Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a unitary and decentralized State whose political map is divided into 24 departments and the Constitutional Province of Callao, a territory of just 147 square kilometers.
The country has almost 1.3 million km2 of extension with just over 33 million inhabitants, Peru stands out as one of the countries with the greatest biological diversity and mineral reserves.
Peru has an emerging market and one of the most consolidated economies in Latin America, with a high Human Development.
On the 19th century Peru become an independent nation, Peru stands out as the cradle of civilization.
The Caral civilization, born in the north of Peru is the oldest in the American continent, is contemporary with those of China, Egypt, India and Mesopotamia (5,000 years ago).
Peru’s pre-colonial past is best known for the Inca Empire, which in the fifteenth century annexed all the Andean peoples of the region and covered an area of two million square kilometers.
The Incas established their capital in Cusco and dominated their vast empire for several centuries thanks to their military development, but finally succumbed in 1532 to the Spanish conquest commanded by Francisco Pizarro.
In 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was created and a mercantilist system based on gold and silver mining and the exploitation of indigenous people was established.
The Incas, led by Túpac Amaru II, tried on several occasions to subvert the regime established by the Spanish, but the Crown put down all the indigenous uprisings.
The situation finally changed in the 19th century, specifically in 1820, when the Argentine General José de San Martín left Valparaíso to lead the Liberating Expedition of Peru.
Initially, San Martín tried to reach a peaceful agreement with the colonial forces, but the viceroy refused to accept any deal. For this reason, the mayor of Trujillo proclaimed the unilateral independence of his region in December 1821 and a few months later, between July and August 1821, the acts of declaration, proclamation and swearing of the independence of Peru took place in the city. from Lima.
When the republic was born, the intendancies of the viceroyalty became departments. In 1824 there were only seven, but they were subdivided until forming the current 24.
A few years later, in 1857, the province of Callao was elevated to the level of Constitutional Province, becoming the only province with that level of autonomy.
The Peruvian Map
Finally, in the 1980s, the Government of Alan García Pérez promoted the regionalization of the country, that is, the creation of regions with political and economic autonomy as a primary territorial division.
The objective was to decentralize the power of the State, strongly concentrated in Lima, but the Government of Alberto Fujimori stopped the process.
In 2002 it was resumed with the promulgation of the Organic Law of Regional Governments, but today the regionalization has not yet been completed and the departments continue to be considered the basis of the Peruvian territorial political organization.