Peru

There are four universities, of which the largest and most famous is the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos in Lima. It was founded by a grant from Charles V. in 1551, and is the oldest university in the New World. The University of Cuzco was founded in 1598, Arequipa in 1821 and Trujillo in 1824. There are about 2,000 university students. See LIMA.

A School of Civil and Mining Engineering was established at Lima in 1876. There are in addition, military, naval, agricultural and commercial schools and several agricultural experimental stations. The Government maintains academies of medicine, music and the fine arts, a national museum, national archives, meteorological and magnetic observatories and many learned sci entific bodies. The national library, founded in was pillaged by Chileans during the War of the Pacific. After the evacua tion of Lima by Chile, Ricardo Palma devoted his life to the re covery of the scattered books and manuscripts. The Geographical Society of Lima (1888), is the chief centre of scientific study, while the Historical Institute of Peru (1905) and the Athenaeum (1877) are also important organizations (see LIMA).

Science and Literature.

Peruvian literature does not ante date the Spanish conquest. The Quechua drama, 011anta, which purports to be pre-Spanish, was really written about 177o. The earliest accounts of Peru and its inhabitants were chronicles writ ten by eye-witnesses. Chief among them are the Comentarios reales by Garcilaso de la Vega (1539-1616), whose mother was of the Inca blood-royal, Cr6nica del Pert by P. de Cieza de Leon (1553) and Historia natural y moral de las Indias (I590), by Jose de Acosta. Several chronicles, including the Royal Commen taries, have been translated into English by Sir Clements R. Markham, and published by the Hakluyt Society of London. The bulk of 17th and 18th century literature is history, accounts of exploration or raids of British pirates. Many scientific investiga tions during the last half of the 18th century are embodied in El Mercurio Peruano, a periodical founded by Hipolito Unanue in 1791. Dr. Unanue wrote a book on the climate of Lima, founded the Anfiteatro Anatomic° in 1792, and the Colegio de Medicina de San Fernando in 1811. The most prolific writer of the colonial period was Pedro de Peralta Barnuevo (1663-1743), who was not only poet-laureate of the viceroy, but wrote more than 6o astronomical and mathematical works. In the late 18th century there were many scribblers of light, humorous verse and pleasant romances; devotional writings in both verse and prose and dramas for instructional purposes. Mariano Melgar (1791 1815) wrote plaintive love-songs and patriotic odes. After

Peruvian independence (1821), both science and literature gained new life. Mariano Eduardo Rivero with J. J. von Tschudi published Antigiiedades Peruanas in 1851, one of the earliest scientific studies of pre-hispanic culture in Peru. Geografia del Pert by Mateo Paz Solari appeared in 1862 ; his Diccionario estadistico y geogrcifico del Pert in 1877. The most important works during this period were those of the Italian savant, Antonio Raimondi (1825-9o), embodied in El Pert: estudios mineralogicos, etc., Lima (1874-1902) and of Manuel de Mendiburu (1805-1885), Diccionario historico-biogrdfico del Pert (189o).

Political satire in verse and prose, eulogies of liberty and odes to civilization characterized the literature of the revolution. About 1830 this artificiality gave way to romanticism. Felipe Pardo y Aliaga (1806-68) and Manuel Ascensio Segura (1805 71), who wrote comedies about the established order, are the founders of the national theatre. Among writers since their day three are pre-eminent. Ricardo Palma (1833-1919) recreated anecdotes of the colonial period in six volumes of Tradiciones Peruanas, a treasure house of Peruvian history and culture. Manuel Gonzales Prada (1848-1918) was a poet, radical phi losopher and essayist. Jose Santos Chocano (1875-1934), the poet, belongs to a new literary school. His inspiration was the geography, history, flora, fauna, legends and mythology of Peru. Literature since the declaration of the republic has been studied by Jose de la Riva Agiiero in Cardcter de la literatura del Perii independiente (1904) and by Ventura Garcia Calderon in his anthology, Del Romanticismo al Modernismo (Iwo). Francisco Garcia Calderon is internationally known for essays on contem porary history, philosophy and literature (LePerou contemporain, 1907, and Democraties latines de l'Amerique, 1912). There is (1928) a host of younger writers in Peru, some of whom, like Luis Alberto Sanchez (Igor– ), have already attained fame. Among contemporary men of learning may be mentioned Julio C. Tello and Luis E. Valcarcel (archaeology) ; H. H. Urteaga and Carlos Wiesse (history) ; Victor M. MatIrtua (jurisprudence); Federico Villarreal (1850-1923) (mathematics) ; and Oscar MirO Quesada (philosophy). A recent type of architecture (neo Peruvian) combines Inca and Spanish colonial characteristics. There are several artists of international reputation, such as Carlos Bacaflor. Among composers, J. Valle-Riestra (1858-1925) wrote several operas, the most famous of which, 011anta, was inspired by the Indian music of the sierra.