APEC logo design inspired by ancient city Caral

Global Business

The logo for this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting hosted by Peru is inspired by a Peruvian archaeological site. It’s called Caral, the oldest city in the Americas.

The logo for this year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting hosted by Peru is inspired by a Peruvian archaeological site. It’s called Caral, the oldest city in the Americas.

CCTV’s Dan Collyns has more.  Follow Dan Collyns on Twitter @yachay_dc

Caral, the capital of the earliest known civilization in the Americas, pioneered peaceful and mutually beneficial trade in this hemisphere. 

Developed between 3000 and 1800 BCE, the ancient Peruvian civilization called Caral-Supe had an impressive grasp of agronomy, engineering and medicine. It was a contemporary of better-known Bronze Age cultures in Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.

Discovered a little more than 20 years ago, Caral transformed archaeologists’ understanding of Peru’s history. When carbon-dating proved it was 5,000 years old its masterful design and construction became all the more remarkable.

Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, Caral places Peru alongside fellow APEC members, which celebrate their ancient civilizations. 

Seen from the air, one can make out how it inspired this year’s APEC logo, which has an outer ring of 21 shapes, representing the forum’s members. 

Archaeologists found no weapons in Caral, or skeletons showing wounds associated with combat.

Unlike the warring states of the Inca civilization Novoa says Caral was based on trade, a fitting symbol for APEC, which aims to promote free trade in the Asia-Pacific region.


Tracing APEC development

APEC, or Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, is a forum created in 1989 with 12 member economies. China came on board in 1991 and there are now 21 members.

CCTV America’s Jim Spellman explains the forum and it’s purpose. Follow Jim Spellman on Twitter @jimspellmanTV

Around 2.8 billion people live in the APEC region, representing around 57 percent of world’s GDP and 49 percent of global trade.

The forum works together to promote open trade and create greater prosperity for its members.

APEC mainly operates in three areas: investment and trade liberalization, business facilitation, economic and technical cooperation.