During the Republic, there has been a gradual immigration of European people (especially from Spain and Italy, and to a lesser extent from Germany, France, Croatia, and the British Isles).

[25] Major cities include Lima, home to over 9.5 million people, Arequipa, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Piura, Iquitos, Huancayo, Cusco and Pucallpa, all of which reported more than 250,000 inhabitants.

In the 2017 Census, those of age 12 and above were asked what ancestral origin they belong to, with 60% of Peruvians self-identifying as mestizos, 20% as Quechuas, 5% as European, 3% as Afro-Peruvian, 2% as Aymaras, 0.6% as Amazonians, and 0.1% as Asian.

[27][failed verification] The two major ethnic groups are the Quechuas (belonging to various cultural subgroups), followed by the Aymara, mostly found in the extreme southern Andes.

A large proportion of the ethnic groups who live in the Andean highlands still speak Quechua and have vibrant cultural traditions, some of which were part of the Inca Empire.

A considerable European population migrated to Peru seeking economic opportunity in the booming oil, mining, fishing, sugar, cotton, guano, and rubber industries in the 19th century.

As in other Spanish colonies, slaves were typically imported to perform labor work in sugar cane, cotton fields and vineyards, very few of them in gold mines in Cuzco.

The African descendants brought their own dances and drumming music style, creating some instruments like the "Cajon" and some culinary art characterized by their delicious taste.

Another large Afro-Peruvian presence is in the Yunga regions (west and just below the Andean chain of northern Peru), (i.e., Piura and Lambayeque), where sugarcane, lemon, and mango production are still of importance.

Further south, the colonial city of Zaña or farming towns like Capote and Tuman in Lambayeque are also important regions with Afro-Peruvian presence.

During the next 25 years, 100,000 Chinese arrived in Peru, hired in eight-year contracts from Macao, Hong Kong, Canton, and Fujian, including some Sangley people.

[citation needed] Geographically Chinese descendant communities are found throughout the Peruvian upper Amazon, including cities such as Yurimaguas, Nauta, Iquitos and the north-central coast (Lambayeque and Trujillo) and the capital Lima.

In contrast to the Japanese community in Peru, the Chinese appear to have intermarried much more since they came to work in the rice fields during the Viceroyalty and to replace the African slaves, as laborers during the abolition of slavery itself.

[31] Chinese arrived in the 1850s as a replacement for slave workers in the sugar plantations of the north coast and have since become a major influence in Peruvian society.

[35] Lord of Miracles is a mural painted by an Angolan slave in the 17th century of Jesus Christ that is venerated in Lima and the main Catholic festivity in Peru and one of the biggest processions around the world.

Every year, in October, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all walks of life, dress in purple to celebrate the also known "Black Christ" in a religious procession through the streets of Lima.

These facts contributed to the growth and the solidification of devoted veneration to the mural known as "Christ of Pachacamilla" Peruvian culture is primarily rooted in Amerindian traditions, mainly Inca, and Hispanic heritage.

[40] The Peruvian culture today is modern with global influences, always open to new trends and is constantly moving and changing in Music, Art, Literature.

[41] In the early 20th century, the Indigenismo movement produced such writers as Ciro Alegría,[42] José María Arguedas,[43] and César Vallejo.

[44] During the second half of the century, Peruvian literature became more widely known because of authors such as Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, a leading member of the Latin American Boom.

Peruvian cuisine shows influences from Andean, Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Arab, African, and Japanese cooking.