This week I didn’t accomplish a whole lot. School wasn’t in session on Monday and the Spanish agency AS had to postpone for Tuesday, making my Thursday meeting moot. So I did a lot of sitting around when I wasn’t in school the rest of the week, either in my house or waiting for the various members of the local government to coordinate a few things. Next week will have to be extra busy because I have a lot to prepare for my residential tourism organization.
I realized this week that I have not yet talked about the history of Peru. I’m no expert, but I can fill in a few details that should give some background on the country and where it is today. It once boasted one of the largest empires in the Americas, the Incan, which was particularly impressive because they governed an empire of thousands of square miles despite never having developed writing. Their heritage and language, Quechua, is still evident today, along with famous ruins like Machu Picchu.
What brought about their downfall, as with most of the indigenous empires of the Americas, was the arrival of the Spanish. Francisco Pizarro was in charge of the expedition and taking advantage of warring factions quickly captured the Incan emperor, Atahualpa. He demanded a room full of gold and silver as ransom, and after receiving what he asked for he killed the emperor anyway. Soon after this he made Lima his capital, which a change from the Incan capital of Cuzco, and it became one of the richest and most influential capitals in the world due to the natural resources of the country.
Peru gained its independence from Spain in 1824, although it was announced in 1821, due to Argentine General San Martin, part of an independence movement sweeping the continent. In the late 1800s Peru fought and lost a bitter war with Chile, which still colors their relations today. That is about all I know of Peruvian history until the 1980s.
The 80s were a difficult time for Peru, due to several blunders by young President Alan Garcia, including trying to change the currency. Alan Garcia was actually reelected for a second term and is President now once again. These years are vividly remembered by the population today, and I’ve heard stories of kids not going to school to wait in bread and milk lines for their families. These times spawned several domestic terrorism movements that locked down the country and are also often recounted by people around here, although this area wasn’t touched too much. Refugees from the most affected areas are one of the reasons for Lima’s rapid population growth, to a bustling city of 8 million now.
After Garcia came Japanese-Peruvian economist Alberto Fujimori. He defeated inflation that was well over 100% and all but destroyed the several terrorist movements in the country, making him one of the most popular presidents in Peruvian history to some areas of the country. The bad of his presidency was the methods he used to crack down on terrorism, many of which were down right illegal and contra human rights. This is why he is now on trial for human rights abuses. There aren’t many world figures that have been such a mixed blessing, and he still has his fair share of supporters and detractors.
Things have taken a turn for the better after Fujimori, even though his successors Toledo and Garcia are two of the most unpopular presidents in their history. Peru has an excellent rate of economic growth now and things are looking up, although there is still much work to be done, especially in rural areas outside of the capital.
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