MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
|
|
Peru
Index
![[PDF]](/images/frd/cs/peru/pe00_05a.pdf)
Official Name: Republic of Peru (República del
Perú).
Short Name: Peru.
Term for Citizens: Peruvian(s).
Capital: Lima.
Date of Independence: Declared July 28, 1821,
from
Spain; achieved, 1824.
GEOGRAPHY
Size: 1,285,216 square kilometers.
Topography: Western coast (Costa) mountainous
and arid.
Andes mountains in center (Andean highlands or Sierra)
high and
rugged. Less than one-fourth of Sierra, which includes
cold,
high-altitude grasslands (the puna), natural pasture. Puna
widens
into extensive plateau, Altiplano, adjoining Bolivia in
southern
Sierra. Eastern lowlands consist of semi-tropical and
rugged
cloud forests of eastern slopes (Montaña), lying between
800 and
3,800 meters; and jungle (Selva), which includes high
jungle
(selva alta), lying between 400 and 800 meters, and
tropical low jungle (selva baja) of Amazon Basin,
lying
between 80 and 400 meters. Land use: 3 percent arable, 21
percent
meadows and pastures, 55 percent forest and woodland, and
21
percent other, including 1 percent irrigated.
Climate: Varies from dry in western coastal
desert to
temperate in highland valleys; harsh, chilly conditions on
puna
and western Andean slopes; semi-tropical in Montaña;
tropical in
Selva. Uninhabited areas over 5,500 meters high have
arctic
climate. Rainy winter season runs from October through
April; dry
summer in remaining months.
Data as of September 1992
|
|
