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Article: Peru
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PERU
The viceroyalty of Peru covered virtually all of Spanish-speaking South America, an area that today encompasses all or part of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay. Its topography and climates vary, from the deserts of coastal Peru and Chile to the ra
inforests of the upper Amazon basin, the Mediterranean climate of Chile's central valley, and the glaciated Andean peaks and nearby alpine meadows. The unifying element is the
Andes Mountains, which stretch down the western coast of Central and South America from Panama to Tierra del Fuego.
GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING
The Andean mountain range extends south 4,971 miles (8,000 km) from northern Colombia to ...