Facts about Peru

1. 09

   Peru's Amazon rainforest region covers 60 percent of the country's territory and contains approximately 10 percent of all species on Earth.

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2. 08

   Quinoa, a grain crop native to Peru's Andes region and domesticated around 3000 BCE, contains all nine essential amino acids making it a complete protein source.

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3. 07

   Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro executed the last Inca emperor Atahualpa in 1533, ending the 100-year reign of the Inca Empire and establishing Spanish colonial rule.

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4. 06

   Over 90 percent of the world's guano production historically came from islands off Peru's coast, which accumulated from millions of seabirds and became a major 19th-century export commodity.

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5. 05

   Lake Titicaca, shared between Peru and Bolivia, sits 12,507 feet above sea level and is the world's highest navigable lake for large vessels.

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6. 04

   Approximately 3,000 varieties of potato originate from Peru, where the crop was first domesticated in the Andes mountains around 7000 BCE.

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7. 03

   At 6,768 meters, Mount Huascarán stands as Peru's highest peak and the world's highest tropical mountain.

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8. 02

   In 1911, American historian Hiram Bingham brought international attention to Machu Picchu, an Incan citadel built around 1450 at 7,970 feet elevation in the Eastern Cordillera mountains of Peru.

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9. 01

   The Nazca Lines in southern Peru cover 170 square miles with geoglyphs drawn between 500 BCE and 500 CE, visible only from above.

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