The Distinctive Peruvian Culture

Peru is a Spanish speaking country surrounded by beautiful geography and has a spectacular cultural contrast. The country houses over 23 million residents consisting of Spanish settlers, and the native Inca and among all other countries ranks 19^th in population size (PeruFacts). Peru is a quite diverse because of its unique climate, natural characteristics and cultural variation. The native Indian and Spanish roots cultivate the modern Peruvian society, which today accommodates three languages ranging from Spanish, Native Quechua and Aymara. Most notable of all Peru posses a very distinctive culture because of the combination of the Peruvian social structure, family conquest, inter-cultural mixing and rapid changing legacy’s.

The natural characteristics of this country have greatly impacted Peruvians by dividing the country in multiple regions, which caused many problems for development and interactivity of uniting one society. The Andean Sierra highland that was nearly twenty thousand feet high was nature’s main instrument in separating Peru into compound social orders. The highlands accompanied about half of Peru’s population. Since the pre-Columbian times Peru has been dramatically forced to become regionally diverse and has greatly impacted the equalities of labor and the living standards of Peruvians. As a result social standards such as health, education, law, and agricultural are said to be distributed erratically across

The Peruvian culture is divided viciously by nature from Aboriginal Mountain residents to imposing imperial cites. The rural communities now express their values differently from traditional practices such as owning new technology and dressing more modern that is similar to American fashion standards. However, on the other spectrum, the natives such as the Andes are upholding their ancestral traditional practices although the world is changing. If you visited these people you will find that they still operate family fields and manage the land using their bare hands and sometimes have animals to harness more vigorous duties. Like most native cultures in the United States, Peruvian natives fundamentally organize their communities by work, marriage and land-ownership. Common examples of a Peruvian society that still functions as this particularly type of community are known as the ayllu, located in Quechua. Their main tradition is known to be work exchange in which services are rendered with obligatory repayment of equal kind such gift giving in America we expect a equal repayment. (Mosley, 1992)

Today because of centuries of cultural mixing most Peruvians would fall into the category known as Mestizo American Indian or European. Social divisions are not so much racially defined but are culturally defined. The best example is that today to become a Mestizo you don’t have to be born into the culture, you may become one by choice and uphold their beliefs and practices. The Misti, which is noted to be the most dominant social class in the Andes share their cultural traits and are able to participate in modern activities and education. However there are other groups that are ethno linguistic that do not take part in this practice and enforce strict native rule over modernization. Overall the majority of highland people live their lives from modern benefit so that they focus on maintaining loyalty to their ancestral heritage. I find that the bright homemade costumes of native Peruvian cultures are the most intriguing.

Stepping away from traditional societies of Peru the middle class is the most difficult to characterize because of the integration of modernization and city life. The economy was the ultimate cause of growth with the Peruvian middle class because of the increase of entrepreneurship and public services. It was almost obligatory for native Peruvians to move from the highlands and work to provide their families with basic resources for survivability. We can almost identify how this has affected an abundance of cultures in world history including our own country, the United States. Today Peruvian development is thought to be grossly inadequate because it cannot sustain its inhabitants. The national economy has opened a large amount of traditional market daily street trade and bargaining with market vendors. There you can find a wide range of goods from agriculture to native crafts such a beautiful native clothing and art. Many tourists come to Peru because of trade markets and find that they are indulging in the unique heritage. Each and everyday Peru is consistently becoming more stable as a society by working together to increase the strength of their culture.

Peru shares many cultural characteristics as other countries but stands out for it’s unique practices and enriching history. Through native societies to metropolitan areas Peru continues to demonstrate the importance for culture connectivity. Many tourists such as myself would consider their art and trade exceptionally diverse which personally gives a positive impression on their society. Similar to Hawaii, Peru strives to preserve their cultural legacies by dedicated particular parts the country to natives. The miscellaneous practices of Peru’s culture are something all countries should learn from so that future generations will understand how people became who they are today.