Land of the Inca

Peru is a large South American country that lies just south of the equator. In the west it has a long coastline on the Pacific Ocean. Many of Peru’s major cities are located on a narrow strip of flat land along the coast. Among them is Lima,rift gold the capital. Eastern Peru is part of the huge basin of the Amazon River. It is nearly covered with rainforests. Between the coast and the Amazon region are the Andes. Some peaks in this mountain range reach higher than 20,000 feet. High in the Andes is Lake Titicaca, one of the largest lakes in South America.

Around AD 1200 a group of Indians called the Inca formed the city of Cuzco in what is now Peru. From there they set out to conquer other Indian peoples along South America’s west coast. Eventually the Inca ruled over as many as 12 million people. But their great empire was destroyed when Spanish soldiers seized the land in the 1530s. Spain ruled until Peru won its independence almost 300 years later.

Today Peru still has many reminders of the Inca. The country’s name comes from a word meaning “land of abundance” in Quechua,rift gold the Inca language. The name refers to the riches that the Inca got from the land, including great amounts of gold. Indians who still speak the Quechua language make up about half of Peru’s population. And in the Andes there is Machu Picchu. The remarkable stone remains of this Inca settlement attract visitors from all over the world.