The territorial organization of Peru (1821–2021)

Abstract

The year 2014 culminates for Peru the last border dispute at the international level, and and only on this date can the territory of the Republic be configured in its entirety. During the 20th century international land boundary agreements were reached with significant territorial losses, compared to the surface with which the Republic of Peru was born; and in the second decade of the 21st century international maritime boundaries were defined even with the participation of the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Regarding the internal territorial organization, after two centuries of republican life, Peru still faces many challenges. Approximately 75% of its political-administrative districts do not have boundaries established by law and are configured solely on the basis of referential limits with consequent internal boundary differences and permanent decision-making based on territorial informality.

The progressive creation of non-functional constituencies, with evident political nuances, also constitutes a challenge in the attempt to configure rational constituencies.

Similarly, the inability to create political-administrative regions leads to the consolidation of departmental bureaucracies that use their powers to weaken the regionalization process. This research, using historical analysis, develops the most relevant processes of territorial configuration and reconfiguration that took place between 1821–2021, which explain the current territorial organization of Peru.