Peruvians are people identified with the country of Peru. There were Andean and Coastal Ancient civilizations like Caral, the oldest civilization of Peru and the Americas, who inhabited Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases. Spaniards and Africans arrived in large numbers in 1532 under colonial rule, mixing widely with each other and with Native Peruvians. During the Republic, there has been a gradual immigration of European people. Chinese and Japanese arrived in large numbers at the end of the 19th century.
