Figure 1.--This portrait shows a Peruvia boy and a girl, persumably siblings, holding hands in fancy outfits with white long stockings. The portrait is not dated, but looks like the late 1870s to us. The outfits seem similar to what Spanish children might wear. These would be affluent children from an urban family, probably in Lima. This is not how most Peruvian children were dressed. The names of the children are written on the back, but they are hard to read. I think that they are José and Issura Carrabio R. Put your cursor on the image to see the back. Perhaps you can make it out better.

We have very limited information on Peru ar this time. This page is just link various HBC pages about Peru, until we can build a Peruvian country page. Hopefully Peruvian readers visiting HBC will help help us with this as HBC develops. Any discussion of clothing in Peru must begin with the Inca and other Andean Native American civilixzations. The Inca were renowed for their marvelous textiles. Peru played a fundamental role in the development of modern Europe. While the Conquistadores in the 16th century were primarily after gold, the humble potato made possible a population explosion that played a key role in the industrial revolution and the making of modern Europe. Native Americans make up a sizeable proportion of the Peruvian population. There are native American tribal groups in both the Sierra and Amazonian basin. One Amazonian tribe is the Shaur, the largest of the Jivaro group. We do have a Peruvian artist that has painted a scene of a boy in traditional clothing. We also have a 1917 portrait of a boy with an Eton collar. A fashionalble Peruvian boy from an affluent family of European origin in the late 19th and early 20th century might wear a suit with an Eton collar. We believe that this was common throughout Latin America at the time. Most Peruvian boys at the time, however, were very poor and still not wearing European fashions. The most noted Peruvian photographer is Martin Chambi. We have some information on school uniform.

Tenemos información muy limitada sobre el Perú a este momento. Esta página es solamente para guiarle al varias HBC páginas del acoplamiento justo sobre Perú, hasta que podemos construir una página propio del país peruana. Esperanzadamente los lectores peruanos que visitan HBC ayudarán con esto mientras que HBC se dessarrollo. Cualquier discusión de arropar en Perú debe comenzar con el Inca y otros civilizations americanos nativos andinos. El Inca era famoso para sus textiles maravillosos. Perú desempeñó un papel fundamental en el desarrollo de Europa moderna. Mientras que el Conquistadores en el 16º siglo estaba sobre todo buscando para oro, la patata humilde hizo posible una explosión de población que desempeñó un papel dominante en la revolución industrial y la desarollo de Europa moderna. Los nativos americanos componen a una proporción importante de la población peruana. Hay grupos tribales del nativo americano en la sierra y el lavabo amazónico. Una tribu amazónica es el Shaur, el más grande del grupo de Jivaro. Tenemos un artista Peruano que ha pintado una escena de un muchacho en la ropa tradicional. También tenemos un retrato 1917 de un muchacho con un collar de Eton. Un muchacho peruano fashionalble de una familia afluente del origen europeo en el 19º ultimo y vigásimo 20º siglo pudo llevar un traje con un cuello de Eton. Creo que esro fue común a través de América latina en ese epoca. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los muchachos peruanos, eran muy pobres y todavía no usaban estilos europeos. El photographo Peruano mas mas notable es Martin Chambi. Tenemos algun information on uniformes esolares.

Geography

Peru is the third largest country in South America, much larger than most European countries, The countryt located in the tropics south of the equator. Peru has an amazing diversity of climate and as a result flora and fauna. Pachamama was the mythical Inca mother earth and Pachamama realm inlude one of the most bio-diverse regions on earh. snow-capped peaks, deser, rain forest, lush agricultural land, and costal regions. Peru is divided into three sharply different geographical regions: the Pacific coastal strip, the Andes mountains (Sierra), and the Amazonian lowlands. The narrow coastal strip between the Sierra and the Pacific Ocean is arid in the north and desert in the south. Misty cloud forests descend into tropical lowlands and desert. The Atacama Desert is the driest of the worlds deserts. The arid coast is periodically punctured by rivers cascading down from the Sierra, leaving a green arable strip. There are about 490 of these short relatively small rivers. Lima and other major cities are located along such rivers. These river oases were developed as agricultural centers by Native Americams. Irrigation channels over the centuries have made use of the fertile silt deposited by the rivers. The Andes is the world's second highest mountain chain, with peaks over 20,000 feet just 60 miles inland, creating precipitous imvlines. Huascaran (22,200 ft) is Peru's highest peak and the world's highest tropical peak. Although located near the equator, the Peruvian Andes have year-round glaciers above 16,000 feet. While the western slopes receive little rainfall, the eastern slopes have cloud forests receiving heavy rain flowing ino the Amazonian Basin. The Sierra at altitudes between 10,000 and 13,000 feet have productivev land supporting about half of Peru's population. The Inca population was centered in the southern Sierra with the capital in the south at Cuzco. Many other people were added to the empire from this southern Andean core. The rugged Sierra features jagged mountain ranges separated by deep canyons. The country Amazon Basin stretches along the eastern part of Peru and represents more than half of the country in area. This huge, heacily forested region is fed by countless small rivers and streams, the most important flowing into the Amazon are the Maranon, Hallaga and Ucayali rivers. The largest Amazonian region is in the north around Iquitos.

History

Peru is one of the great world cradels of civilization. It like Mesoamerica is where civilzation occurred indeendently (Egypt and India) had the example of Mesopotamia. Peru of all the cradels of civilzation is surely the most unlikely. Here civilzation developed in the cold Andean higlands and the arid coast. It was one of the great accomplishmets of mankind--an amazing technical achievement. Although still a stone-age people, pre-literate people, they had many important achievements. The most significant was the domestication of the lowly potato which was to transform Europe. The best known Peruvian Native American civilization is of course the Inca. The Inca Empire was the largest such civilization, but rested on a cultural and technological base including many earlier cultures. The Empire lasted on a short period before being cut short by the arrival of Franciso Pizarro and his Spanish Conquistadores. The Spanish wanted gold, but it was the potato that was Peru's great contribution to human society. Inca society was destroyed in the collision with the Conquistadores and the Catholic Church. The Spanish Conquest of Peru is one of the great epics of history. Europeans diseases ravaged the Native American peoples. The pre-Conquest population and the extent of the resulting pagues is still debated by historians, but population estimates have risen in recent yeas as are estimates of the totality od the size of the population disaster. Peru languished within the Spanish Empire for over three centuries. Thus much of the history of Peru is the Spanish colonial history. It is largely a feudal history with the country's much-diminished Native American population held as serfs on large rural estates owned by the Spanish ruling class. There was very little economic development and even less social development. Much of the population did not ebnter the moneyed economy until the 20th century. Peru was the center of Spanish royalist support during the Wars of Independence. Sucre fought the last major battle of the independence struggle, defeating the last important royalist army in the Sierra near Ayacucho (1824). Independence did not, however, bring prosperity to the Peruvian people. There are large areas of Peru today that support smaller populations than during the pre-Conquest era. Peru fought a damaging war with Chile--the War of the Pacific (1879-83).

Economy

Peru is the only successful country in history with a socialist economy. Of course this was before Karl Marx invented the term socialism, but in the Inca Empire land and wealth was controled by the state and assigned to peasant farmers to work. The system suppoted a higher density of population in Peru than until very modern times. The Inca were only the most recent people to dominate the andean Highlands, but they built the lagest of all the Amerindian empires streaching from what is now the Chilean Central Valley north to the Ecuadorian-Colombian border and knit ogether with an impressive network of roads. This was important because of the different climatic zones and the natural resources to be exploited. In adition to griculture, the Inca were masterul weavers. Trade was, however, limited by the failure to master the wheel and the lack of large animals like horses and oxen. Peru played a fundamental role in the development of modern Europe. While the Conquistadores in the 16th century were primarily after gold, the humble potato made possible a population explosion that played a key role in the industrial revolution and the making of modern Europe. Peru was regarded as vital to the Spanish colonial empire, not because if the potato, but because of the mineral wealth--espcially silver. The silver resource was part of colonial Peru, but the Potisi mines were located im modern Bolivia. The silver was shipped back to Spain (through the Spanish Main/Caribbean) and to China (through the Philippines) to finance Spanish trade there. The silver was shipped through Callao, the port of Lima. Agiculture was the mainsty of the colonial economy, but it was based on the hacienda, vast Andean estates using an essentialy feudal system of Native American workers--the Ecomienda system. Peru was the most conservtive part of Spanish Empire and the bastion of Spanish Royalist power as revolutions raged during the Napoleomic era. The Royalist forces were finally defeated at Ayachucho on the easstrn slope of the Andes (1824). Independence did not significantly transform Peruvian society and the country limped into the 20th century with a backward agricultural economy supported by cotton and mineral (mostly copper) exports.

Garments

Any discussion of clothing in Peru must begin with the Amer-Indian civilizations. The IUnca are the besr known m but were preceeded by many earlier civilzations, both slong the coast and in the Andes. The earlier civilizations appeared along the northern coast. And thaks to the arid enviroment along the coast, some early textiles have survived. The Inca were renowed for their marvelous textiles. The most famous garment is the poncho, a sleeveless wool garment with unsewn sides and a space for the head to pass through. This meant that it was thge easiest grment to produve, no sewing requirfed. The origings are unclear. Some say in weas from Quechua 'punchu'. Others say in was frim the Mapuche in souhern Chile. Pomcjhos are also associated with Mexico, but we sre mot sure if thast was the case in pre-Colombin times. Ameri-Indian styles have survived for women, mistly for festive occassions. Male fashions have been largely lost with the near total adoption of Western styles. As far as we know, there were no destinctive garmnts for children who wore small versions of their parent's clothing. Interestingly, Amerr-Indians adopted some styles of their Spanish conquerors and these actually became traditionl styles. the most obvious is the bowler hat. A brilliant Btitish salkesman conmvinmced Bolivians POeruvian women that they wouldkook beautiful in boler hats and thuis the bowler along with th mnonterra becanme a traditioal style. Another traditionl style is the stockimg cap with ear flaps--the chullo. Western styles have increasingky made jnriads. Nearly all children wear Weestern styles, a process which began with the Spabish Conquest, but became increasingly common in the 20th century. Here we see asibling wearing Wesern fadionns, peobably in the 1870s (figure 1). We note a 1917 portrait of an unidentified boy. He is a fashionalble Peruvian boy from an affluent family of European origin. Such bioys in the late-19th and early-20th century might wear a suit with an Eton collar and boater hat. We believe that this was common throughout Latin America at the time among the affluent classes. Most Peruvian boys at the time, however, were very poor and still not wearing European fashions.

Ethnicity

Peru is a multi-ethnic society of both Native Americans and Europeans. There are Native American (Amerindian) tribal groups in both the Andean Sierra (Highlands) and Amazonian basin. The largest group is native-Americans. They are in themselves a diverse group. The main groups are the Quechua- and Aymará-speaking tribes, but there are also some smaller tribes in the Sierra. . The Inca speaking Quechua from the Titicaca Basin are the best known, but were relatively late comers to Andean history. They conquiered many other Andean groups (14-15th centuries). While the Inca cionquered the Andean tribes, they did not venture into the Amazonian basin and tribes there were unconquered until the arrival of the Spanish. Historians today debate the level of civilization and population of the Amazonian Basin Native-Americans. One Amazonian tribe is the Shaur, the largest of the Jivaro group. Wuth the arruval of tghe Soanish, the Native American population collapsed, largely because of lack of resistance to European diseases like small pox, scarlet fever, and measles. The population of the Peruvian Andes before the arrival of the Spanish is variously estimated at 4-7 million people. Fewer than 1 million were left in the first colonial census (1777). Today the populatuin has increased to about 8 million. Acculturated Spanish-speaking Native Americans ar known as 'cholos'. The arrival of the Spanish conquistadores led by Francisco Pizarro introduced the Spanish into the Peruvian ethnic mix (16th century). Today the Spanish and other Europeans constiture about 15 percent of the popualtion. Small groups of Germans, Italians, and Swiss play an important role in the Peruvian economy, commerce, finance, and industry. People of mixed Native-American and Spanish/European ancestry are commonly called Mestizos and constitute slightly less than 40 percent of the population. The pace of aculturation into Peruvian national culture has increased during the late-20th century as the public school sytem expanded. Asian Peruvians includung many Japanese constuture about 3 percent of the population. Chinese and Japanese Peruvians operate small businesses. Some Japanese have been successful in agriculturen and fisheries. There are alo a small number of Afro-Peruvians descendants of slaves imported during the colonial period. Their population is small because so few slaves were imported.

Family

Family portraits are very useful. As they include indivividuals of different genders and ages we not only see the outfits of individuals, but of the fashions that others wore at the same time. And the images of different families provide social-class information as well as conventions like family sizes. We have not been able to compile much information about Peru, however, as our Peruvian archive is so limited. Thus we do not yet have any portraits of middle class families. Which would include mestizo families. We do have a few portarits of Aner-Indian families. As is the vase with the other Andean ciuntrues, excepot Vevezuela, Amer-Indians are a substantial part of the population. We hope to gradually collect some informtion on Peruvian families. We notice a Native American family coming to market in Cusco about 1930. And we notice a portrait taken by a German photograoher for sale as a postcard in Germany. the postcard was copyrighted in 1989, we mnight have guessed the portrait was taken earlier.

Activities

We have some information on Peruvian schools. There was no public education system in Spanish colonial system. The church may have operated some schools, but we have little information on the colonial period at this time. It was only after independence that the country began to address the issue of public education. We do not yet have any details on Peru's educational history. We do have some information on school uniforms. School uniforms are very widely worn in Peru. The uniforms have tended to be very basic, but commonly worn. We do not have a lot of information pn the uniforms worn. There appears to have been nation-wide regulations issued by the Ministry of Education. We do not have any actual details on those regulations which have varied over time. We note some school children photographed in Cuzco during 1935 by Martin Chambi. The children are not wearing uniforms. We have no details on the school. We do note school children by the 1960s wearing uniforms. The boys wore army type khaki shirts and matching trousers.

Art

We do have a Peruvian artist that has painted a scene of a boy in traditional clothing.

Regions

Peruvian has three regions. They include an arid wesern coast, a mountaneous central Sierra with productve valleys, and the Oriente, the eastern Amazonian lowlands. There are cities founded by he Inca like Cuzco, and cities founded by the Spanish like Lima. The most important coastal city s Lima with a large part of Peru's populatio. The country's primary port is Callao near Lima. Sevral ports like Pisco are importnt in he fishing industry. The coast is very arid and agriculture is not possible except along the rivers running own from the Sierra. In the far south is the Atacanma Desert, the dryest place on earth. In contrast to the land, the waters off Peru are extrdinarily productive and support athriving fishing industry. There are several cities in the Sierra. The best known is Cuzco, the Inca capital. Further north is Cajamarca where Pizarro seized the Inca Atahualpa. In the southern foothills of the Andes is the beautiful white city of Areuipa located fairly clse to the coast. In the Oriente the major city is Iquitos.

Photography

The most noted Peruvian photographer is Martin Chambi.

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Created: August 14, 2002
Last updated: 7:38 AM 6/25/2021