page_title: Indigenous peoples in Peru
hierarchical_section_title: Indigenous peoples in Peru
caption_attribution_description: Qoyllur_Rit'i: Festival señor de Qoyllur Rit'i, young dancer
context_page_description: Indigenous peoples in Peru or Native Peruvians comprise many ethnic groups who inhabit territory in present-day Peru. Indigenous cultures developed here for thousands of years before the arrival of Spaniards in 1532.
  In 2017, the 5,972,606 indigenous people formed about 25.7% of the total population of Peru. At the time of the Spanish arrival, the indigenous peoples of the rain forest of the Amazon basin to the east of the Andes were mostly semi-nomadic tribes; they subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering and migrant agriculture. Those peoples living in the Andes and to the west were dominated by the Inca Empire, who had a complex, hierarchical civilization. It developed many cities, building major temples and monuments with techniques of highly skilled stonemasonry.
  Many of the estimated 2000 nations and tribes present in 1500 died out as a consequence of the expansion and consolidation of the Inca Empire, especially due to slavery and the genocide of the natives who refused to lose their territories.
  With the arrival of the Spaniards, many natives perished to Eurasian infectious diseases among the foreigners, to which they had acquired no immunity.
context_section_description: Indigenous peoples in Peru or Native Peruvians comprise many ethnic groups who inhabit territory in present-day Peru. Indigenous cultures developed here for thousands of years before the arrival of Spaniards in 1532.
  In 2017, the 5,972,606 indigenous people formed about 25.7% of the total population of Peru. At the time of the Spanish arrival, the indigenous peoples of the rain forest of the Amazon basin to the east of the Andes were mostly semi-nomadic tribes; they subsisted on hunting, fishing, gathering and migrant agriculture. Those peoples living in the Andes and to the west were dominated by the Inca Empire, who had a complex, hierarchical civilization. It developed many cities, building major temples and monuments with techniques of highly skilled stonemasonry.
  Many of the estimated 2000 nations and tribes present in 1500 died out as a consequence of the expansion and consolidation of the Inca Empire, especially due to slavery and the genocide of the natives who refused to lose their territories.
  With the arrival of the Spaniards, many natives perished to Eurasian infectious diseases among the foreigners, to which they had acquired no immunity. After the Spanish conquest of Peru, a large medical campaign was launched, saving the life of thousands of natives and descendants of indigenous and Spanish unions called mestizos ("mixed race"), which are nowadays the largest portion of the Peruvian population. 
  All of the Peruvian indigenous groups, such as the Urarina, and even those who live isolated in the most remote areas of the Amazon rainforest, such as the Matsés, Matis, and Korubo, have changed their ways of life to some extent under the influence of European-Peruvian culture. They have adopted the use of firearms and other manufactured items, and trade goods at a remove from mainstream Peruvian society. However, many indigenous groups work to uphold traditional cultural practices and identities.
caption: Dancers at Quyllurit'i, an indigenous festival in Peru
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