Post contributed by Photo and A/V Archives Aid Tom Hillhouse

When most people think of Peru, they think of the Incan civilization. Which is fair, the Incan Civilization was super cool! However the Incas tend to be a catch-all for Peru’s history and culture. There is a tendency to glorify the past and ignore the recent history of conflict in  order to sell an idea of culture or exoticism to tourists. Peruvian culture is so much more than the Inca or Machu Picchu, it is a tapestry of traditions and beliefs weaved together by the Indigenous people who have lived there for centuries.

I am writing this as a tourist and student who went to Peru to study abroad. I saw the most gorgeous landscapes and buildings, met amazing people, and witnessed some truly awful tourists. While I was in Peru I finally got to see the places that I saw in my history book, engage with the people who lived there, and see what history was preserved. In this blog I will be giving a history of Peru and discussing tourism’s impact on Peru.

Gallery: Author photos of Peru. Left side, top to bottom: a hike in Andahuaylillas, Chinchero terraces, and the Sacred Valley. Right side, clockwise: steps in Ollantaytambo, Inca Ruins in Ollantaytambo, and Inca doorway architecture.

Pre-Columbian Era (9000 B.C.E. – 1532 C.E.)

The History of Peru can be broadly put into 3 eras: the Pre-Columbian era, the Colonial era, and the Republican era. In the Pre-Columbian Era, the first evidence we have of people is in 9,000 B.C.E. We know that they were a small group of hunters and gatherers and are given credit for the cave paintings at Lauricocha and Toquepala. However, the oldest civilization goes back to 3,000 B.C.E. and is known today as Caral. The city of Caral in its prime was home to about 3,000 people. Surrounding Caral are 19 different sites that housed a total of 20,000 people.

1000–300 B.C.E. was the Chavín’s time to shine; they developed beautiful pottery and artwork. Even as the Chavín faded, their influence on religion and culture was preserved, as well as their artwork and pottery techniques. From 300 B.C.E.–1400 C.E. the Paracas were creating beautiful textiles, and the Moche were making buildings that have stood the test of time. The Moche are credited with building the Temple of the Sun and Moon, while the Nazca experimented with creating artwork you could see from the sky (Nazca Lines)!

Unfortunately, the Moche were wiped out by an ongoing drought. This is when the Wari emerged. They fought, conquered, and subdued the culture of those they conquered. Because of this we know little about other cultures between 700 C.E. and 1100 C.E. besides what archaeologists have excavated. Wari influence faded around 1000 C.E., but the Chimú of Trujillo, Chachapoyas, and Sican states would thrive for the next 400 years. The Inca empire only lasted for a century, but because it was the most recent and we have the most information on it, itc became the most popular. The Inca conquered a lot of the central Andes, but no one was prepared for the weapons and diseases of the Spanish.

Colonial Era (1532–1824)

In 1524, smallpox was introduced from conquistadors in Panama. It swept through the Incan empire at a terrifying rate. It killed the Incan ruler Huayna Capac and most of his family. This led to political unrest and a civil war between two half-brothers competing for the crown, Atahualpa and Huáscar. Eventually Huáscar was named the Inca king, but his success didn’t last long. He was captured by conquistador Francisco Pizarro and ransomed. After the ransom was paid, the Spaniards killed Huáscar, tried Atahualpa for murder, and had Atahualpa publicly executed.

In 1534, Pizarro and his soldiers refounded the Incan city of Cuzco into a new Spanish settlement. In 1571, Cuzco became a pillaging state—the Spaniards were stealing as much silver and gold as they could and were giving it to Spain or fighting over it themselves. Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of Peru, established order with the Spaniards and the Peruvians by forcing Indigenous people into areas controlled by the Spanish, building cathedrals, and converting as many people as they could to Catholicism.

Republican Era (1824–Present)

The Republican Era starts with Peru’s fight for independence, led by José de San Martín of Argentina and Simón Bolívar of Venezuela. San Martín proclaimed Peruvian independence from Spain on July 28, 1821. Spain was unwilling to recognize Peru as independent until December 1824, when General Antonio José de Sucre defeated Spanish troops at Ayacucho. With this freedom the new republican government attempted to get rid of colonial elements and instead highlight Incan culture. By 1894, the government declared that all pre-colonial structures in Peru would be turned into national monuments.

Recent History

In 1960, philosophy professor Abimael Guzmán founded the Shining Path. Its goal was to overthrow the government through guerrilla warfare and replace it with a dictatorship, sparking a cultural revolution that would eventually grow into worldwide communism.

From 1968 through 1980, Peru was ruled by the military. General Juan Velasco Alvarado overthrew President Fernando Belaúnde Terry because of abuse of power claims. However, in 1975, because of Velasco’s economic mismanagement and deteriorating health he was replaced by General Francisco Morales Bermúdez Cerruti, who tried to restore the country’s economy.

In 1980, it did not matter who Peruvian civilians aligned with, they were being killed and abused by the police and the Shining Path alike. Both groups were trying to gain support through terror and were not concerned who got hurt in the process. The government ordered massacres of villages and encouraged torture and sexual violence to its citizens. “The CVR’s final report, published in August 2003, found that the combined insurgent and counterinsurgent violence had caused an estimated 69,000 deaths and disappearances” (Peru CJA). The Center for Justice and Accountability goes on to say from “1980 to 2000, some 70,000 Peruvians, the majority of them indigenous, died in fighting between government forces and guerillas. Both sides of the civil war committed systematic human rights atrocities.”

The transfer of power from Belaúnde to Alan García Perez on July 28, 1985 was Peru’s first exchange of power from one democratically elected leader to another in 40 years. But the economic mismanagement by García led to hyperinflation and the people voted for Alberto Fujimori in the next election. In 1992, Fujimori did a self-coup, dissolving congress and regional governments, and assuming control over the judiciary. The people supported the coup because they were frustrated with politicians inefficiency and corruption. “After the coup, Fujimori implemented a clandestine, parallel strategy of counter-subversion that included widespread domestic surveillance against political rivals, ‘hooded’ unconstitutional tribunals, and a campaign of extrajudicial killing and torture that targeted suspected leftists” (Peru CJA).

The 1980s and 90s included surprise attacks from the Shining Path, cocaine trafficking, and street crime. Peruvians fled the cities to the countryside. While Peru is rich in culture and history, it remains poor, and dominated by elites. In 2001, under President Alejandro Toledo, the economy grew, but Peru continued to have abuse of power, instability and poor management. Former president Alberto Fujimori fled the country to live in Japan and was arrested in 2005. He was convicted for ordering murders of suspected Shining Path members by death squads, abuse of power, bribery, and illegal tapping of phones. 

“The extremes of violence and reason, male and female, the Andean and the Western, the primitive and the modern converge in a public spectacle of national unity, staged by the government as part of the cultural politics of state-building in the wake of harsh years of political violence and economic crisis that have torn so deeply at the fiction of the imagined community of a united nation” (To Revolt Against the Revolution pp. 555).

Tourism

Now with our brief history lesson out of the way, we can discuss tourism in Peru. Peru has had a lot of political unrest in recent history due to corrupt politicians, natural disasters, and economic instability. With travel being accessible to more people and the fear of the Shining Path fading, Peru has become a place that tourists flock to. In 1995, the number of tourists that spent at least one night in Peru was 479,000. In 2024, that number was a startling 3,200,000 tourists visiting Peru, overwhelming the country, historic sites, and architecture.

Tourism has helped build Peru’s economy, but the question we should ask is what are they selling? “In each of the last three years, the army has trucked thousands of ronderos into Lima to march on July 28, Peru’s Independence Day. Newspaper photos and TV news footage overflow with the “exotic” imagery of ponchoed peasants along with a sprinkling of Amazonian militiamen in jaguar-tooth necklaces and war paint” (To Revolt Against the Revolution pp. 555). The local culture is adjusted in order to satisfy tourists and boost the economy.

This isn’t just a story about Peru, but of many countries using culture as a commodity, and unaware tourists. I am not trying to convince you to never travel and see the world. I am pushing for you to be aware of the place you are going to, the history and culture behind it, the narrative being pushed, authentic experiences vs tourist traps, and to be mindful of the people living there.

References:

Physical Sources:

George C. and Nena O’Neill papers, Collection Number: 7995, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Dave Houser, Collection Number: 12564, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

H.W. Straley, Collection Number: 3396, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.

Online Sources:

Alexandrino Ocaña, G. “Reclaiming heritage and citizenship: urban pre-colonial cultural heritage management and heritage grassroots organizations in Lima, Peru”. Journal of Social Archaeology, 23(3), 303-325. (2023). 

EDODYSSEY. “Peru’s Recent History: A Story of Struggles and Growth”. Accessed August 3, 2026. https://www.edodyssey.com/blog/2018/12/13/perus-recent-history-a-story-of-struggles-and-growth 

Frommer’s. “Today in Peru”. Accessed August 3, 2026. https://www.frommers.com/destinations/peru/in-depth/today/ 

Gasparovic, Mike. Horizon Guides. “A Brief History of Pre-Columbian Peru.” May 19, 2025. https://horizonguides.com/guides/peru-ruins/timeline-of-pre-colombian-peru 

“Peru.” The Center For Justice and Accountability. Accessed August 3, 2026. https://cja.org/where-we-work/peru/ 

Quilter, Jeffery. “From Conquest to Colony: The Early Colonial Period in Peru.” February 4, 2021. Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 1:14:53.17. https://peabody.harvard.edu/video-conquest-colony-early-colonial-period-peru 

Starn, Orin. “To Revolt against the Revolution: War and Resistance in Peru’s Andes.” Cultural Anthropology 10, no. 4 (1995): 547–80. http://www.jstor.org/stable/656257.

“Tourism in Peru.” World Data Info. Updated July, 2026. https://www.worlddata.info/america/peru/tourism.php 

U.S. Department of State Archive. “Background Notes: Peru”. January 20, 2001.