PERU Peru, the fourth in size among the states of South America, has an area of 695,700 square miles. In it three natural regions stand out in marked contrast to one another. The first of these is the COASTAL REGION. Between the sea and the foothills of the Andes, there stretches for 1,400 miles a belt of lowland with a breadth of less than 100 miles. Here, little or no rain falls, as the winds over the southern Pacific either blow parallel to the coast, or are drawn inland without precipitating moisture until they reach the mountain slopes. This region is, therefore, with out vegetation except in the vicinity of the rivers which rush down from the Andes. The temperature is not extreme, the mean for Lima being 66° F. with a maximum of 78° F. in summer and a minimum of 59° F. in winter. Hence tropical and sub-tropical products can be obtained with the aid of irrigation, which is, as yet, imperfectly developed. Sugar is the principal crop, and is grown chiefly in the north, where the land is flatter than in the south, and the heat is greater. The annual yield amounts to about 150,000 tons. Cotton is cultivated on various parts of the coastal plain, but the greatest production takes place in the north, where climate and soil are particularly favourable. The output within recent years has steadily increased, and in 1910 amounted to 133,000 bales. Egyptian cotton has been introduced, and is
proving very successful. Among other products of this region are maize, rice, vines, and tobacco, which are generally grown for home consumption.
Notwithstanding the disadvantages under which it labours, the coastal region is at the present time the most highly developed in Peru. This is largely the result of the proximity of the sea, which provides the one good highway that the country possesses. The governing classes, either of pure European—chiefly Spanish—stock, or with only a very slight intermixture of Indian blood, are almost exclusively settled here, although much of the labour on the sugar and cotton plantations is performed by negroes and Chinese. Here, too, are the principal towns in which is centred the commercial, intellectual, and social activity of the country. There are few manu factures, and economic development has been much retarded by bad government in the past, though present conditions seem somewhat more hopeful. Of the 50,000,000 acres, which it has been estimated may be rendered fertile by means of irrigation, only 1,250,000 are as yet under cultivation, but it is probable that this area will be gradually extended.