Peru is a western South American nation bordering the Pacific Ocean between Chile and Ecuador

With an area of more than 496,200 square miles, Peru is slightly smaller than Alaska.

Ancient Peru was the seat of several prominent Andean civilizations, most notably that of the Incas, whose empire was captured by Spanish conquistadors in 1533.

Peruvian independence was declared in 1821, and remaining Spanish forces were defeated in 1824.

Peru’s urban and coastal communities have benefited much more from recent economic growth than rural and mountain regions.

Peru was a country of immigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Peru brought in Asian contract laborers mainly to work on coastal plantations. Populations of Chinese and Japanese descent are economically and culturally influential in Peru today.

Peruvian emigration began rising in the 1980s due to an economic crisis and a violent internal conflict, but outflows have stabilized in the last few years as economic conditions have improved.

Nonetheless, more than 2 million Peruvians, out of an estimated population of 29 million, have emigrated in the last decade, principally to the United States, Spain, and Argentina.

A wide range of important mineral resources are found in the mountainous and coastal areas, and Peru’s coastal waters provide excellent fishing grounds.

The Peruvian economy has been growing by an average of 6.4 percent per year since 2002.

Poor infrastructure hinders the spread of growth to Peru’s noncoastal areas.

Peru is the second-largest producer of cocaine, estimated at 225 metric tons of potential pure cocaine in 2009.

From CIA World Fact Book