Peru travel Peru vacations Peru tours peru gateway travel
The BEST and most informative site on Peru for travel and tourism to Lima, Machu Picchu, Cusco, Cuzco and all of Peru.
Use our unique
PERU TRAVEL PLANNER to help plan your travel itinerary.
Toll free 1 888 671 2852
/ 1 888 671 2853  
Contact Us

 

   

twentieth century

Peru Viajes

EDITION 2010

Peru Travel Planner, vacations and holidays
PERU TRAVEL PLANNER

Home
chavin cult
classical era
the incas
spanish conquest
colonial peru
rebellion
the republic
the war of pacific
twentieth century
land reform
the 1970
the 1990
2000 elections
cultural chronology
political update
 
Call Centers

NORTH AMERICA TOLL FREE
Monday - Friday
From 9 am to 6 pm ET

1 888 671 2852 voice
1 888 671 2853 voice
1 877 260 2391 voice
1 877 260 2423 voice
1 877 260 2370 voice

Discounted Airfares Toll Free
1-866-856-8368


1 877 260 2209 Fax

United Kingdom - TOLL FREE (Freephone)
0-800-098-450

Australian Customers TOLL FREE
1-800-194078

Rest of the world
+51 1 4443027 - 4457704

 

 

Viajes Peru 

Check for current Weather conditions for top destinations in Peru

Peru Gateway Travel is member of ASTA

Peru Gateway is a LATA member

PERU GATEWAY TRAVEL is FROMMER'S RECCOMMENDED TOUR OPERATOR

Online Transactions Verified by VISA, Peru vacation packages and tours

Save with Our Special
Rates >>>>>>

Travel Contract

Travel directory add url

Job Opportunities

Peru Vacation

 

 

 

 

The Twentieth century

Modern Peru is generally considered to have been born in 1895 with the forced resignation of General Caceres. However, the seeds of industrial development had been laid under his rule, albeit by foreigners. In 1890 an international plan was formulated to bail Peru out of its bankruptcy. The Peruvian Corporation was formed in London and assumed the $50 million national debt in return for "control of the national economy". Foreign companies took over the rail lines, navigation of Lake Titicaca, vast quantities of guano, and were given free use of seven Peruvian ports for 66 years as well as the opportunity to start exploiting the rubber resources of the Amazon Basin. Under Nicolas de Pierola, some sort of stability had begun to return by the end of the nineteenth century.

In the early years of the twentieth century, Peru was run by an oligarchical clan of big businessmen and great landowners. Fortunes were made in a wide range of exploitative enterprises, above all sugar along the coast, minerals from the mountains, and rubber from the jungle. Meanwhile, the lot of the ordinary peasant worsened dramatically.

One of the most powerful oligarchs, Augusto Leguia rose to power through his possession of franchises for the New York Insurance Company and the British Sugar Company. He became a prominent figure, representing the rising bourgeoisie in the early 1900s, and in 1908 he was the first of their kind to be elected president. Under his rule the influence of foreign investment increased rapidly, with North American money taking ascendancy over British. It was with this capital that Lima was modernized - parks, plazas, the Avenida Arequipa and the Presidential Palace all date from this period. But for the majority of Peruvians, Leguia did nothing. The lives of the mountain peasants became more difficult, and the jungle Indians lived like slaves on the rubber plantations. Not surprisingly, Leguia's time in power coincided with a large number of Indian rebellions, general discontent and the rise of the first labour movement in Peru. Elected for a second term, Leguia became still more dictatorial, changing the constitution so that he could be re-elected on another two occasions. A year after the beginning of his fourth term, in 1930, he was ousted by a military coup - more as a result of the stock market crash and Peru's close links with US finance than as a consequence of his other political failings.

During Leguia's long dictatorship, the labour movement began to flex its muscles. A general strike in 1919 had established an eight-hour day, and ten years later the unions formed the first National Labour Centre. The worldwide Depression of the early 1930s hit Peru particularly badly; demand for its main exports (oil, silver, sugar, cotton and coffee) fell off drastically. Finally, in 1932, the Trujillo middle class led a violent uprising against the sugar barons and the primitive conditions of work on the plantations. Suppressed by the army, nearly five thousand lives are thought to have been lost, many of the rebels being taken out in trucks and shot among the ruins of Chan Chan.

The rise of APRA - the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance - which had instigated the Trujillo uprising, and the growing popularity of its leader, Haya de la Torre , kept the nation occupied during World War II. Allowed to participate for the first time in the 1945 elections, APRA chose a neutral candidate - Dr Bustamante - in place of Haya de la Torre whose fervent radicalism was considered a vote loser. Bustamante won the elections, with APRA controlling 18 out of 29 seats in the Senate and 53 out of 84 in the Chamber of Deputies.

Post-war euphoria was short-lived, however. Inflation was totally out of hand and apparently unaffected by Bustamante's exchange controls; during the 1940s the cost of living in Peru rose by 262 percent. With anti-APRA feeling on the rise, the president leaned more and more heavily on support from the army, until General Odria led a coup d'état from Arequipa in 1948 and formed a military junta. By the time Odria left office, in 1956, a new political element threatened oligarchical control - the young Fernando Belaunde and his National Youth Front (later Acción Popular) demanding "radical" reform. Even with the support of APRA and the army, Manuel Prado barely defeated Belaunde in the next elections: the unholy alliance between the monied establishment and APRA has been known as the "marriage of convenience" ever since.

The economy remained in dire straits. Domestic prices continued to soar and in 1952 alone there were some two hundred strikes and several serious riots. Meanwhile much more radical feeling was aroused in the provinces by Hugo Blanco , a charismatic mestizo from Cusco who had joined a Trotskyist group - the Workers Revolutionary Party - which was later to merge with the FIR - the Revolutionary Left's Front. In La Convencion, within the Department of Cusco, Blanco created nearly 150 syndicates, whose peasant members began to work their own individual plots while refusing to work for the hacienda owners. Many landowners went bankrupt or opted to bribe workers back with offers of cash wages. The second phase of Blanco's "reform" was to take physical control of the haciendas, mostly in areas so isolated that the authorities were powerless to intervene. Blanco was finally arrested in 1963 but the effects of his peasant revolt outlived him: in future, Peruvian governments were to take agrarian reform far more seriously.

Back in Lima, the elections of 1962 had resulted in an interesting deadlock, with Haya de la Torre getting 33 percent of the votes, Belaunde 32 percent, and Odria 28.5 percent. Almost inevitably, the army took control, annulled the elections, and denied Haya de la Torre and Belaunde the opportunity of power for another year. By 1963, though, neither Acción Popular nor APRA were sufficiently radical to pose a serious threat to the establishment. Elected president for the first time, Belaunde quickly got to work on a severely diluted programme of agrarian reform, a compromise never forgiven by his left-wing supporters. More successfully, though, he began to draw in quantities of foreign capital. President de Gaulle of France visited Peru in 1964 and the first British foreign secretary ever to set foot in South America arrived in Lima two years later. Foreign investors were clamouring to get in on Belaunde's ambitious development plans and obtain a rake-off from Peru's oil fields. But by 1965 domestic inflation had so severely damaged the balance of payments that confidence was beginning to slip away from Belaunde's international stance


Mon-Fri 9 Am - 6 Pm ET
please allow pop-ups



Published articles and reviews about us

2010
Testimonials

Norman Pedersen
Date: Sun,18 Jul 2010

Machu Picchu and my entire visit to Peru were wonderful. A dream come true.
I could not have been happier with everyone I met through your arrangements. 
The tours were very informative and showed me more than I knew existed in this beautiful place.
All of the accommodations were very comfortable.
The luncheon buffet at the Alhambra was top rate. And the Ferré Hotel in Lima was also a very good choice.Your personal assistance throughout was exceptional!
Thank you for everything!


Melinda Hughes
Date: Tues, 13 Jul 2010

I was one of the “Joel Williams” party of four who was recently on a Peru Gateway Travel tour of northern and southern Peru. I had to write so you would know how satisfied we were with the hotel accommodations, the tour guides, the restaurants they choose for our lunches and just everything about the trip.

The hotels we stayed in were well located, clean and convenient in every way. We have absolutely no complaints!

Our tour covered Peru from the north to the south. It had four internal flights, so there were many connections, pick ups and deliveries involved. Peru Gateway Travel made sure we were always delivered on time to the airports and promptly met and picked up when we landed. We never had a moments worry.
Since we had many different day tours, we had several different guides. All were professional and spoke our language well. All were very knowledgeable and eager to impart that knowledge to us. They chose great places for our lunches and the cuisine was unforgettable. We have traveled to many countries but found the food in Peru to be absolutely wonderful.
I also wanted to mention the drivers who picked us up at all times of the day and night, drove us to our next destination and the delivered us safely to our hotels. We never had a driver who was less than prompt, courteous and most importantly, a skilled and careful driver.
The sites we saw were the places we chose to see. And they did not disappoint us. From the desert to the Andes to the Jungle, we enjoyed it all.
Please feel free to use this email on your website or as a testimonial. All four of our group would recommend Peru Gateway Travel to anyone planning a trip to Peru. We were well taken care of, enjoyed delicious food, saw awesome sights and had a wonderful time.
Sincerely.


Ajay Chopra
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010

We are back in Lima. Our trip to Machu Picchu was wonderful, thank you and your team and the ground staff in Cuzco for all their help and care. A special thanks to Angella for her help.
We hope to do business with you in the near future.
Best Regards
 


Saikat.
Date: Fri, 02 Jul 2010

I just wanted to let you know that we had an amazing and wonderful trip to your country.
I must state that the people of Peru impressed me very much - they are so nice!
While I have already filled-up the feedback form, this is just a personal note to say Thank you.
Do visit India sometime - we have a lot in common.
Regards,


Irina Pascu
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 2010

I am now back home but still not believed that the holiday is over. I just
write you to tell you that I had a wonderful time in Peru and to thanks for
your support. The circuit was very well designed and I had the opportunity
to visit all the important sites I envisaged and also the Sacred Valley and
the Altiplano.
I was really impressed by the organization and your people, always in time
for pick up and interested to offer the necessary information.
Finally I showed to my friends that Peru is not so far and a visit there
could be a wonderful experience. For me was a dream come true.
Many thanks to you and to your team.


Melissa Polier
Date: Tues, 22 Jun 2010

My 2 adult children and I recently returned from our hike to Machu Picchu and I wanted to thank you for all your assistance. Our trip was great. We very much enjoyed visiting your beautiful country. I especially want to praise our guide, cook and porters. They did a terrific job. The food was marvelous and after a long hike it was definitely something to look forward to. The porters were very kind and when I needed some assistance at the end of the 3rd day one of the porters helped me a lot. Our guide was great. He was very knowledgeable and fun to hike with and he seemed to really love his job. Again, thanks so much for everything

 


Read More testimonials »


PERU GATEWAY TRAVEL
Peru travel guide,hotels, tours,vacation holiday planner for Machu Picchu,Cusco,Lima and all of Peru
US TOLL FREE 888-671-2853 - 1 888 671 2852
Non US customers call +51 1 4443027 - 4457704

Av Pardo 601 Suite 701-702 Miraflores Lima Peru

 
Contact  Us

This information is current as of today,

© 2000-2010 Peru Gateway Travel a division of Cosmic Ltd, all rights reserved