History of Peru

Peru was home to various Pre-Inca cultures and later, to the Inca Empire. Francisco Pizarro landed on the Peruvian coast in 1532, and by the end of the 1530s the Viceroyalty of Peru encompassed all of Spain’s territories in South America.

The Viceroyalty was a major source of gold and silver for the Spanish Empire. Lima was one of the two most important cities in Spain’s empire in America, the other being Mexico City. It is said that the country received its name from a Spaniard pronunciation of the Belu River.

Peru declared its independence from Spain on July 28, 1821 thanks to an alliance between the Army of Jose de San Martin, and the Army of Simon Bolivar. Its first elected president, however, was not in power until 1827.

From 1836 to 1839 Peru and Bolivia were united in the Peru-Bolivian Confederacy lead by Andres de Santa Cruz. The confederation dissolved due to internal conflicts and finally in a war with Chile with the support of peruvian expatriates. Between these years, political unrest did not fade away, with the Army as an important political force.

In 1864, Spain organized a naval so called science expedition, which it’s main objective was to recover control of its former colonies. Spain started occupying the Chinchas Islands and arresting Peruvian citizens in 1864, and legitimated this act based on that Spainards were mistreated on Peruvian ground.

After that incident, the Spaniard Fleet destroyed the chilean harbour of Valparaiso. Following this, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru officially signed an alliance to defeat Spain by the end of December 1865. The Spainard Fleet tried to destroy the harbour of Callao, but they failed. Main naval battles fought where the Battle of Papudo in 1865, Battle of Abtao and Battle of Callao in 1866.

In 1879 Peru entered into the so called War of the Pacific, which would last until 1884. Bolivia invoked its alliance with Peru against Chile. The Peruvian Government attempted to mediate the dispute by sending a diplomatic team to negotiate with the Chilean government; however, the committee concluded that war was inevitable. Chile declared war on April 5, 1879. (more…)

Introducation of Peru

The Republic of Peru, (Spanish: Republica del Peru pron. IPA [re’pu.ßli.ka del pe’ru]), or Peru, is a country in western South America, bordering Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the east, Bolivia to the east, south-east and south, Chile to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Peru is rich in cultural anthropology, and is well-known as the cradle of the Inca empire.Perhaps no other country has more to offer the visitor than Peru: panoramic mountain ranges, vast deserts, beautiful beaches and tropical jungle. All this combined with a rich historical and archaeological past and enduring indigenous cultures.

The indigenous Inca civilisation of what is now Peru was conquered by Spain in the early 16th century. Spain ruled the country until the early 19th century. The wars of Independence, which expelled the Spanish from virtually the entire South American continent, reached Peru in the early 1820s. After the 1821 declaration of Independence, Peru was challenged by the royalists. The new Government appealed to the revolutionary leader, Simon Bolivar, for assistance, who proceeded to defeat the royalists at the Battle of Ayacucho in December 1824, after which he became Head of State.

Relations between Peru and its neighbours were difficult in the early years of Independence. There were border disputes with Brazil and Ecuador, and especially with Chile. The War of the Pacific, which broke out between Peru and Chile in 1879 with a complete victory for Chile and the loss to Peru of some southern territories. Internal problems dominated the agenda for the next 30 years, as a series of Governments struggled to keep the economy, which was almost completely destroyed as a result of the Pacific War, from disintegrating.

The first of Peru’s many military coups was in 1914. The junta lasted five years, before giving way to the civilian Government of Augusto Leguia. His tenure ended with another military take-over. While the military has always been a powerful force in Peruvian politics, its principal opponent and the country’s largest political party for much of the 20th century was the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA), founded by Dr Victor Raul Haya de la Torre in 1924, as a continent-wide anti-imperialist movement, although increasingly moderate and Peruvian-centred in its appeal, APRA has nevertheless been illegal for much of its history.

Politics has also persistently been dogged by alleged - and sometimes proven - corruption. In terms of corruption at home, the ‘war on drugs’ has long dominated relations between Peru and the USA. Border disputes have also arisen; the most serious of these was with Ecuador over access to the Amazonian river system and control of the potentially mineral-rich Condor mountain range. In early 1995, full-scale fighting broke out after talks broke down, continuing intermittently until a settlement was reached in 1999. (more…)

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