Peruvians

Juan Manuel Vargas

Mestizos compose 60.2% of the total population. The term traditionally denotes the ethnic Peruvian mixed with European ancestry (mostly Spanish ancestry). This term was part of the caste classification used during colonial times, whereby people of exclusive Spanish descent who were born in the colonies were called criollos, people of mixed indigenous and Spanish descent were called mestizos, those of African and Spanish descent were called mulatos, and those of indigenous and African descent were called zambos. Most mestizos are urban dwellers and show stronger European inheritance in regions like Lima Region, La Libertad Region, Callao Region, Cajamarca Region, San Martin Region, Piura Region, Lambayeque Region, and Arequipa Region.

Alejandro Toledo

Ethnic groups of Peruvian origin constitute 25.8% of the total population.[18] The two major ethnic groups are the Quechuas (belonging to various cultural subgroups), followed by the Aymara, mostly found in the extreme southern Andes. A large proportion of the ethnic groups who live in the Andean highlands still speak Quechua and have vibrant cultural traditions, some of which were part of the Inca Empire.

Dozens of Peruvian cultures are also dispersed throughout the country beyond the Andes Mountains in the Amazon basin. This region is rapidly becoming urbanized. Important urban centers include Iquitos, Nauta, Puerto Maldonado, Pucallpa and Yurimaguas. This region is home to numerous ethnic groups, though they do not constitute a large proportion of the total population. Examples of ethnic groups residing in eastern Peru include the Shipibo, Urarina,[19] Cocama, and Aguaruna. There is no special law for ethnic groups or reserves; they are Peruvians and legally treated as such. There are some tribal communities especially in the Amazon but it is their own choice of lifestyle; they have the right to choose their place of residence, they have the freedom to live and travel, to enter and leave the country, with few limitations due to health issues or by order of a judge or international migration laws, supported by the Peruvian Constitutions and International Human Rights, they do have representation in the Congress as any other Peruvian community.

66th President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

European descendants total 5.9% of the total population. Most of them are descendants of the colonizers Spanish and other Europeans like Italians, Germans, British, French, Irish, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, and Croats that arrived in the 19th and 20th centuries. Most of them also live in the largest cities, generally in the northern cities of Peru: Trujillo, Chiclayo and Piura, and also in the capital Lima.

The city of Arequipa in the south of Peru displays the majority of Spanish descendants in the south. Cajamarca in the highlands, parts of San Martin in the Rupa-Rupa or Amazonian Andes Area; Oxapampa and Pozuzo were populated by German and Austrian settlers also in the Rupa-Rupa or Amazonian Andes area. A considerable European population migrated to Peru, they came for oil, mining, fishing, sugar, cotton, guano, rubber, and other booming industries in the mid-1800. Recently, Peru has seen an inmigration of American senior citizens and businessmen looking for permanent residency to settle in the country, due to inexpensive living, tasty fresh food, gastronomy, friendly people, excellent mild weather, beautiful ocean views, Amazon forest environment, freedom in many aspects compared with other countries, and how easy it is to do business in Peru due to economic booms from 2000 to the present. Also, people from other Latin American countries like Venezuela migrated Peru due to socio-economical issues.

Jefferson Farfán

Afro-Peruvians constitute a 3.6%[20] of the population. Peru as a Spanish colony in the Conquista has a history of slave trading, from Ghana, Angola, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, and Madagascar. During the colonial period to perform labor work in sugar cane, cotton fields and vineyards, very few of them in gold mines in Cuzco. The Spaniards brought 500 Africans from Guinea as part of the troops for the Conquista by 1531. Slavery in Peru was abolished in 1854 by President Ramon Castilla. Today also mulatos (mixed African and European) and zambos (mixed African and indigenous) constitute an important part of the population as well, especially in Piura, Tumbes, Lambayeque, Lima and Ica regions. The Afro-Peruvian population is concentrated mostly in coastal cities south of Lima, such as those found in the Ica Region, in cities like Cañete, Chincha, Ica, Nazca and Acarí in the border with the Arequipa Region. The African descendants brought their own dances and drumming music style, creating some instruments like the "Cajon" and some culinary art characterized by their delicious taste. Some of the best soccer players in Peru are Afro-descendants. One of the most untouchable unmixed African population is still today El Carmen en Chincha Alta Ica, Peru.

Another large but less promoted segment of Afro-Peruvian presence is in the Yunga regions (west and just below the Andean chain of northern Peru), (i.e., Piura and Lambayeque), where sugarcane, lemon, and mango production are still of importance. Important communities are found all over the Morropón Province, such as in the city of Chulucanas. One of them is Yapatera, a community in the same city, as well as smaller farming communities like Pabur or La Matanza and even in the mountainous region near Canchaque. Further south, the colonial city of Zaña or farming towns like Capote and Tuman in Lambayeque are also important regions with Afro-Peruvian presence.

Akio Tamashiro

Asian Peruvians constitute a 0.16% of the population. Peru has the largest population of Chinese descendants in Latin America since Peru became independent from Spain in 1821 and banned the imports of slaves. The first group of Asians came in 1849 in the Danish ship named Federico Guillermo to replace slavery as part of the plan to abolished slavery in 1854 by replacing it with Asian labor force. During the next 25 years, 100,000 Chinese arrived to Peru, hired in eight-year contracts from Macao, Hong Kong, Canton, and Fujian, including some Sangley people. They were hired for sugar cane fields, rice fields, extracting guano and constructing the railroads in the Andes in semi-slavery working conditions.

Geographically Chinese descendants communities are found throughout the Peruvian upper Amazon, including cities such as Yurimaguas, Nauta, Iquitos and the north-central coast (Lambayeque and Trujillo) and the capital Lima.

In contrast to the Japanese community in Peru, the Chinese appear to have intermarried much more since they came to work in the rice fields during the Viceroyalty and to replace the African slaves, as laborers during the abolition of slavery itself. Despite the presence of Peruvians of Asian heritage being quite recent, in the past decade, they have made significant advancements in business and political fields; a past president (Alberto Fujimori), several past cabinet members, and one member of the Peruvian congress are of Chinese or Japanese origin. There are also large numbers of Arab Peruvians, mostly Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Iraqis.

After independence, there has been a gradual European immigration from Spain, Italy, Croatia, France, Germany, and Austria.[21] Chinese arrived in the 1850s as a replacement for slave workers in the sugar plantations of the north coast and have since become a major influence in Peruvian society.[22] Other immigrant groups include Japanese, Arabs, South Asians, and Americans from the United States.

Peruvian literature has its roots in the oral traditions of pre-Columbian civilizations. Spaniards introduced writing in the 16th century; colonial literary expression included chronicles and religious literature. After independence, Costumbrism and Romanticism became the most common literary genres, as exemplified in the works of Ricardo Palma.[31] In the early 20th century, the Indigenismo movement produced such writers as Ciro Alegría,[32] José María Arguedas,[33] and César Vallejo.[34] During the second half of the century, Peruvian literature became more widely known because of authors such as Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, a leading member of the Latin American Boom.[35] María Jesús Alvarado Rivera was a Peruvian rebel feminist, educator, journalist, writer and social activist who was noted by the National Council of Women of Peru in 1969 as the "first modern champion of women's rights in Peru".[36]

Macchu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world, Sacsayhuaman, Chan chan, the architecture was constructed to congregate hundreds if no thousands of peoples for ceremonies and to cohabit in harmony with others and with nature. Some of the highlights were the development in acoustics, aqueducts, silos to preserve grains, the terraces, the perfection fitting the giant's boulders of 20 tons perfectly, astronomical observatories, the perfection with the solstice, the construction of entrances for the sunlight denoting meaning for every season, some of these constructions until today do not have logical human explanation, on how they were constructed.

Peruvian cuisine shows influences from Andean, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Arab, African, and Japanese cooking.[37] Common dishes include anticuchos, ceviche and pachamanca. Because of the variety of climates within Peru, a wide range of plants and animals are available for cooking.[38] Peruvian cuisine has an especial ingredient that gives the flavor to the majority of dishes "aji seco" if the same dish is prepared in another part of the world it might look the same, but the raw vegetables, potatoes, ingredients have a different taste in other parts of the world. Examples of these are the eggs, quinoa, Lima beans, the fish, the lime more acidic, they taste totally different in other countries. Peru gave to the world the potatoes with more than 3000 species, introduced to Europe by the Spaniards in 1532 after the Conquista the Quinoa, both from the highlands. Peruvians were harvesting potatoes between 8000–5000 years according to scientific research.

Marinera dancers in Trujillo.

Peruvian music has Andean, Spanish, and African roots.[39] In pre-Hispanic times, musical expressions varied widely from region to region; the quena and the tinya were two common instruments.[40] Spanish conquest brought the introduction of new instruments such as the guitar and the harp, as well as the development of crossbred instruments like the charango.[41] African contributions to Peruvian music include its rhythms and the cajón, a percussion instrument.[42] Peruvian folk dances include marinera, tondero and huayno.[43]