PERU HISTORY

Peru is best known as the heart of the Inca empire, but it was home to many diverse indigenous cultures long before the Incas arrived.
Although there is evidence of human habitation in Peru as long ago as the eighth millennium BC, there is little evidence of organized village life until about 2500 BC.


It was at about this time that climatic changes in the coastal regions
prompted Peru's early inhabitants to move toward the more fertile interior river valleys. For the next 1500 years, Peruvian civilization developed into a number of organized cultures, including the Chavìn and the Sechìn.
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The Chavìn are best known for their stylized religious iconography,
which included striking figurative depictions of various animals
(the jaguar in particular) and which exercised considerable influence
over the entire coastal region.