Peru History in 5 Minutes - Animated

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. The history of Peru spans four millennia, extending back through several stages of cultural development in the mountain region and the lakes. The multiple layers of great civilizations makes Peru so intriguing. The earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 9000 BC. Andean societies were based on agriculture, using techniques such as irrigation and terracing. Camelid husbandry and fishing were also important. The oldest known complex society in Peru, the Norte Chico civilization, flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3000 and 1800 BC. These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal and Andean regions throughout Peru. The Chavin culture that developed from 1500 to 300 BC was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, with their religious center in Chavin de Huantar. After the decline of the Chavin culture around the beginning of the 1st century AD, a series of localized and specialized cultures rose and fell, both on the coast and in the highlands, during the next thousand years. On the coast, these included the civilizations of the Paracas, Nazca, Wari, and the more outstanding Chimu and Mochica. In the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state, which in the span of a century formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in Cusco. The Incas came to control most of the Andean region, with a population of 9 to 16 million inhabitants under their rule. During their regime, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean mountain ranges, from southern Colombia to northern Chile, between the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Amazon rainforest in the east. The official language of the empire was Quechua, although hundreds of local languages and dialects were spoken. In December 1532, a party of conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro defeated and captured the Inca Emperor Atahualpa in the Battle of Cajamarca. The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The indigenous population dramatically collapsed due to exploitation, socionomic change, and epidemic diseases introduced by the Spanish. Viceroy Francisco de Toledo reorganized the country in the 1570s with gold and silver mining as its main economic activity and a mere Indian forced labor as its primary workforce. With the conquest started the spread of Christianity in South America. Most people were forcefully converted to Catholicism, taking only a generation to convert the population. They built churches in every city and replaced some of the Inca temples with churches, such as the Coricancha in the city of Cusco. By the 18th century, declining silver production and economic diversification greatly diminished royal income. In response, the crown enacted the Bourbon Reforms, a series of edicts that increased taxes and partitioned the viceroyalty. The new laws provoked rebellion and other revolts, all of which were suppressed. In the early 19th century, while most South American nations were swept by wars of independence, Peru remained a royalist stronghold. As the elite vacillated between emancipation and loyalty to the Spanish monarchy, independence was achieved only after the occupation by military campaigns of José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar. Despite the loss of power of Spain and Europe, the criollo oligarchy in Peru enjoyed privileges and remained loyal to the Spanish crown. Simón Bolívar launched his campaign from the north, liberating the viceroyalty of New Granada in the Battles of Carabobo in 1821 and Pichincha a year later. In July 1822, Bolívar and San Martín gathered in the Guayaquil Conference. Bolívar was left in charge of fully liberating Peru, while San Martín retired from politics after the Parliament was assembled. The newly founded Peruvian Congress named Bolívar dictator of Peru, giving him the power to organize the military. With the help of Antonio José de Sucre, they defeated the larger Spanish army in the Battle of Junín on the 6th of August, 1824, and the decisive Battle of Ayacucho on the 9th of December of the same year, consolidating the independence of Peru and Alto Peru. Alto Peru was later established as Bolivia. During the early years of the Republic, endemic struggles for power between military leaders caused political instability. From the 1840s to the 1860s, Peru enjoyed a period of stability under the presidency of Ramón Castilla from increased state revenues from guano exports. However, by the 1870s, these resources had been depleted, the country was heavily indebted, and political infighting was again on the rise. Peru embarked on a railroad building program that helped but also bankrupted the country. In 1879, Peru entered the War of the Pacific. Almost five years of war ended with the loss of the department of Tarapacá and the provinces of Tacna and Arica in the Atacama region. After the war, the government started to initiate a number of social and economic reforms in order to recover from the damage of the war. Internal struggles after the war were followed by a period of stability under the Civilista Party, which lasted until the onset of the authoritarian regime of Augusto B. Leguía. The Great Depression caused the downfall of Leguía, renewed political turmoil, and the emergence of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance. In 1929, the Treaty of Lima was signed between Peru and Chile and returned Tacna to Peru. During this time, Peru was engulfed in a year-long war with Colombia over a territorial dispute involving the Amazonas Department and its capital Leticia. Concerned about the economy, the increasing terrorist threat from Sendero Luminoso and MRTA, and allegations of official corruption, Alberto Fujimori assumed presidency in 1990. Fujimori implemented drastic measures that caused inflation to drop from nearly 8,000 percent to 139 percent. During early 1995, once again Peru and Ecuador clashed in the Cenepa War. But in 1998, the governments of both nations signed a peace treaty that clearly demarcated the international boundary between them. In the 21st century, Peru has had successive, clearly democratic governments. The country is in the middle of a period of economic development with growth rates never previously achieved and overcoming the crises of the past decades. Thank you for watching. Please subscribe to our channel for new videos updated daily.