Peru is one of the largest countries in South America, crossed from the north to the south by The Andes mountain range. The three main zones of Peru are known as La Costa (the coast), La Sierra (the mountains) and La Selva (the jungle). In a matter of hours, you can leave the scorching desert coastline with some of the Pacific Ocean's best fishing places, cross the world's highest tropical mountain range - the Andes - and plunge down into our planet's biggest tropical rainforest.
The unusual weather conditions and the wide variety of ecosystems ranks the country among the eight countries with the greatest biodiversity in the world. Being the home of more than 400 species of mammals, 300 of reptiles, 1.700 of birds and 50.000 of plants.
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Área
Total: 1,285,220 sq km |
Land: 1.28 million sq km |
Water: 5,220 sq km
Population
27,925,628 (July 2005 est.) | Urban : 72 % | Rural: 28%
Peru has been the meeting ground for different nations and cultures The native people from the coast and highlands where joined 500 years ago by the Spanish, and later enriched by Africans, Asians and European . Peruvians emerged as the representative of a nation whose rich ethnic mixture is one of its leading features. Peru celebrates some 3,000 religious festivities a year.
 Language
Spanish: 80 % | Quechua: 16 % | Other languages: 3 % | Foreign languages: 0,2 %
The number of languages listed in Peru is 108, 93 of those are still living languages and 15 are extinct language.. Although Spanish is commonly spoken across the country, Quechua, an incas ancient language, are still spoken in many parts of the country mainly in the Andes. The Amazon jungle has 38 different languages.
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