A chronology of key events:

1532-33 - Spanish conquistadores led by Francisco Pizarro defeat the Incas whose empire subsequently becomes part of the Vice-royalty of Peru with its capital in Lima.

1780 - Revolt against Spanish led by Tupac Amaru, who claimed to be descended from last Inca chieftain, fails.

1821 - General Jose de San Martin captures Lima from Spanish and proclaims Peru independent.

1824 - Peru is last colony in Latin America to gain independence from Spain.

1836-39 - Peru and Bolivia join in short-lived confederation.

1849-74 - Some 80,000-100,000 Chinese workers arrived in Peru to do menial jobs such as collecting guano.

1866 - Peruvian-Spanish war.

1879-83 - Peru and Bolivia are defeated by Chile during the Pacific War in which Peru loses territory in the south to Chile.

1884 - Chile given Peruvian province of Tarapaca in accordance with Treaty of Ancon.

1924 - Victor Raul Haya de la Torre sets up nationalist American Revolutionary Popular Alliance (APRA) in exile in Mexico.

1941 - Brief border war with Ecuador. Under the 1942 Rio Protocol Ecuador cedes some disputed territory to Peru.

1945 - Civilian government led by centre-left APRA comes to power after free elections.

1948 - Military government led by General Manuel Odria installed following coup.

1963 - Peru returns to civilian rule with centrist Fernando Belaunde Terry as president.

1968 - Civilian government ousted in coup led by General Juan Velasco Alvarado, who introduces populist land reform programme and carries out large-scale nationalisations.

1975 - Velasco ousted in coup led by General Morales Bermudez.

1980 - Peru returns to civilian rule with re-election of Fernando Belaunde as president; Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, guerrillas begin armed struggle.

1981 - Peru fights border war with Ecuador over Cordillera del Condor, which a 1942 protocol had given to Peru.

1982 - Deaths and "disappearances" begin to escalate following army crackdown on guerrillas and drug traffickers.

1985 - APRA candidate Alan Garcia Perez wins presidential election and begins campaign to remove military and police "old guard".

1987 - New Libertad movement led by writer Mario Vargas Llosa blocks plans to nationalise banks as Peru faces bankruptcy.

1988 - Peru seeks help from International Monetary Fund; Shining Path guerrilla campaign intensifies.

1990 - More than 3,000 political murders reported; independent centre-right Alberto Fujimori elected president on anti-corruption platform; severe austerity and privatisation programmes launched as inflation reaches 400%.

1992 - Fujimori suspends constitution with army backing; Shining Path leader arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment; new single-chamber legislature elected.

1993 - New constitution adopted, enabling Fujimori to seek re-election.

1994 - Some 6,000 Shining Path guerrillas surrender to the authorities.

1995 - Fujimori re-elected to second term; people convicted of human rights abuses pardoned.

1996 - Tupac Amaru guerrillas seize hostages at Japanese ambassador's residence.

1997 - Peruvian special forces free hostages held at Japanese ambassador's residence.

1998 - Border agreement with Ecuador.

2000 September - Intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos embroiled in scandal after being caught on video apparently trying to bribe an opposition politician.

2000 17. November - Peruvian human rights ombudsman's office says 4,000 people had "disappeared" since 1980 in war against left-wing rebels.

2000 20. November - President Fujimori resigns following political and financial scandals.

2000 22. November - Peruvian Congress sacks Fujimori and declares him "morally unfit" to govern; head of Congress Valentin Paniagua sworn in as interim president.

2001 March - Judge orders former president Fujimori, who has since fled to Japan, to face charges of dereliction of duty.

2001 April - New heads of the army, air force and navy sworn in after their predecessors resign over links to former president Fujimori.

2001 May - President of Supreme Court and nine senior judges dismissed over alleged links with fugitive former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos. Deputy treasury minister resigns over allegations that he was instrumental in paying Montesinos $15m to leave Peru.

2001 June - Presidential elections: centre-left economist Alejandro Toledo defeats former president Alan Garcia. Toledo is Peru's first president of native Indian origin.

2001 June - Former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos is apprehended in Venezuela, flown back to Peru and held in a top-security prison.

2001 September - Supreme Court judge issues international arrest warrant for former president Alberto Fujimori, who is in self-exile in Japan.

2002 March - Nine people killed by bomb blast near US embassy in Lima - seen as attempt to disrupt forthcoming visit by President George W Bush.

2002 April - Truth and Reconciliation Commission begins public hearings about alleged atrocities committed during civil war of 1980s and 1990s.

2002 June - Violent protests against the privatisation of two power companies. President Toledo puts the sale on hold.

2002 July - Lawmakers accuse exiled former president Alberto Fujimori of treason.
Former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos sentenced to nine years in prison for corruption.

2003 March-May - Vladimiro Montesinos sentenced to further five and eight-year jail sentences for abuse of power, embezzlement.

2003 August - Truth and Reconciliation Commission's inquiry into atrocities during 20-year war against Shining Path rebels concludes that an estimated 69,280 people were killed.

2003 December - President Toledo sacks Prime Minister Beatriz Merino.

2004 February - President Toledo becomes mired in political crisis amid plummeting approval ratings. In his fifth cabinet reshuffle since coming to power, he appoints seven political independents.

2004 June - Former intelligence head Vladimiro Montesinos sentenced to further 15 years in jail for corruption, embezzlement, conspiracy.

2004 August - Inauguration of major gas pipeline project connecting jungle gas field with Lima.

2005 January - Four-day failed uprising by nationalist army reservists in the south: six people are killed and the interior minister resigns over the incident.

2005 May - Congressional commission finds President Toledo guilty of electoral fraud. Prosecutors allege that his party forged many of the signatures it used to register for the 2000 poll. Congress later votes not to impeach the president.

2005 July - Government begins paying compensation to guerrilla war victims; $800m has been earmarked for the purpose.

2005 November - Former President Fujimori is arrested in Chile, after arriving there from Japan, pending extradition proceedings.

2005 December - Peru and the US reach a free trade agreement.

Constitutional Background