Peruvian Daily Life
Learn more about the traditional foods, clothing, housing, and lifestyles of Peru.
Daily life in historic Peru depended primarily on location and local culture. Life in the Andes, for example, is still distinct from that of the arid coast or Amazon rainforest. In rural areas, agriculture remains an important lifestyle with a history stretching back thousands of years. The terraced fields of the Andes supported staple crops of maize, squash, and potatoes. Other common cultivars included cotton, peanuts, beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cashews, and avocado. Coastal peoples relied more on seafoods carried by the rich Humboldt current. In the Amazon, tribal groups hunted, fished, and practiced limited farming. Andean peoples also raised llamas and alpacas for meat, wool, and transportation. They spun alpaca wool into fabrics and dyed them in vibrant colors, cochineal red being most common. Domestic guinea pigs, or cuy, remain an Andean delicacy. Houses, again based on region, were made with stone, timber, and thatch.
The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century forever altered Peruvian ways of life. The Europeans brought new livestock, crops, and technologies to the region. In exchange, the potatoes, maize, and other plants they brought back to Europe would revolutionize Old World food production. For the common people of Peru, however, the new invaders brought mainly death, disease, and devastation. The indigenous population of Peru at the time of conquest has been estimated at 9 million people. By 1630, it was around 600,000. The Spanish sought to concentrate and manage different cultures by relocating them to central villages, or reducciones. In these towns, native people, African slaves, and Spanish officials mingled. Indigenous people and the new mestizo class worked as forced laborers on farms and in silver mines before gradually scattering again.
The people of modern Peru lead lives as diverse as their ancestors. A large urban workforce, mostly centered in coastal Lima, enjoy modern amenities, careers, and lifestyles. Popular national dishes include ceviche, or citrus-cured fish served with chili peppers and vegetables; guinea pig; and lomo saltado, an Asian-influenced beef stir fry. More rural areas see higher indigenous populations, many of whom speak Quechua languages. The Andes are home to about half of Peru’s citizens. Poverty rates in the nation are relatively high. Those of closer European ancestry are more likely to occupy high-status positions than those of Amerindian descent.
References
Ferreira, César and Eduardo Dargent-Chamot. Culture and Customs of Peru. Greenwood Press. 2003.
Hemming, John. The Conquest of the Inca. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 1973.
Hunefeldt, Christine. A Brief History of Peru. Infobase Publishing. 2014.
Minelli, Laura, ed. The Inca World: The Development of Pre-Columbian Peru. University of Oklahoma Press. 1999.
“The World Factbook: Peru.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 4 June 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pe.html.
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