Editing Peru (section)

===Prehistory and Pre-Columbian Peru===
{{main|Pre-Columbian Peru|Andean civilizations}}
[[File:Caral-25.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|Remains of a [[Norte Chico civilization|Caral/Norte Chico]] pyramid in the arid Supe Valley]]
The earliest evidences of human presence in Peruvian territory have been dated to approximately 12,500 [[Common Era|BCE]] in the [[Huaca Prieta]] settlement.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dillehay |first=Tom D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GIIlDwAAQBAJ |title=Where the Land Meets the Sea |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781477311493 |page=4 |access-date=30 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200317022348/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Where_the_Land_Meets_the_Sea/GIIlDwAAQBAJ |archive-date=17 March 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref>  Andean societies were based on agriculture, using techniques such as [[irrigation]] and [[Terrace (earthworks)|terracing]]; [[camelid]] husbandry and fishing were also important. Organization relied on [[Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)|reciprocity]] and [[Redistribution (cultural anthropology)|redistribution]] because these societies had no notion of market or money. The oldest known complex society in Peru, the [[Caral–Supe civilization|Caral-Supe civilization]], flourished along the coast of the Pacific Ocean between 3,000 and 1,800 BCE.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ancient Andes |url=https://historyguild.org/the-ancient-andes/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=History Guild |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=UNESCO |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1269/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=whc.unesco.org}}</ref> These early developments were followed by archaeological cultures that developed mostly around the coastal and Andean regions throughout Peru. The [[Cupisnique]] culture which flourished from around 1000 to 200 BCE<ref>{{cite journal |last=Cordy-Collins |first=Alana |date=1992 |title=Archaism or Tradition?: The Decapitation Theme in Cupisnique and Moche Iconography |journal=Latin American Antiquity |volume=3 |issue=3 |pages=206–220 |doi=10.2307/971715 |jstor=971715 |s2cid=56406255}}</ref> along what is now Peru's [[Pacific coast]] was an example of early pre-[[Inca Empire|Inca culture]].
[[File:Moche_earrings.jpg|alt=|thumb|[[Moche culture|Moche]] earrings depicting warriors, made of turquoise and gold (1–800 CE)]]
The [[Chavín culture]] that developed from 1500 to 300 BCE was probably more of a religious than a political phenomenon, with their religious center in [[Chavín de Huantar]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Chavin (Archaeological Site) |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/330 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508102511/https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/330 |archive-date=8 May 2016 |access-date=27 July 2014 |publisher=UNESCO}}</ref> After the decline of the Chavin culture around the beginning of the 1st century CE, a series of localized and specialized cultures rose and fell, both on the coast and in the highlands, during the next thousand years. On the coast, these included the civilizations of the [[Paracas culture|Paracas]], [[Nazca culture|Nazca]], [[Wari culture|Wari]], and the more outstanding [[Chimú culture|Chimu]] and [[Moche culture|Moche]].

The Moche, who reached their apogee in the first millennium CE, were renowned for their irrigation system which fertilized their arid terrain, their sophisticated ceramic pottery, their lofty buildings, and clever metalwork.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Beck |first1=Roger B. |url=https://archive.org/details/mcdougallittellw00beck |title=World History: Patterns of Interaction |last2=Black |first2=Linda |last3=Krieger |first3=Larry S. |last4=Naylor |first4=Phillip C. |last5=Shabaka |first5=Dahia Ibo |publisher=McDougal Littell |year=1999 |isbn=0-395-87274-X |location=Evanston, IL |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mochica culture, pre-Inca in northern Peru |work=Sobre Peru |date=11 September 2009 |url=http://sobre-peru.com/2009/09/11/cultura-mochica-pre-inca-en-el-norte-peruano/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160629145512/http://sobre-peru.com/2009/09/11/cultura-mochica-pre-inca-en-el-norte-peruano/ |archive-date=29 June 2016 }}</ref> The Chimu were the great city builders of pre-Inca civilization; as a loose confederation of walled cities scattered along the coast of northern Peru, the Chimu flourished from about 1140 to 1450.<ref name="Keatinge22" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=UNESCO 2 |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/366/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=whc.unesco.org}}</ref> Their capital was at [[Chan Chan]] outside of modern-day [[Trujillo, Peru|Trujillo]].<ref name="Keatinge22" /> In the highlands, both the [[Tiwanaku Empire|Tiahuanaco]] culture, near [[Lake Titicaca]] in both Peru and Bolivia,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blom |first1=Deborah E. |last2=Janusek |first2=John W. |date=2004 |title=Making Place: Humans as Dedications in Tiwanaku |journal=World Archaeology |volume=36 |pages=123–141 |doi=10.1080/0043824042000192623 |s2cid=154741300}}</ref> and the Wari culture, near the present-day city of [[Ayacucho]], developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between 500 and 1000 CE.<ref>[http://countrystudies.us/peru/2.htm Pre-Inca Cultures] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103012150/http://countrystudies.us/peru/2.htm|date=3 November 2016}}. countrystudies.us.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=UNESCO 3 |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/567/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=whc.unesco.org}}</ref>
[[File:Machu_Picchu,_Peru.jpg|alt=|left|thumb|The citadel of [[Machu Picchu]], an iconic symbol of pre-Columbian Peru]]
In the 15th century, the [[Inca Empire|Incas]] emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the [[Inca Empire|largest empire]] in the [[Pre-Columbian era|pre-Columbian Americas]] with their capital in [[Cusco]].<ref>Rowe, John (1948). "The Kingdom of Chimor". ''Acta Americana''.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Dunnell |first=Tony |date=2019-05-11 |title=Ten Interesting Facts About The Inca Empire |url=https://www.savacations.com/ten-interesting-facts-inca-empire/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=SA Vacations |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pachacuti-Inca-Yupanqui. Accessed 18 May 2025</ref> The Incas of Cusco originally represented one of the small and relatively minor ethnic groups, the [[Quechua people|Quechuas]]. Gradually, as early as the thirteenth century, they began to expand and incorporate their neighbors. Inca expansion was slow until about the middle of the fifteenth century, when the pace of conquest began to accelerate, particularly under the rule of the emperor [[Pachacuti]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Demarest |first1=Arthur Andrew |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=IqecX148zLsC|page=57}} |title=Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism |last2=Conrad |first2=Geoffrey W. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1984 |isbn=0-521-31896-3 |location=Cambridge |pages=57–59}}</ref> Under his rule and that of his son, [[Topa Inca Yupanqui]], the Incas came to control most of the Andean region, with a population of 9 to 16 million inhabitants under their rule. Pachacuti also promulgated a comprehensive code of laws to govern his far-flung empire, while consolidating his absolute temporal and spiritual authority as the God of the Sun who ruled from a magnificently rebuilt Cusco.<ref>Peru [http://countrystudies.us/peru/3.htm The Incas] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103012145/http://countrystudies.us/peru/3.htm|date=3 November 2016}}</ref> 

From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America, centered on the [[Andes|Andean]] mountain ranges, from southern Colombia to northern Chile, between the Pacific Ocean in the west and the Amazon rainforest in the east. The official language of the empire was [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]],<ref>Torero Fernández de Córdoba, Alfredo. (1970) "Lingüística e historia de la Sociedad Andina", Anales Científicos de la Universidad Agraria, VIII, 3–4, págs. 249–251. Lima: UNALM.</ref> although hundreds of local languages and dialects were spoken. The Inca referred to their empire as ''Tawantinsuyu'' which can be translated as "The Four Regions" or "The Four United Provinces." Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire, most of them concerning local sacred ''[[Huaca|Huacas]]'', but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of [[Inti]], the sun god and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of [[Pachamama]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Inca – All Empires |url=http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=inca |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120164828/http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=inca |archive-date=20 January 2012 |website=www.allempires.com}}</ref> The Incas considered their King, the [[Sapa Inca]], to be the "[[Solar deity|child of the sun]]."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091110041802/http://www.nflc.org/Reach/7ca/enCAInca.htm "The Inca"] at the [[Wayback Machine]] (archived 10 November 2009) ''The National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland.'' 29 May 2007. Retrieved 27 July 2014.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-03-11 |title=Inca: Empire, Religion & Civilization |url=https://www.history.com/articles/inca |access-date=2025-05-18 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref>