¿Cuánto sabes de…? PERú

¿Dónde está Perú?

How large is Peru compared to Illinois?

Peru is 8 ½ times larger than Illinois.

How large is Perus population compared to that of Illinois?

Perus population is about 2 ½ times that of Illinois (2001 estimate)

What languages are spoken in Peru? Spanish - ~ 75% (I knew that!!) Other languages: aymará -- Yuspagara! quechua – Pachi!

What is the capital city? Lima (population 7.6 million) Do they raise Lima beans there?

Reading tasks Now scan the cultural reading on pp for the answers to the following questions: What is the unit of currency? List three important cultural sites in the capital city. Who is Mario Vargas Llosa? What is Machu Picchu ? Who lived in Peru before the arrival of the Europeans?

What is the unit of currency?

El nuevo sol $1 = 3.15 PEN

List three important cultural sites in the capital city.

Iglesia de San Francisco Museo del Oro Museo Nacional de Antropología y Arqueología

Barranco Nightlife in Lima centers around the penas, bars offering folk music, jazz, and Peruvian Creole--a music that combines European musical forms with native Peruvian, Spanish, and African rhythms and instruments. Barranco, a neighbourhood of beautiful 19th-century architecture, located by the municipal square, is the heart of the city's contemporary arts and nightlife. Miraflores is Lima's central cultural district, containing the many fine restaurants, theatres, and galleries. cuisine.htm cuisine.htm

Who is Mario Vargas Llosa?

Mario Vargas Llosa One of South Americas leading novelists Recipient of many awards and honorary degrees From his first works, Vargas Llosa has used a wide variety of avant-garde techniques to create an aesthetic "double of the real world." Although Vargas Llosa has followed the tradition of social protest of Peruvian fiction exposing political corruption, machismo, racial prejudices and violence, he has underlined that a writer should never preach or compromise artistic aims for ideological propaganda.

What is Machu Picchu?

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu (which means "manly peak") was most likely a royal estate and religious retreat. It was built between 1460 and 1470 AD by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, an Incan ruler. The city has an altitude of 8,000 feet, and is high above the Urubamba River canyon cloud forest, so it likely did not have any administrative, military or commercial use. Incan /latinamerica/south/sites/machu_pic chu.html

Machu Picchu is comprised of approximately 200 buildings.. About 1,200 people lived in and around Machu Picchu, most of them women, children, and priests. y/latinamerica/south/sites/machu_pi cchu.html y/latinamerica/south/sites/machu_pi cchu.html

Who lived in Peru before the arrival of the Europeans?

Los incas Around the year 1200 A.D… the Incas came down from high in the Andes mountains to conquer the scattered tribes throughout the South American continent. They imposed their rule, their highly organized form of government and their spirituality on the weaker, less organized people of what is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and parts of Chile and Argentina.

Inca art and architecture

Quipu The Inca recorded numbers and perhaps other kinds of information on the knotted strings of a quipu. Inca administrators used quipus to keep accounts of items owned and in storage within their districts, such as agricultural products and livestock. Unlike pre- Columbian civilizations of Mesoamerica such as the Maya and Aztec, the Inca had no form of true writing. hades/nativeamericans/quipu.htmInca Maya hades/nativeamericans/quipu.htm

Religion in Peru Catholic: around 90% Protestant: about 3-5% indigenous belief systems Peru.htm

Winter Solstice The ancient Incas celebrated a festival if Inti Raymi at the time of the Winter Solstice. It celebrates "the Festival of the Sun where the god of the Sun, Wiracocha, is honored." 16 Ceremonies were banned by the Roman Catholic conquistadores in the 16th century as part of their forced conversions of the Inca people to Christianity. A local group of Quecia Indians in Cusco, Peru revived the festival about It is now a major festival which begins in Cusco and proceeds to an ancient amphitheater a few miles away

Winter Solstice Ceremonies The Inca takes centre stage and talks to the Sun, the principal object in Inca worship and from whom the Incas claimed direct descendency. …The Inca re-lights the sacred fire of the empire, drinks some chicha and re-enacts the sacrifice of a llama… (all faked but very realistic)…Finally the ritual eating of Sankhu (corn paste mixed with the llamas blood) ends the ceremonies. The Inca makes a last address to his people and then departs. Music and dancing continue throughout the evening. / / SCAT013&cont=0 The event begins at about in the morning and lasts about four hours… Thousands of people are gathered to watch the arrival of the Inca and his queen. Men sweep the ground before him, and women scatter flowers…