Perú--part: Huancavelica, Ayacucho, Apurímac, Cuzco and Puno

How is the land laid out?

This is part of the Andes Mountains and plateau, running northwest to southeast through Perú. That system has three principle ranges,¹ the Central, which dominates the north of this region but gives out as one moves south, the Eastern,² which rises above the northeast, and the Western,³ in the southwest and bounding the rest of the west. The tallest Andean peak in this area is Auzangate in the Eastern Range at 6384 meters. Altitudes and land use very extremely from glacial peaks above 5000 meters through grazing highlands down into deep and farmable river valleys. These rivers are part of the Amazonas⁵ River system. With these headwaters the Amazon is the continent's longest and the world's second longest.⁶ Generally these rivers arise in the high mountains and flow between ranges in the same direction as the Andes and include the Apurímac system, coming from the south, the Marañón in the northwest, and the Huallaga in the northeast. Further south the Western and Eastern (or Carabaya) ranges are separated by the Altiplano⁷ plateau. this elevated intermonane area contains Lake Titicaca which straddles the Bolivian border. Within Peru's Altiplano, rivers flow into the lake. Titicaca is the world's highest large lake and is South America's second⁸ largest. Beyond the eastern mountains is selva, forests drained by the Madeira⁹ system.

Who lives there?

Less than four million people live below the frigid wastelands, the majority speaking Quechua as their birth language although Spanish steadily gains ground.¹⁰ Nearly everyone is Christian and almost all of them are Roman Catholic. There are no large cities and no one smaller city predominates.

Who was there before?

People arrived at least 11,000 years ago, perhaps much earlier, probably migrating from the north. Quechua speakers probably originated in the north end of the region and spread southward, through the region and beyond. Their famous Incan state was centered outside this region and conquered their fellow Quechuans in the 15th century. By that time the state-sponsored religion embraced a pantheon of gods, including Inti and Viracocha. Spanish and Christianity arrived by conquest in the following century.

southwest, northwest and northeast
east of Puno

Other broad topics

Footnotes

1. cordilleras in Spanish
2. Oriental in Spanish
3. Occidental in Spanish
4. translates as Snowy Peak
5. Amazon in English.
6. Lake Vilafro, the source of the Apurímac, determines the great river's maximum length.
7. Translates as High Flatland.
8. Largest if Maracaibo is considered an oceanic extension rather than a lake.
9. South America's third or fourth longest river, a tributary of the Amazon.
10. Puno Department is the exception. There is no majority language; Quechua is the most spoken natively.