Peru's Coastal Regions example essay topic

Peru is located in western South America and it shares borders with Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador and the South Pacific Ocean. Peru is about 1.28 million square kilometers. There are three major regions in Peru: a narrow coastal belt, the wide Andean mountains and the Amazon Basin. The coast is mostly a desert, but contains Peru's major cities. The Andes has two main ranges - Cordillera Occidental and Oriental. Oriental includes Peru's highest mountain called Huascaran, it a peaks out at 22,200 ft.

On the east side is the Amazon Basin, a region of tropical lowland, the water there is carried out by the Maranon and Ucayali rivers. Bird and marine life is pretty abundant along Peru's desert coast, with large colonies of sea lions, Humboldt penguins, flamingos, Peruvian pelicans, Inca terns and the brown booby. Some other birds that are there are the Andean condor, pun a ibis and a huge number of different hummingbirds. The highland is home to llamas, alpacas, guanacos and vicunas, while the eastern slopes of the Andes have jaguars, spectacled bears and tapirs.

Some of the plant life in the Peru includes, q', alison, puy a palm trees, ferns and more than 90 species of orchids. There are also a variety of beautiful butterflies and insects that are only found in Peru. The huge numbers of wildlife are protected in a system of national parks and reserves with almost 30 areas that take up seven percent of the country. Peru's climate is mainly divided into two seasons, a wet and a dry, although it kind of depends on the geographic region. The coast and western Andean slopes are generally dry, with the summer falling between December and April. During the rest of the year the sun is rarely seen because of a coastal fog called Gara.

In the Andes, the dry season is from May to September and the wet season takes up the rest of the year. On the eastern slopes of the Andes, the drier months are kind of like the highland, though the wet season is more pronounced in January through April. Spanish is the main language throughout Peru, although most highland Indians are bilingual, with Quechua being their language of choice and Spanish their second. Several small lowland groups speak their own languages. The population is around twenty eight million and consists of mainly Indian's. Approximately 36 percent of the population lives in thousands of small villages and hamlets that make up the rural neighborhoods for the regional capitals and trading centers.

The main industries that are in Peru are pulp, paper, coca leaves, fishmeal, steel, chemicals, oil, minerals, cement, auto assembly, and shipbuilding. Some of the foods you might eat in Peru consist mainly of soups and stews, corn pancakes, rice, eggs and vegetables. Seafood is excellent there, even in the highlands. Local specialties include, seafood prepared in lemon juice; lech on, a whole baby pig; and cut, a whole roasted guinea pig. I might just stick to the seafood as I don't think I could handle the whole baby pig or the roasted guinea pig! The predominant religion is Roman Catholic, but there are some other Christian faiths.

Some locals, however, have blended Catholicism and their traditional beliefs. An example is the near one and the same association of Pacha Mama (Mother Earth) and the Virgin Mary. Many of the main festivals are based around the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar. These are often celebrated with great display, especially in highland Indian villages, where Catholic feast days are usually tied in with a traditional agricultural festival.

Some of the major events include: Carnaval (February-March), which is particularly popular in the highlands and features numerous water fights; Inti Ray mi (June 24th), the greatest of the Inca festivals with spectacular dances and parades; Peru's Independence (July 28th); All Souls Day (November 2nd), celebrated with gifts of food, drink and flowers taken to family graves; and Puno Day (November 5th), which features colorful costumes and street dancing in Puno. The first inhabitants of Peru were nomadic hunter-gatherers who lived in caves in Peru's coastal regions. The oldest site, Pikimachay cave, dates from 12,000 BC. Crops such as cotton, beans, squash and pepper chill is were planted around 4000 BC; later, advanced cultures such as the Chav " in introduced weaving, agriculture and religion to the country. Around 300 BC, the Chav " in mysteriously disappeared. By the early 15th century, the Inca Empire had control of much of the area, even extending its influence into Colombia and Chile.

Between 1526 and 1528, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro explored Peru's coastal regions and, drawn by the riches of the Inca empire, returned to Spain to raise money and recruit men for another expedition to the country. He returned marching into Caja marca, in northern Peru, before capturing, ransoming and executing the Inca emperor Atahualpa in 1533. Pizarro next founded the city of Lima in 1535 but was assassinated six years later. The rebellion of the last Inca leader, Manco Inca, ended with his beheading in 1572.

The next 200 years proved pretty peaceful, until 1965, when a Cuban-inspired guerrilla uprising that was led by the National Liberation Army. They were unsuccessful, but a series of nationwide strikes combined with a violent rebellion by the Maoist Shining Path guerrillas caused political instability in the 1980's. However, the 1990 presidential election of Alberto Fujimori and the capture in 1992 of inspirational leaders has brought a continued period of peace. Peru's unique borders helped the country very little from invasion.

The mist filled hilly region between the Pacific coast, much of it bordered by high cliffs, and the Andes farther east, helped fend off invaders from the east. The numerous small rivers in the north and the main river that runs down the center may have also helped detour invaders. I think the Incas may have decided to settle in Peru because of its vast beauty, rich lands, abundant resources and diverse regions. It also may have been their down fall, when Francisco Pizarro saw it and wanted to take it over.