Proper noun

Singular Peru

Plural -

Peru

1. A country in South America. Official name: Republic of Peru.

Derived terms

• apple of Peru
• apple-peru
• balsam of Peru
• marvel of Peru
• Peru Current

Related terms

• Peruvian

Peru (Spanish: Perú, Quechua: Piruw, Aymara: Piruw), officially the Republic of Peru (Spanish: República del Perú, pronounced [reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu] ( listen)), is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean.

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. After achieving independence in 1821, Peru has undergone periods of political unrest and fiscal crisis as well as periods of stability and economic upswing.

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. It is a developing country with a medium Human Development Index score and a poverty level around 36%. Its main economic activities include agriculture, fishing, mining, and manufacturing of products such as textiles.

The Peruvian population, estimated at 29 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.

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in South America, bordering Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the southeast, Chile to the south and the Pacific Ocean on the west.

Sourced

• The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.
  • Horace Walpole, English art historian, writer, antiquarian and politician in a letter to Sir Horace Mann (1774-11-24).

• Do the rhetorical quarrels of bourgeois political parties have anything to do with the interests of the humble and downtrodden?
  • Mario Vargas Llosa, The War of the End of the World (1981), trans. Helen R. Lane (Penguin, 1997, ISBN 0-140-26260-1), p. 54

Unsourced

• I would not change my native land, for rich Peru with all her gold.
  • Isaac Watts, English Nonconformist.