and the Vilcanota Knot, this chain is also called the Carabaya Cordillera. A Plateau extends between these two chains whose northwest part holds the Titicaca lake.The Central Andes extend over between the Vilcanota and Pasco.

Knots and comprise three chains; the Western Chain which is known under several names according to where it runs; the Central Chain which has also several names and the Eastern Chain. The most important peaks are the Coropuna and Solimana (Arequipa), Sara Sara (Ayacucho) and Monte Meiggs (Lima) which correspond to the Western Chain; the Salcantay (Cusco) and Huaytapallana (Juná¡án) correspond to the Central Chain. The Plateau of Bombon or Juná¡án extends over the south of the Pasco Knot whose central part holds the Chinchaycocha Lagoon.The North Andes are comprised between the Pasco Knot and the border with Equator, they have three chains: The Western Chain with the Yerupajá á peak, which splits into two cordilleras; the White Cordillera located at the East and which has an everlasting snow capped peak, the Huascaran, considered as the highest of the country (6,768 m), and the Black Cordillera, less higher than the previous one, which extends to the western Ancash. The famous

Callejá¢án de Huaylas is located between both of these cordilleras, considered as one of the most beautiful landscapes of the country. The Central Chain splits the waterflowing coming from the Maraá¤áá¢án and Huallaga rivers and the Eastern Chain decreases in height while it approaches the Equator.

Flora and Fauna

The vegetal covering is very diversified. In the Coast is seen the presence of seasonal vegetations limited to the rainfall months like the Atiquipa hills in Arequipa or the Pachacamac and Lachay hills near to Lima. Other areas of vegetation are made up by the beds of valleys, the association forest between Sapote and Algarrobo (Piura and Tumbes) are added to these areas.The Higlands shows the presence of underbrushes, cactus and small plants resistant to the drought, that is Puna's vegetation, from which the ichu is the most representative one and which extends up to the zone of snow capped mountains.The Jungle vegetation is represented by tropical forests where wood trees or useful resin trees are alternated with the presence of palm trees and Orchidaceae plants.The Peruvian fauna is represented by native animals about to disappear in spite of the measures taken in order to avoid the extinction. The Coast does not have many species, outstanding the deer, iguana, skunk and gigant turtle. There are great diversity of fish in the rivers with an abundance of common prawns. The Highlands are characterized by the presence of alpacas and vicuá¤áas which economic usefulness is to supply wool and meat for the population. Likewise, there are deers, chinchillas and viscachas in this region. In the lakes, there are birds like seagulls, parihuanas, patillos and dabchicks.In the Jungle, there is a diversified fauna like the jaguar, big snakes, crocodiles, wild boars, papagayos, parrots and other kind of birds. It is possible to catch caimans and turtles in the rivers; the Peruvian Sea is recognized by its production of corvinas, lenguados, anchoveta, bonito, crustacean and shellfish.

It has also sharks, sperm whales and whales.Birds have an economic importance because of the guano deposite in the shore which makes possible the guano deposits used as fertilizer in the agriculture.

TOURISM: What to visit in Peru

LIMA

Lima is the capital of Peru and of its most populous department. The city lies at the heart of the largest conurbation on the western side of South America: nearly 26 percent of Peru's population resides in Lima.

Lima is in fact, a huge oasis in the very arid Peruvian coastal area (with less than 2 inches of average annual rainfall, hedged between the Pacific coast and the foot of the Andes. The site, on the southern banks of the Rio Rimac, 13 kilometers from the coast, was chosen in 1535 by Francisco Pizarro because of the adequate supply of water from the river, the irrigated agriculture in the area, a headland, and an adjoining elongated island along the nearby coast, which provided good anchorage and protection for ships. Callao, which was built on this headland, is Lima's harbor. The site is also advantegous for access inland.

The Spaniards made it the capital of most of their colonial posessions in Souh America and only toward the end of the colonial period was its dominance confined to the Viceroyalty of Peru. The Spanish city was laid out in a rectangular pattern around a central square (plaza), a pattern that the old city retains to this day, although much of the original city was ruined by an earthquake in 1746. The city and conurbation has been growing rapidly since the beginning of the tweentieth century, first in the south, where settlements that grew into towns became the forst suburbs of Lima, then westward into the open area separating Lima from Callao. Many old colonial style buildings have been preserved in the older part of the city, which now forms Lima's center. These include the cathedral, churches, government buildings, and private mansions. Some of the towns in the southwestern part of the conurbation, such as Miraflores, are wealthy residential suburbs and seaside resorts.

Lima dominates Peru's economic and cultural life. It has five national Universities (including the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, which is the oldest in the Americas) and seven private universities, attended by a total of more than 150,000 students. There are also many museums and galleries.

CUSCO

Cuzco lays claim to being the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Americas. It was the religous and administrative capital of the far-flung Inca empire, and the equivalent of Mecca for the Inca's subjects; every person of importance troughout the empire tried to visit Cuzco once in his lifetime. So it is nowadays with tourists.

Cuzco is indisputably the most beutiful and interesting town in Peru, and one of the finest on the whole continent. The geographical features that made Cuzco area so attractive to the Incas, are today magnet to backpackers. The Vilcanota and Urubamba valleys provide fertile land for agriculture, well watered by the many streams fed by glacial snows. The Cordilleras Vilcanota and Vilcabamba today provide some of the best hiking on the continent; not only snow-covered mountains, but subtropical valleys and outstanding Ica ruins attract walkers and trekkers troughout the summer months.

Cuzco, laying at 3,500 meters is an excellent place to aclimatize before tacklingsome serious backpacking. More information about Cuzco Some special routes and places:

Sacsayhuaman, Quenco, and Salumpuncu: A day hike round Cusco. Sacsayhuaman is a massive Inca fortress overlooking Cuzco, and one of the finest ruins in the area. The fortress was built in the form of three enormous parallel zig-zag walls, designed so that the enemy had to expose his flank to the defender.
Chinchero: Chinchero is known for its Sunday market which is the best in the region. Some very finely woven skirts and mantas (shawls) and tipical Indian costumes can be seen here. This is a produce market, although handicrafts have been added for the tourists' benefit.
The Inca trail to Machu Picchu: Not all Inca ruins are hidden in the jungle. The appeal of this parcticular path is the rich variety of Inca stonework. There are Inca steps, an Inca tunnel, and of course the ruins: Runkuracay, Sayacmarca, Phuyupatamarca, Huinay Huayna, and Machu Picchu itself. Even withouth the Inca partas, this trail would be breathtaking; it goes over high passes with excellents views, trough cloud forest, and finally into subtropical vegetation. Iver ninety species of orchid have been counted in the Parque Arqueologico Nacional de Machu Picchu. The usual starting point for the Inca trail is the train stop known as km. 88. An estimated 5,000 people a year walk the Inca trail.
Machupichu: The Lost city of the Incas