During the fifteenth century the Portuguese, and later the Spanish, sailed the seas searching for alternative routes to the Mediterranean. In 1492 the Spanish arrived to America under the command of Christopher Columbus. His voyages were financed by the Spanish crown and other private investors looking to profit from the natural resources in these new lands. The Catholic Church also participated as they were interested in converting the local population to Christianity.
The conquistadores first set ashore in the islands of Cuba and Haiti, the former was called Juana and the …

The Amazon river is home to many species of animals and many of them are in danger of extinction. For the last 20 years the governments of Peru and Brazil along with conservation organizations, local businesses and have been working together to protect endangered species for the enjoyment of the world and future generations.
One of the most endangered species in the is the pink dolphin or bufeo thought to be extinct more than twenty years ago. They are very rarely seen and are found only in the …

From the 1890s to the 1920s rubber from the was in high demand, it was used to produce tires for automobiles, waterproof shoes and clothes.

Rubber tree
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Foreign companies settled in the city of Iquitos, Peru from where they controlled the extraction of rubber. In 1851 Iquitos had a population of 200 and by 1900 its population reached 20,000. In the 1860s, approximately 3,000 tons of rubber was being exported annually and by 1911 annual exports had grown to 44,000 tons, representing 9.3% of Peru’s exports.
Thousands of worked as …

Indians living in the forest were less affected by the Spanish conquerors than the Andean Indians. Spanish missionaries reached the area later in the eighteenth century but the real clash with the western civilization came in the late nineteenth century when the English found rubber in the forest creating the rubber boom. Foreign companies employed local forest Indians to extract the rubber under very harsh conditions. Foreign workers brought with them diseases such as pneumonia and flu for which locals had no immunity and as a consequence thousands of them …

It is important for the world and for the enjoyment of future generations to preserve Peru’s ecosystems and biodiversity. Peru has a wide range of ecosystems because of its great variation in elevation or height above sea. About 84 of the 104 existing ecosystems or “life zones” identified in the world and 28 of the 32 climates on the planet are present in Peru. They range from the cold in the south to the warm tropical seas in the north, from the dry to the high and …

Llamas
Llamas are relatives of the camel family. tamed llamas about 5,000 years ago, since then they have become important animals in Peru. The llamas had an important place in the , they were used as transportation, their wool was used for clothing and blankets and their meat for food. Local indigenous people use them the same way as the did.
Llamas weight between 280lbs or 130 k and 450 lbs or 200k and can live from 15 to 25 years. They are social animals and calm in nature. Their …