Conquest of Peru Francisco Pizarro and the conquistadors arrived in Peru in 1532, establishing the first city of
San Miguel de Piura. Traditionally, the
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire is considered to have begun on November 16, 1532, when the
Inca army encountered the Spanish conquistadors in
Cajamarca, shortly after the end of the civil war between the two heirs to the Inca throne,
Huáscar and
Atahualpa (sons of the Inca
Huayna Capac). After the
Battle of Cajamarca, Atahualpa was taken prisoner by the Spanish and executed months later, on July 26, 1533, and the conquest of Peru began. The complete defeat of the Incas would not occur until 1572, thanks to the help of their indigenous allies.
Charles V granted the conquistadors with
adelantados, giving them the right to become governors and justices of the region they conquered. Prior to the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Peru, several major
governorates formed from these grants, including the
Governorate of New Castile (1529),
Governorate of New Toledo (1534),
Governorate of New Andalusia (1534), and
Province of Tierra Firme (1539). However, many civil wars were fought between the conquerers of Peru regarding power of the region. These struggles lasted from 1537 to 1554, with periods of relative peace. They began with the capture of
Cusco by
Diego de Almagro and culminated with the suppression of the last rebellion of encomenderos, led by
Francisco Hernández Girón . Shortly thereafter,
Andrés Hurtado de Mendoza initiated the definitive pacification of Peru.
Exploration and settlement (1542–1643) In 1542, the Spanish organized the existing governorates into the Viceroyalty of New Castile, which shortly afterward would be called the
Viceroyalty of Peru, in order to properly control and govern Spanish South America. In 1544,
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) named
Blasco Núñez Vela Peru's first viceroy. From September 2, 1564, to November 26, 1569,
Lope García de Castro, a Spanish colonial administrator who constituted the first
Audiencia in Spanish South America, served as the interim viceroy of Peru. Although established, the viceroyalty was not properly organized until the arrival of Viceroy
Francisco Álvarez de Toledo, who made an extensive tour of inspection of the region. Francisco de Toledo, "one of the great administrators of human times," established the
Inquisition in the viceroyalty and promulgated laws that applied to Indians and Spanish alike, breaking the power of the
encomenderos and reducing the old system of
mita (the Incan system of mandatory labor tribute). He improved the defensibility of the viceroyalty with fortifications, bridges, and
la Armada del Mar del Sur (the Southern Fleet) against pirates. He ended the indigenous
Neo-Inca State in
Vilcabamba, executing the Inca
Túpac Amaru, and promoted economic development from the commercial monopoly and mineral extraction, mainly from silver mines in
Potosí. The
Amazon Basin and some large adjoining regions had been considered Spanish territory since the
Treaty of Tordesillas and explorations such as that by
Francisco de Orellana, but Portugal fell under Spanish control between 1580 and 1640. During this time, Portuguese territories in Brazil were controlled by the Spanish crown, which did object to the spread of Portuguese settlement into parts of the Amazon Basin that the treaty had awarded to Spain. Still,
Luis Jerónimo de Cabrera, 4th Count of Chinchón sent out a third expedition to explore the
Amazon River, under
Cristóbal de Acuña; this was part of the return leg of the expedition of
Pedro Teixeira. Some Pacific islands and
archipelagoes were visited by Spanish ships in the sixteenth century, but they made no effort to trade with or colonize them. These included
New Guinea (by
Ýñigo Ortiz de Retez in 1545), the
Solomon Islands (in 1568), and the
Marquesas Islands (in 1595) by
Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira. The first
Jesuit reduction to Christianize the indigenous population was founded in 1609, but some areas occupied by Brazilians as
bandeirantes gradually extended their activities through much of the basin and adjoining
Mato Grosso in the 17th and 18th centuries. These groups had the advantage of remote geography and river access from the mouth of the Amazon, which was in Portuguese territory. Meanwhile, the Spanish were barred by their laws from enslaving indigenous people, leaving them without a commercial interest deep in the interior of the basin. A famous attack upon a Spanish mission in 1628 resulted in the enslavement of 60,000 indigenous people. As time passed, they were used as a self-funding occupation force by the Portuguese authorities in what was effectively a low-level war of territorial conquest. In 1617, viceroy
Francisco de Borja y Aragón divided the government of Río de la Plata in two, Buenos Aires and Paraguay, both dependencies of the Viceroyalty of Peru. He established the
Tribunal del Consulado, a court and administrative body for commercial affairs in the viceroyalty.
Diego Fernández de Córdoba, Marquis of Guadalcázar, reformed the fiscal system and stopped the interfamily rivalry that was bloodying the domain. Other viceroys, such as
Fernando Torres, Fernández de Cabrera, and Fernández Córdoba expanded the royal navy and fortified the ports to resist foreign incursions, such as those led by
privateer Thomas Cavendish. Fernández de Cabrera also suppressed an insurrection of the
Uru and
Mapuche Indians.
The last Spanish Habsburgs (1643–1713) and the
Cathedral of Lima Viceroys had to protect the Pacific coast from French contraband and English and Dutch pirates and privateers. They expanded the naval forces, fortified the ports of
Valdivia,
Valparaíso,
Arica and
Callao and constructed city walls in Lima (1686) and
Trujillo (1685–1687). Nevertheless, the famous Welsh privateer
Henry Morgan took
Chagres and
captured and sacked the city of
Panama in the early part of 1670. Also Peruvian forces repelled the attacks by Edward David (1684 and 1686),
Charles Wager and Thomas Colb (1708). The
Peace of Utrecht allowed the
British to send ships and merchandise to the fair at
Portobello. In this period, revolts were common. Around 1656,
Pedro Bohórquez crowned himself Inca (emperor) of the
Calchaquí Indians, inciting the indigenous population to revolt. From 1665 until 1668, the rich mineowners José and Gaspar Salcedo revolted against the colonial government. The clergy were opposed to the nomination of prelates from Spain. Viceroy
Diego Ladrón de Guevara had to take measures against an uprising of slaves at the
hacienda of Huachipa de Lima. There were terrible earthquakes (1655,
1687) and epidemics, too. During
Baltasar de la Cueva Enríquez's administration, the laws of the Indies were compiled.
Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva issued the
Ordenanza de Obrajes (Ordenance of Manufactures) in 1664 and
Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Leiva introduced the
papel sellado (literally, sealed paper). In 1683
Melchor de Navarra y Rocafull reestablished the Lima mint, which had been closed since 1572. Viceroy
Diego Ladrón de Guevara increased the production of silver in the mines of
Potosí, and stimulated production in other mines at
San Nicolás,
Cajatambo and
Huancavelica. He limited the manufacture of
aguardiente from
sugar cane to authorized factories, which he taxed heavily. The Churches of Los Desamparados (1672), La Buena Muerte and the convent of Mínimos de San Francisco de Paula were finished and opened. The Hospital of Espiritu Santo in Lima and
San Bartolomé hospital were built.
The Bourbon Reforms (1713–1806) '',
William Hogarth's c. 1736 portrait of a
Grub Street poet starving to death. On the wall behind him a placard entitled "A view of the Gold Mines of Peru", reflecting the common perception of Spanish Peru as being an economically welcoming place for immigrants. In 1717, the
Viceroyalty of New Granada was created from the northern territories, the
Audiencias of
Bogotá,
Quito and
Panama. This viceroyalty initially lasted only until 1724, but was reestablished permanently in 1740. With the creation of the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata from southern areas that are now
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Paraguay and
Uruguay in 1776, the
Charcas and
Buenos Aires audiencias were similarly lost. The 256-year-old
Treaty of Tordesillas was superseded by the
1750 Treaty of Madrid which granted Portugal control of the lands it had occupied in South America in the intervening centuries. This Portuguese occupation led to the
Guaraní War of 1756.
Amazonas is named after the
Amazon River, and was formerly part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, a region called
Spanish Guyana. It was settled by the Portuguese in the early 18th century and incorporated into the
Portuguese Empire after the
Treaty of Madrid in 1750. It became a state of the
Brazilian Republic in 1889. Several viceroys had scientific, political and economic impact on the Viceroyalty.
Manuel de Amat y Juniet organized an expedition to
Tahiti. Viceroy
Teodoro de Croix also decentralized the government through the creation of eight
intendencias in the area of the
Audiencia of Lima, and two in the
Captaincy General of Chile.
Francisco Gil de Taboada reincorporated the region of
Puno into the Viceroyalty of Peru.
José de Armendáriz stimulated the production of silver and took steps against fraud, corruption and smuggling. Amat y Juniet established the first Regulation of Commerce and Organization of Customs rules, which led to the building of the customshouse in Callao. Teodoro de Croix collaborated in the creation of the
Junta Superior de Comercio and the
Tribunal de Minería (1786). An earthquake demolished
Lima and
Callao, in 1746. Viceroy Amat y Juniet constructed various public works in Lima, including the first bull ring.
Manuel de Guirior also improved the medical care at ten hospitals in Lima and established a foundling home. War between Spain and Britain again broke out (the
War of Jenkins' Ear, 1739–1748). Amat y Juniet constructed the fortress of Real Felipe in Callao in 1774. Nevertheless, throughout this period, rebellions by
Native Peruvians were not entirely suppressed. In the eighteenth century alone, there were fourteen large uprisings, the largest of which was the
Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II in 1780, led by
Túpac Amaru II. Others include the
Juan Santos Atahualpa revolt in 1742, and the
Comunero Revolt that broke out in
Paraguay from 1721 to 1732. In 1767, the
Jesuits were expelled from the colony.
End of the Viceroyalty (1806–1824) in 1800. Viceroy
José Fernando de Abascal y Sousa promoted educational reforms, reorganized the army, and stamped out local rebellions. During his administration, the
Inquisition of Lima was temporarily abolished as a result of the reforms taken by the Cortes in Spain. When the wars of independence broke out in 1810, Peru was the center of Royalist reaction. Abascal reincorporated the provinces of
Córdoba,
Potosí,
La Paz,
Charcas,
Rancagua and
Quito into the Viceroyalty of Peru. The
Royal Army of Peru during 14 years defeated the patriots armies of Argentinians and Chileans, turning Peru into the last royal bastion in South America. In 1812, a large fire in
Guayaquil destroyed approximately half of the city.
Lord Cochrane unsuccessfully attacked
Guayaquil and
Callao, but on 4 February he
captured Valdivia, called at the time
The Key of the South Seas and the
Gibraltar of the Pacific, due to its
huge fortifications. The viceroyalty managed to defend
Chiloé Island until 1826. On September 8, 1820, the
Expedición Libertadora of Peru, organized mainly by the Chilean government with the objective of executing previous plans laid out by Argentine
libertador José de San Martín, landed on the beach at
Paracas Bay near the city of
Pisco, with the land army under the command of
José de San Martín and the navy under the command of
Thomas Cochrane. After Cochrane's navy defeated the Spanish navy on the Peruvian coasts, the expedition secured the surrender of Callao. After fruitless negotiations with the viceroy, the expedition occupied the Peruvian capital of Lima on July 21, 1821. The independence of Peru was proclaimed on July 28, 1821. Viceroy
José de la Serna e Hinojosa, still in command of a sizable military force, retired to
Jauja, and later to
Cusco. On July 26, 1822, San Martín and
Simón Bolívar met in
Guayaquil to define a strategy for the liberation of the rest of Peru. The meeting was secret, and exactly what occurred is not known. However, afterwards San Martín returned to Argentina while Bolívar prepared to launch an offensive against the remaining royalist forces in Peru and
Upper Peru (modern-day
Bolivia). In September 1823 Bolívar arrived in Lima with
Antonio José de Sucre to plan the offensive. In February 1824 the royalists briefly regained control of Lima. Olañeta's Rebellion started by surprise and the entire royalist army of Upper Peru (today's Bolivia) revolted, led by the royalist commander
Pedro Antonio Olañeta against
José de la Serna, the liberal
viceroy of Peru. This broke the royal army and started a civil war in Upper Peru. Having regrouped in
Trujillo, Bolívar in June led his rebel forces South to confront the Spanish under
Field Marshal José de Canterac. The two armies met on the plains of
Junín on August 6, 1824, and the Peruvians were victorious in a battle fought entirely without firearms. The Spanish troops subsequently evacuated Lima for a second time. As a result of a decree of the Congress of
Gran Colombia, Bolívar turned over command of the rebel troops to Sucre on October 7, 1824. '' At this point, royalist control was reduced to
Cusco in the south-central highlands. The viceroy launched a counter-offensive over
Ayacucho, and on 9 December 1824. The Battle of Ayacucho (also known as the Battle of La Quinua), took place between royalist Spanish and
nationalist (
republican) troops at Pampa de La Quinua, a few kilometers away from Ayacucho, near the town of
Quinua. This battle, led by Bolívar's lieutenant
Antonio José de Sucre, sealed the independence of Peru and South America. During this battle, the losing Spanish army sustained 2,000 dead and wounded and lost 3,000 prisoners, with the remainder of the army entirely dispersed. During the battle, Viceroy Serna was wounded and taken prisoner, where he signed the final capitulation whereby the Spaniards agreed to leave Peru. Serna was released soon afterwards and sailed for Europe. Spain made futile attempts to retain its former territories, such as at the
Siege of Callao (1826), but after death of King
Ferdinand VII of Spain in 1836, the government of Spain renounced its territorial and sovereignty claims over all of continental America. In 1867, Spain signed a peace treaty with Peru and in 1879 it signed a
treaty recognizing Peru's independence. == Politics ==