72 Facts About Peru

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country located in western South America.

Peru's name may derive from a misapplication of the Quechua word pelu, which means "river" in Spanish.

As early as 1562, Spaniards may have brought potato seeds from Peru to Europe. The potato was domesticated by ancient Peruvians as early as 8,000 years ago. It is now the world's fourth largest food crop. In Peru, over 3,000 different varieties are grown.

The United Nations declared Peru to be the world's largest producer of cocaine in 2013. Peru's cocaine industry earns approximately US$1 billion per year in undercover money and employs approximately 200,000 Peruvians.

Peru is the world's sixth-largest gold producer. According to Thomson Reuters, Peru produced 162 tonnes of gold in 2010, worth more than US$6.3 billion. Gold accounts for 14% of Peruvian government revenue.

Peru grows over 55 varieties of corn, with colours ranging from yellow to purple, white, and black. Corn was used by the ancient Peruvians for bartering, as a form of currency, and as food.

Every year, approximately 65 million guinea pigs are consumed in Peru. The guinea pig, or cuy, can be traced back to Incan times, when commoners dried guinea pig skin and used it in soups and stews. To protect their crops from drought and floods, the Incas sacrificed 1,000 guinea pigs and 100 llamas every July.

Peru has 3,500 orchid varieties, and it is estimated that only half of the species have been identified.

Peruvian national drink is pisco sour. It's made with pisco (grape) brandy, lemons, sugar, egg whites, ice, and Angostura bitters. One bottle of pisco requires nearly 13 pounds of grapes. Pisco translates to "bird" in Quechua.

Peru is the world's eighth-largest coffee producer and the fifth-largest producer of Arabica coffee beans.

Peru is home to the world's tallest sand dune. Cerro Blanco is a 3,860 foot (1,176 m) mountain located in the Sechura Desert near the Nazca Lines.

Peru has some of the world's best surfing. Chicama and Pacasmayo both claim to have the world's longest rideable wave (1.5 miles/2.2 kilometres in length).

The Cotahuasi Canyon in Peru is said to be the world's deepest canyon. It is nearly twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States, which is 6,000 feet (1,800 m) deep.

La Festival del Gastronómico del Gato (Gastronomic Festival of the Cat) is an annual tradition in La Quebrada, Peru, commemorating the arrival of Spanish settlers who were forced to eat cats when they first arrived. Every year, at least 100 cats are barbecued and consumed, despite the fact that the festival was recently banned by a judge.

Many people believe Ernest Hemingway based his novel The Old Man and the Sea on the Cabo Blanco coastline in Peru, but he actually got the idea in Cuba. He did spend 45 days in Cabo Blanco in 1956, drinking whisky and pisco sours while filming the film of the same name with director John Sturges.

The National University of San Marcos in Peru is the oldest university in the Americas, having been founded on May 12, 1551.

Peru has the world's second-largest fish catch, trailing only China.

Chili sauce and hot spices were banned from prison food in Peru in 1973 because they could arouse sexual desires in inmates.

The vicua, a small camelid similar to the alpaca or llama, is Peru's national animal. It is made of the finest wool for weaving and is available in 22 natural colours. Clothing made from its wool, which is considered the most luxurious fabric in the world, can cost several thousand dollars.

Camu-camu fruit (Myrciaria dubia) grows in Peru and Brazil's Amazon rainforest and has the highest vitamin C concentration of any food, roughly 60 times that of an orange.

The world's worst soccer riot occurred in Peru in May 1964, during a match between Peru and Argentina in Lima, following an unpopular decision by a referee. In total, 300 fans were killed and over 500 were injured.

Peru has over 1,800 bird species, and more than half of the migrating birds in the Americas pass through Peru at some point each year.

Caral-supe, a few hours north of Lima, is thought to be the oldest human-occupied site discovered in the Americas. Its 1,546-acre (626-hectare) site is 5,000 years old.

Mt. Huarascán, Peru's highest point at 6,768 m (22,205 ft), is part of the western Andes. It is also South America's fourth highest peak. The Andes Mountains are the world's second-highest mountain range, after the Himalayas.

On New Year's Eve, friends and family in Peru traditionally exchange gifts of yellow underwear.

The Peruvian queual is the world's fastest growing tree. It has copper-colored bark that peels constantly.

Peru is located in the tropical Andes, which contain approximately one-sixth of all plant life on less than 1% of the world's land area. It contains 84 of the world's 114 life zones.

Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and astronomer, began researching the Nazca lines in the 1940s. She thought they were sophisticated astral charts, part of a massive astronomical calendar used by the natives to communicate with the gods.

The official languages of Peru are Spanish, Quechua, and Aymara, but some Peruvians speak Asháninka, and there are numerous minor Amazonian languages.

Peru holds the world records for the most birds seen in one location (650) and the most seen in a single day (361); these records were set in the Reserva Nacional de Tambopata and the Parque Nacional del Man, respectively.

The Inca developed the first type of freeze drying, which is still used today, by leaving potatoes out at night to freeze in the frost. When the water evaporated during the day, a dry potato pulp called chuo remained.

The Incas had no formal writing system. Instead, they devised a system of record-keeping based on a complex knot system known as quipus. Each quipu was unique in size or colour, made of wool or cotton strings fastened at one end to a cross cord. Each simple or compound knot, as well as its size and colour, represented crop measurements, thefts, debt, and even events.

The coquettish marinera is Peru's national dance. It imitates a bird's mating ritual. While a suitor struts around her, a female dancer marks the beat with a white handkerchief held above her head and shakes the folds of her skits.

Hiram Bingham, explorer, professor, and archaeologist, led the Yale Peruvian Scientific Expedition when he discovered the ancient Incan city of Machu Picchu in 1911. Every year, an estimated 1.5 million tourists visit Machu Picchu.

The Peruvians invented almost every weaving technique known today by around 3,000 B.C.

The only Quechua word that has entered the English language is charqui (dried llama meat), which became "jerky."

There are 10 million alpacas in the world, with Peru accounting for three-quarters of them.

The Huari, or Wari, people have been jokingly dubbed the "Mormons of the Andes" because they established their empire through persistent evangelization rather than force. They laid the groundwork for the Incas.

El Nio is a warm-water equatorial current named after El Nio Jesus (Baby Jesus), who arrives on the coasts of Ecuador and Peru every year around Christmas. El Nio had one of its worst years in 1983, when torrential rains began in Peru's north on January 4th and didn't stop until the middle of July.

In 1952, John Wayne met his third wife, Peruvian actress Pilar Pallete, on the set of a film set on the outskirts of a Peruvian jungle. She had been married to the Duke for 27 years and had three of his seven children.

The coca plant (Erythroxylum coca) has been used in the Andean world for thousands of years, primarily for its medicinal properties and religious significance. Coca leaves have traditionally been used as a stimulant to combat fatigue, hunger, and thirst, and they are especially effective against altitude sickness. The effects of coca leaf were discovered in Europe during the nineteenth century, when Albert Niemann, a promising German graduate student, was able to isolate the active ingredient of coca, which he named cocaine.

In 1885, the Coca Cola Company in Georgia began producing a wine made from coca leaves, which was later transformed into the Coca Cola soft drink. By 1903, public outcry over cocaine's negative effects forced the company to remove coca leaves from the drink's recipe, and it became more or less the soft drink millions enjoy today.

In Peru, bullfighting is a popular sport. The first lidia bull for fighting was brought to Lima by Francisco Pizarro, the Spaniard conquistador who discovered Peru, and the first bullfight was held in 1538. Lima's permanent bullring, built in 1768, is the third-oldest in the world, after those in Madrid and Seville, Spain.

The Puya raimondii, the world's tallest flowering plant, grows in Peru. It can take a century or more for a bromeliad, a relative of the pineapple, to bloom. In full bloom, each plant can produce up to 8,000 white lily-like flowers. It only blooms once in its life and then dies.

Surfing has been practised in Peru for over 2,000 years. Archaeologists discovered friezes depicting humans appearing to surf along Peruvian coasts.

In 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in six days and nights using cocaine, the "white wonder drug" distilled from the coca plant found in Peru.

The Incas were serious about astronomy. They were the world's only ancient culture to define constellations of both darkness and light. Some of Cuzco's main streets are even designed to line up with the stars at specific times of year.

The Incan Empire was larger than imperial Rome at its peak, with 24,855 miles (40,000 km) of roads. The kingdom was kept connected by a network of chasquis (runners), who relayed fresh-caught fish from the coast to Cuzco in 24 hours.

The meaning of the name "Andes" is unknown. Some historians believe it derives from the Quechua anti, which means "east," or from anta, an Aymara-derived term that means "copper-colored." Surprisingly, the mountains do not end at the Pacific Coast; there is a trench 62 miles (100 kilometres) offshore that is as deep as the Andes.

In the mid-1800s, Peru was the world leader in guano (bird droppings) production and export, as countries such as France and England recognised the value of guano as a natural fertiliser.

The Amazon River is the world's longest river. It begins high in the Peruvian Andes at Nevado Mismi and flows 3,278 miles (6,000 km) to the Atlantic Ocean. It is 186 miles (300 kilometres) wide at its mouth. During his epic voyage in 1542, Spanish explorer Francisco de Orellana named the mighty river.

Some areas of Peru's coastal desert have received only 1 inch (3 cm) of rain in the last 30 years.

It is believed that early Peruvian farmers grew five types of hot peppers, which were later transported to Central America, the Caribbean, and Mexico. Christopher Columbus, who was looking for black pepper, may have given them their English name.

Peru is the world's largest exporter of asparagus, with over 117,000 metric tonnes exported in 2012.

Ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi), also known as yagé, is a rainforest vine with hallucinogenic properties that is used under the supervision of a shaman to promote knowledge and healing. For centuries, Amazon tribes in Peru have used the vine as part of traditional celebrations and initiations.

In Peru, the Quechua still practise trial marriage, in which women and men choose partners and can end their relationship whenever they want. The woman is free to marry again at any time, and the children born from the union are considered to be members of the community rather than members of the couple.

It is estimated that it takes 500 to 600 hours to spin, dye, and weave a traditional Peruvian poncho over a period of up to six months. When Peruvians reach adulthood, they are given one poncho that is expected to last a lifetime.

Before a Peruvian couple can marry, they must go through a sirvinacuy (serving one another) period in which the woman works with her mother-in-law and the man works with his father-in-law. This is viewed as a litmus test for their marriage readiness. During this time, they may sleep under the same roof, usually with the man's family, and the couple does not marry until they have a child, demonstrating that their union is fruitful.

Shamanism has been practised for over 3,000 years in Peru. Because the majority of Peruvians cannot afford or do not have access to doctors or Western medical care, many people, particularly indigenous people, turn to a shaman's healing art, or curandero, a rural spiritual healer. The majority of shamans use hallucinogenic drugs like ayahuasca. The family of former President Fernando Belande Terry once employed a shaman.

When Spanish conquistadors pillaged the Incan empire, they melted it down and sent it back to Spain. This sparked the practise of "grave robbing." Huaqueros are grave robbers who specialise in discovering huacas (forgotten graves or burial sites) and selling the gold and other artefacts discovered within to the first buyer.

Mario Vargas Llosa is possibly Peru's most well-known intellectual and novelist. He even ran for president in 1990, but he lost. His first novel, The Time of the Hero, is about the cruel and authoritarian regime at the Military College of Lima. The book was burned by the Peruvian military. Llosa was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010.

Sapo is a popular local game in Peru that is as popular as pool in picanterias (small, local restaurants). Sapo, which means "frog," employs a large metal frog mounted on a table. Brass discs are thrown as close to the frog as possible. The highest score is obtained when the disc is thrown into the open mouth of the frog.

The condor (Vultur gryphus) is the largest flying bird in the world, standing up to 4 feet (1.2 m) tall and with a wingspan of 10 feet (3 m). The bird can fly for hours without using its wings despite weighing up to 27 pounds (12 kg). It was considered a sacred bird by the Incas and was native to the Andes, but it is now listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union.

Food was frequently buried with the dead by ancient Peruvians, who believed it would sustain them on their journey to the next life. Around Lake Titicaca, the Aymara still stuff coca leaves into potatoes and bury them as a sacrifice to Pachamama, the Earth Mother.

The Incas called themselves Quechua, which is also the name of the language they spoke. The word "Inca" means "lord" in Quechua and was used to describe their leader. When the Spaniards took control of the Incan Empire in the 16th century, they used the term Inca to refer to everyone who lived there. In reality, the empire was made up of a diverse group of people who spoke at least 20 different languages.

The Peruvian hairless dog was designated a distinct breed by the Kennel Club International in 1986 and a national treasure by the Peruvian government in 2001. The dog has been around for at least 4,000 years in Peru and is known as perro calato (naked dog). They make excellent guide dogs for the blind.

The weather in Peru's desert can be very different, with the sun beating down on a lot of sand. Between May and November, the coastal desert is blanketed in gara, a thick sea fog that does not move for weeks at a time. This happens when cold seawater collides with dry desert air.

The cinchona is Peru's national tree, and at least six species grow there. The tree was named after the Countess of Cinchon, the wife of Peru's Viceroy. She contracted malaria in 1683, but recovered after being treated with a tea made from the bark of the cinchona tree, which contains quinine. Quinine is an important antimalarial medication.

The Nazca lines in Peru were discovered from the air for the first time in 1927. This collection of geoglyphs, which includes more than 70 human figures and animals as well as 10,000 lines, is strung along the high desert plateau between Nazca and Palpa and remains one of the world's greatest archaeological mysteries. According to some, the lines represent a massive astronomical calendar, a ceremonial centre, or even an alien landing strip.

Peruvian-born Princess Diana's photographs, taken by Mario Testino shortly before her death in 1997, were used as her official "portrait" by newspapers and magazines all over the world to commemorate her life.

Teófilo "El Nene" Cubillas, Peruvian soccer star, may be the country's greatest athlete. In the 1970 World Cup, he scored five goals in four games. He had played in 513 games and scored 303 goals by the end of his career, which spanned from 1966 to 1991. Throughout his career, he only received one yellow card for foul play.

Friends and family still gather for a child's first haircut in some parts of Peru's Andes. The child is dressed simply, and each adult is allowed to cut a lock of hair. Each guest then gives the child a gift, which is usually a small sum of money that is saved for later in life.