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Peru, located in western part of South America, stretches for a distance of 2,414km along the Pacific Ocean. To the north of Peru lies Columbia and Ecuador. To its east are Brazil and Bolivia. Chile forms its southern border. The high ranges of Andes divide Peru into 3 parts. The coastline, much of which is dry, forms the western part. The mountains with peaks, the plateaus and the valleys make up central Peru. The densely forested slope running into the Amazonian plains lie on the eastern part.
Having a constitutional republic form of government, Peru was in its early days a part of the Incan empire. Then it came under the Spaniards. It gained independence from Spain in 1824. Wars and revolutions followed and 20 years of dictatorship in Peru ended in 1945. Many presidents served Peru. 1980 brought with it the Maoist guerrilla group which began its campaign against the government. For the next two decades wars between rebel groups and government continued. Democracy in Peru survived and by 1992 the guerrillas were eradicated. The present president of Peru is Alan Garcia and the prime minister is Pedro Pablo Kaczynski.
The national name of Peru is Republica del Peru. It has a population of about 28 million. Lima is the capital city of Peru. Other big cities are Arequipa, Trujillo and Chiclayo. The monetary unit is called Nuevo sol. The main language spoken is Spanish. Roman Catholic forms the dominant religion of Peru. Most of the people are Amerindians. There are also mestizos, whites, black etc. The literacy rate is 91%.
Agriculture includes coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, oranges, corn etc. Mining and refining of minerals, steel, metal fabrication, petroleum extraction and refining, etc are the major industries of Peru. Natural resources include copper, silver, gold, iron ore, hydro power etc.
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