Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Caral-Supe civilization flourished between 3,000 and 1,800 BCE in the arid Supe Valley of Peru. This society predates the pyramids of Egypt by more than a millennium and established a sophisticated urban culture without pottery or warfare.
The Inca Empire known as Tawantinsuyu was ruled by the Sapa Inca Pachacuti beginning in 1438. This leader transformed a minor kingdom into a vast state controlling 9 to 16 million inhabitants across southern Colombia to northern Chile.
Francisco Pizarro executed the Inca Emperor Atahualpa on the 29th of August 1533 after receiving a ransom of gold and silver. This event initiated a decades-long campaign of colonization that established the Viceroyalty of Peru with its capital in Lima.
The War of the Pacific began in 1879 when Chile declared war on Peru to control the nitrate and guano territories of southern Peru. The conflict lasted until 1884 and resulted in the loss of the department of Tarapacá and the provinces of Tacna and Arica.
President Alberto Fujimori dissolved Congress in a self-coup on the 5th of April 1992 to implement authoritarian measures against the Shining Path insurgency. His regime successfully quelled the guerrilla group but was responsible for human rights violations including the forced sterilization of at least 300,000 poor and indigenous women.
Mining accounts for over 60 percent of Peru's exports as the country is a global leader in the production of copper, gold, zinc, and other minerals. The Yanacocha mine in Cajamarca is the largest gold mine in South America and has generated billions of dollars in revenue.