Peru’s rich and ancient past is an important part of what makes it one of South America's most popular travel destinations. Thousands of archaeological sites are found all over the country, ranging from 10,000 year old camp sites of early hunters to the monumental stone walls of sixteenth century Inca Cusco.
 
Although the Incas are Peru's best known culture, civilizations preceding them set the foundations for the Inca Empire. Peru's museums are filled with amazing ceramics and textiles designed and created by the pre-Inca civilizations such as the Chavin, Paracas, Nasca, Moche and Wari.
 
From the coast to the jungle and through the highlands, Peruvian people live the same way as their ancestors did a thousand years ago; maintaining their dances, handcrafts, textiles, customs and keeping their spirit alive.
 
Almost all of the native handcrafts you'll see are made of natural elements like bones, feathers and seeds that are collected to create beautiful pieces of art.
 
Apart from all the stunning Inca ruins to be seen around Cusco and the famous lost city of Machu Picchu, Peru is home to large numbers of important archeological sites: the Nasca Lines; the chullpas or funerary towers of the ancient Colla people who inhabited the area around Lake Titicaca; the great ceremonial center of Chavin de Huantar; the extraordinary adobe city of Chan Chan; and the Mochica necropolis of Sipan.
 
Despite the long Spanish occupation, the ancient Andean culture has survived. The beliefs and customs visible today are the result of Andean traditions mixed with elements imposed by the conquering Spaniards. The rich colors of their garb, music, dance, handcrafts, and paintings that adorn countless baroque churches are singular expressions of this fusion.
 
In regards to Peruvian literature, its roots are found in the oral traditions of pre-Columbian civilizations. Spaniards introduced writing in the 16th century; colonial literary expression included chronicles and religious literature. After independence, Costumbrism and Romanticism became the most common literary genres, as exemplified in the works of Ricardo Palma. In the early 20th century, the Indigenismo movement produced such writers as Ciro Alegría, José María Arguedas, and César Vallejo. During the second half of the century, Peruvian literature became more widely known because of authors such as Mario Vargas Llosa, a leading member of the Latin American Boom, Julio Ramón Ribeyro, Alfredo Bryce Echenique, but to name a few. Mario Vargas Llosa was very young when he obtained the Biblioteca Breve Prize and he was part, together with Cortázar from Argentina, Carlos Fuentes from México and García Márquez from Colombia, of the worldwide known Latin American Boom. “The city and the dogs”, the rewarded novel, it was the first Latin-American work in assimilating the procedures of style of the Anglo-Saxon modernism, as the interior monologue and the temporary jumps.
 
Peruvian music has Andean, Spanish and African roots. In pre-Hispanic times, musical expressions varied widely from region to region; the quena and the tinya were two common instruments.
Spanish conquest brought the introduction of new instruments such as the guitar and the harp, as well as the development of crossbred instruments like the charango. African contributions to Peruvian music include its rhythms and the cajón, a percussion instrument. Peruvian folk dances include marinera, tondero, danza de tijeras and huayno.