Peru is located in central and western South America facing the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia and on the south by Chile.

Due to its geography, Peru has a wide variety of resources, mainly mineral and genetic resources, and a variety of living species and ecosystems as well. Hence, this is a widely diverse country.

Moreover, Peru has a multiethnic population with an exceptionally rich cultural and historical heritage, which is the result of the Andean civilization coming into contact with the western civilization and the contribution made by diverse cultures.

Officially the Republic of Peru, this country was home to the Inca Empire. Peru is a presidential republic, divided into departments, provinces and districts.

Nowadays, Peru is going through a process of regionalizing what means that plans have been made to divide the country into regions that will replace the departments. The Constitutional Province of Callao (Provincia Constitucional del Callao), which does not appear on the map, is one example of this.

Judging by its location, on the strip of the tropical latitudes in the southern hemisphere, Peru should have a tropical climate, warm and rainy, such as it happens in the Amazon plain and the eastern Yungas.

However, Peru, unlike other equatorial countries, does not have an exclusively tropical climate; the influence of the Andes Mountain Range, quite uneven in this area, the Humboldt Current and the warm air current known as El Niño causes great climatic diversity within the country.

Peru has twenty-eight out of the thirty-two defined climates in the planet setting this way a world record well worth mentioning.

Ravines, canyons, waterfalls, tropical and subtropical mountains, puna, altiplano plateau, sierras, moors are some of the natural beauties and landscapes that can be found in this country.

Also, a broad variety of landscapes can be found in Peru as well such as dry tropical desert, humid subtropical desert, dry tropical coastal yunga, humid tropical coastal yunga, high Amazon jungle, low Amazon jungle, edge of the jungle, Amazon forest, tropical forest of the Pacific, dry equatorial forest, tropical savannah and palm tree savannah.

Christianity is the country’s main religion. More than ninety per cent of the country’s population describe themselves as Catholics. So, together with Brazil, the Philippines and Mexico, Peru is one of the countries with more Catholic worshippers in the world.

Moreover, the rest of the population follows other religions, mainly Protestant Christianity. There are also some atheists and people who belong to the Islam and to the Jewish religion among the Peruvian population and a few converts as well.

One of the main religious images is the Solemnidad del Señor de los Milagros. This brotherhood dates from the times of the Vice Royalty of Peru, and its celebrations take place during October in Lima.

This brotherhood was saluted by the Pope John Paul II, who baptize it the “cuaresma limeña” (“Lent from Lima”) and by Pope Benedict XVI as well. Peru has forty five ecclesiastic jurisdictions including seven archdioceses with one cardinal, the Archbishop of Lima Juan Luis Cipriani.

This country has long been a melting pot for a number of cultures such as the Inca and Hispanic and other Pre Hispanic cultures that did not belong to the Inca Empire. Hence, it is hardly surprising that Peru has a rich and colourful history and popular folklore.

This racially mixed community has been enriched by contributions made by other cultures that have settled in Peru, mainly African, European (other than Spanish) and Asian cultures.

A significant part of the Peruvian population earns a living by working in the service industry, or in the exploitation and exportation of natural resources.

Macro-economic indicators suggest that collective investments schemes have encouraged the development of important areas of industrialization, especially in the south area of the country. This has been known as “economic growth phenomena”.

Peru proves a highly suitable country for making investments. It is worth mentioning that the economic growth rate went beyond expectations ascending to 9.6% during the third quarter.

Nowadays, according to reports delivered by the IMF in 2005/2006, Peru is one of the world’s top ten countries regarding macroeconomics growth.