ABSTRACT
About Peru The third largest country in South America, Peru embraces an area of 1 285 216 square kilometres. It is thus equivalent to approximately the size of France, Spain and the United Kingdom combined. Just 'three percent of the country is cultivated as 53 percent is covered in tropical rainforest harbouring a wealth of plants, animals and natural resources' (CIDA, 1996). It has three distinct geographical zones. The Costa, or coast, is a narrow strip sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains stretching from north to south for over 2200 km with a largely urban population. It is the most productive area of the country (most of the crops for export are found here) and has traditionally been the dominant economic region. In contrast the Sierra is dominated by the Andes, making it difficult for human habitation, which is also true of the Selva, or jungle, which covers a large proportion of the country and is the beginning of the great Amazon basin. The climate varies from tropical in the east to dry desert in the west. Peru was the centre of the great Inca Empire, which was conquered by the Spanish in the sixteenth century, and remained under Spanish rule for 300 years before winning independence in 1821.
