Peru (country)

D

3

Art and Architecture

Native American themes are strong in painting. During the colonial period the Cuzco school was famous throughout Spanish America for its religious canvases. During the 19th century there were four major artists—Francisco Lazo, forerunner of the indigenous school of painting and a portrait painter; Luis Montero, known for his huge canvas Atahualpa’s Funeral (1867); Pancho Fierro, a caricaturist of popular social types and customs; and Carlos Becaflor, a portrait painter.

In the 1930s, following the lead of the great Mexican muralists, a Peruvian movement—led by José Sabogal and Julia Codesido—reflected deep sympathy for the indigenous Peruvian people. Later, a reaction against the use of native themes took place. In the 1950s abstract painting became dominant. The Institute of Contemporary Art encourages new movements in art, while the long-established National School of Fine Arts is more conservative. As the economy picked up in the late 20th century, more money went into the arts.

In addition to the many monumental Inca ruins, many examples of colonial architecture survive, particularly religious and public buildings located mostly in Lima, Arequipa, Cuzco, and Trujillo. In the Andean area the Spaniards often built on top of Inca remains, and in Cuzco one can see both types of construction. In colonial buildings, Spanish and indigenous modes often fuse, blending into what was called the Creole style. Moorish influence, which traveled from Arab North Africa to Spain and then to the Americas, is visible in what is known as the Mudejar style. Lima has many fine examples of modern architecture.

D

4

Libraries

Some of the most important libraries in Peru are located in the larger cities and are affiliated with the major universities. Within the various libraries of the National University of San Marcos in Lima are more than 450,000 volumes. The National Library (1821), in Lima, houses more than 3.2 million books and other items.

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D

5

Museums

Museums throughout the country display Peruvian art and archaeological artifacts. Many of Peru’s colonial buildings, such as the Torre Tagle Palace and the cathedral in Lima, contain valuable artifacts. Notable museums in Lima include the Museum of Art (1961), the Rafael Larco Herrera Archaeological Museum (1926), the Javier Prado Natural History Museum, and the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology (1822), which displays collections of pre-Columbian artifacts. Other important museums include the Military History Museum of Peru (1946), in Callao; and archaeological museums in Arequipa, Cuzco, Huancayo, and Trujillo.

IV

Economy

Peru’s estimated gross domestic product (GDP) in 2006 was $92.4 billion. GDP is a measure of the value of all the goods and services a country produces. Although Peru’s economy remains primarily agricultural, the mining and fishing industries have become increasingly important. Peru relies primarily on the export of raw materials—chiefly minerals and petroleum, farm products, and fish meal—to earn foreign exchange for importing machinery and manufactured goods.

During the late 1980s, guerrilla violence, rampant inflation, chronic budget deficits, and drought combined to drive the country to the brink of fiscal insolvency. However, in 1990 the government imposed an austerity program that removed price controls and ended subsidies on many basic items and allowed the inti, the national currency at that time, to float against the United States dollar. Although some prices rose rapidly, inflation overall was brought down, and tax reforms helped reduce the national deficit. By the mid-1990s foreign investment was fueling economic growth. The economy again picked up steam after a period of stagnation around the turn of the 21st century. Few of the benefits of economic growth reached poorer Peruvians, however, and unemployment and underemployment remained high.

A

Agriculture

Some 1 percent of Peru’s working population is engaged in farming, forestry, or fishing. Most of the coastal area is devoted to the raising of export crops; on the montaña and the sierra are mainly grown crops for local consumption. Many farms in Peru are very small and are used to produce subsistence crops; the country also has large cooperative farms. The chief agricultural products, together with the yield (in metric tons) in 2006, were sugarcane (7.6 million), root crops such as potatoes (4.7 million), rice (2.2 million), corn (1,230,000), seed cotton (70,000), coffee (174,955), and wheat (195,000). Peru is one of the world’s leading growers of coca, from which the drug cocaine is refined. Coca leaves were used for years as a stimulant and appetite-suppressant by Native Americans of the sierra.

The livestock population included 5.2 million cattle, 14.8 million sheep, 2 million goats, 3 million hogs, 730,000 horses, 290,000 mules, and 99.3 million poultry. Llamas, sheep, and vicuñas provide wool, hides, and skins.

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