Peru has a significant indigenous population and these groups have to face an historic and present day discrimination and exploitation. The main groups are Quechua and Aymara in the Andes, and diverse Amazonian peoples.

The first immigrants were Spanish and their effect upon Peru has been enormous. In fact, the people of today's Peru are a rich mix of Native Andeans, Afro-Peruvians, Spanish, immigrant Chinese, Japanese, Italians, and Germans.