'''Peru''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-Peru.ogg|p|ə|ˈ|r|uː}}; {{lang-es|link=no|Perú}} {{IPA-es|peˈɾu|}}; {{lang-qu|Piruw Republika}} {{IPA-qu|pʰɪɾʊwpɪɾʊw|}};<ref>Quechua name used by government of Peru is ''Perú'' (see Quechua-language version of Peru Parliament [http://www.congreso.gob.pe/_quechua/index.htm website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100730230845/http://www.congreso.gob.pe/_quechua/index.htm |date=30 July 2010}} and Quechua-language version of Peru Constitution [https://www.webcitation.org/5t0I85Zv3?url=http://www.congreso.gob.pe/_quechua/Constitucion.pdf) but common Quechua name is ''Piruw'']</ref> {{lang-ay|Piruw Suyu}} {{IPA-all|pɪɾʊw|}}), officially the '''Republic of Peru''' ({{Audio-es|República del Perú|ES-pe - República del Perú.ogg}}),<!-- {{IPA-es|reˈpuβlika ðel peˈɾu|}} --> is a country in western [[South America]]. It is bordered in the north by [[Ecuador]] and [[Colombia]], in the east by [[Brazil]], in the southeast by [[Bolivia]], in the south by [[Chile]], and in the west by the [[Pacific Ocean]]. Peru is a [[megadiverse country]] with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west to the peaks of the [[Andes mountains]] vertically extending from the north to the southeast of the country to the tropical [[Amazon Basin]] rainforest in the east with the [[Amazon river]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sernanp.gob.pe/sernanp/archivos/imagenes/vida/Peru-%20Pais%20Megadiverso.pdf |title=Perú: País megadiverso |trans-title=Peru: Megadiverse country |publisher=Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas |language=Spanish |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622152015/http://www.sernanp.gob.pe/sernanp/archivos/imagenes/vida/Peru-%20Pais%20Megadiverso.pdf |archive-date=22 June 2014}}</ref> At 1.28 million km<sup>2</sup> (0.5 million mi<sup>2</sup>), Peru is the 19th largest country in the world, and the third largest in South America.
[[Pre-Columbian Peru|Peruvian territory]] was home to several [[Ancient Peru|ancient cultures]]. Ranging from the [[Norte Chico civilization]] starting in 3500 BC, the oldest civilization in the Americas and one of the five [[cradles of civilization]], to the [[Inca Empire]], the largest state in [[pre-Columbian]] America, the territory now including Peru has one of the longest histories of civilization of any country, tracing its heritage back to the 4th millennia BCE.
