Peru
Peru (officially Republic of Peru) is a country in South America, with its capital at Lima, and is home to roughly 34.2M people.
Its official languages are Aymara, Quechua, Spanish; the currency in circulation is Peruvian sol (S/.); people from here are called Peruvian.
- »Machu Picchu was built in the 15th century and abandoned about a hundred years later.
- »Peru holds part of the Amazon, the Andes and one of the world's driest coastal deserts.
- »The potato was domesticated here; thousands of varieties are still grown.
Peru touches five neighbours: Bolivia to the southeast, Brazil to the east, Chile to the south, Colombia to the north and Ecuador to the northwest. Directions run from one centre to the other.
Lima was founded by Pizarro in 1535 as the City of Kings and ruled Spanish South America for centuries. It sits in a coastal desert and is one of the driest capitals in the world.
1,296,213 km² (500,470 sq mi), 19th largest of 198 countries and territories on file, almost exactly the size of Chad.
Population 34,217,848, 48th of 198 on file. That averages 26 per km² (68 per sq mi).
Red and white, said to have been chosen by San Martín after seeing flamingos take flight. The civil flag is plain; the state flag adds the coat of arms with a vicuña, a cinchona tree and a cornucopia.