Peru became independent from Spanish rule on July 28, 1821. It has over 496,224 square miles of land, making it the third largest country in South America. The three geographical regions of the country are the Pacific Coastal Strip, the Andes Mountains, and the Amazonian Lowlands. Therefore, climates in Peru vary drastically. Peru's government is constitutional republic. Their constitution was signed on December 31, 1993. Peru's flag has three equal, vertical bands of red, white, and red with the coat of arms (a shield with a vicuna, a cinchona tree, and a yellow cornucopia filled with gold coins, all inside a green wreath) centered in the white band. Population of the country is estimated to be between 30 and 31 million. Spoken by over seventy …show more content…
School is mandatory for children ages seven to sixteen. Mandatory education is free. Many Peruvian children wear solid gray uniforms to school. Classes are held in the morning and the afternoon, and students must attend one or the other. Students can attend college after age sixteen. However, the relatively small number of universities in Peru means that it can be difficult to gain admission. Only 3 percent of the population is able to attend university. Because of increase in child education, the literacy rate (ability to read and write from age fifteen and up) in Peru is relatively high, reaching almost 90 …show more content…
Men wear simple pants, Western-style button-down shirts, and sandals. Also, each region has its own style of hat, so it is possible to tell which region someone is from by their hat. As the process of urbanization in Peru has advanced, so has the process of Westernization. Many Peruvians choose Western-style clothes for both everyday and special occasions. Young Peruvians in urban areas prefer jeans, American tennis shoes, and Western-style skirts instead of the traditional alpaca and llama wool