Administrative divisions of Peru nation's capital, is located in this province.) Callao also is its own region, which contains only one province, the Constitutional Province of Callao. Administrative divisions of Peru The administrative divisions of Peru have changed from time to time, since the nation gained independence from Spain in the early 19th century. The old territorial subdivisions have split or merged due to several reasons, the most common ones being the need for decentralization, and population increase, especially in Lima. Peru was divided into 24 departments ("departamentos"; singular: "departamento") until the creation of the regions in 2002. These regions are governed by Regional
Peru as loose confederation of cities scattered along the coast of northern Peru and southern Ecuador, the Chimu flourished from about 1140 to 1450. Their capital was at Chan Chan outside of modern-day Trujillo. In the highlands, both the Tiahuanaco culture, near Lake Titicaca in both Peru and Bolivia, and the Wari culture, near the present-day city of Ayacucho, developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between 500 and 1000 AD. In the 15th century, the Incas emerged as a powerful state which, in the span of a century, formed the largest empire in pre-Columbian America with their capital in