Peru (pronounced /pəˈruː/ (
Peruvian territory was home to the Norte Chico civilization, one of the oldest in the world, and to the Inca Empire, the largest state in Pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty, which included most of its South American colonies. Peru finally achieved independence in 1821.
Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. Its geography varies from the arid plains of the Pacific coast to the peaks of the Andes mountains and the tropical forests of the Amazon Basin.
The Peruvian population, estimated at 29.5 million, is multiethnic, including Amerindians, Europeans, Africans, and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua or other native languages. This mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music.
The climate of Peru is very diverse, with a large variety of climates and microclimates. Such a diversity is due to the presence of the Andes mountains and the cold Humboldt Current. The Andes mountains run parallel to the Pacific Ocean, dividing the country into three geographic regions.
Because of its varied geography and climate, Peru has a high biodiversity with 21,462 species of plants and animals reported as of 2003; 5,855 of them endemic. The Peruvian government has established several protected areas for their preservation
The Bolivian Altiplano at approximately 14,000 feet. In the background rise the snow covered peaks of the Cordillera Real
These ingredients have been combined with a number of staples brought by the Spanish, such as rice, wheat and meat (such as beef, pork and chicken). Many traditional foods, such as quinoa, kiwicha, chili peppers and several roots
Peru also saw the existence of many amazing ancient civilization and tribes! The Norte Chico civilization (also Caral or Caral-Supe civilization) was a complex Pre-Columbian society that included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru. It is the oldest known civilization in the Americas and one of the six sites where archaeologist believed, civilization separately originated in the ancient world. Meaning to say, the Norte Chico Civilisation is an original ancient civilization (China is one of the 6 sites too so yays to be Chinese!)
Flourishing between the 30th century BC and the 18th century BC. The alternative name, Caral-Supe, is derived from the Sacred City of Caral[ in the Supe Valley, a large and well-studied Norte Chico site. Complex society in Norte Chico arose a millennium after Sumer in Mesopotamia, it was contemporaneous with the Egyptian pyramids, and it predated the Mesoamerican Olmec by nearly two millennia.
In archaeological nomenclature, Norte Chico is a Preceramic culture of the pre-Columbian Lat Archaic; it completely lacked ceramics and apparently had almost no art. The most impressive achievement of the civilization was its monumental architecture, including large earthwork platform mounds and sunken circular plazas. Archaeological evidence suggests use of textile technology and, possibly, the worship of common god symbols, both of which recur in pre-Columbian Andean cultures. Sophisticated government is assumed to have been required to manage the ancient Norte Chico. Questions remain over its organization, particularly the impact of food resources on politics.
The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The Inkas came after the Norte Chico civilization but is more well known than Norte Chico. Inkas traditions and culture runs deep even in modern day peruvians.
The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru. The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, including large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia into a state comparable to the historical empires of the Old World.
The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. The Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu which can be translated as The Four Regions or The Four United Provinces.
There were many local forms of worship, most of them concerning local sacred "Huacas", but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti, the sun god. The Incas considered their King, the Sapa Inca, to be the "child of the sun."
Yes, shamefully, the above paragraphs are mostly copied off Wikipedia for I am unable to acquire and articulate such immaculate descriptions and information. But damn, those ancient people sure put us Facebook junkies to shame =\
I am also amazed by the display of obvious intelligence, political and manipulative abilities in a group of supposed ‘prehistoric’ people. I mean, they didn’t even have help books then D: !
Machu Picchu "Old Mountain", is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 metres (7,970 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru. Machu Picchu was built in the classical Inca style, with polished dry-stone walls.
There are many theories to the purpose and history of Machu Picchu, but none could be confirmed. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472). It is also often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas".
The Incas started building the estate around AD 1400 but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish Conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction.
Since the site was never known to the Spanish during their conquest, it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a worldwide Internet poll.
I got Rita-Chan to help me on this part because all of the Peru Cosplay pages I found were in Spanish =(. Anyway, according to her, Cosplays in Peru started officially at around 2008.
Below are some lovely event photos from Cosplay Peru! They are the Competitors for the Singles Competition at OtakuFest 2010.
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