Everything about Viceroyalty Of Peru totally explained
Created in
1542, the
Viceroyalty of Peru (in
Spanish,
Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish colonial administrative district that originally contained most of
Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of
Lima. The Viceroyalty of Peru was the more powerful of the two Spanish
Viceroyalties in America from the
sixteenth to the
eighteenth centuries.
However, the Spanish didn't resist the
Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian. The
Treaty of Tordesillas was rendered meaningless between
1580 and
1640 while Spain controlled Portugal. The creation of Viceroyalties of
New Granada and
Rio de la Plata (at the expense of Peru's territory) reduced the importance of Lima and shifted trade to
Caracas and
Buenos Aires, while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated the progressive decay of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Eventually, the district would dissolve with much of the Spanish empire when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the 1800s.
History
Exploration and Settlement (1542-1643)
After the
Spanish conquest of Peru (
1532–
37), the first
Audiencia was constituted. In
1542, the Spanish created the Viceroyalty of New Castilla, that shortly afterwards would be called the Viceroyalty of Peru. In
1544,
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (King Charles I of Spain) named
Blasco Núñez Vela Peru's first viceroy, but the viceroyalty wasn't organized until the arrival of Viceroy
Francisco de Toledo in
1572. Toledo made an extensive tour of inspection of the colony.
Francisco de Toledo, "one of the great administrators of human times", established the
Inquisition and promulgated laws that applied to both Indians and Spanish alike, breaking the power of the
encomenderos and reducing the old system of
mita, or forced native labor. He improved the safety in the viceroyalty with fortifications, bridges and
la Armada del Mar del Sur (the Southern Fleet) against the pirates. Francisco de Toledo also ended the indigenous state of
Vilcabamba, executing the
Inca Tupac Amaru, and promoted economic development from the commercial monopoly and the mineral extraction, mainly, from silver mines of
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 the Treaty of Tordesillas was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal. However,
Luis Jerónimo Fernández de Cabrera sent out the third expedition to explore the
Amazon River, under
Cristóbal de Acuña. (This was part of the return leg of the expedition of
Pedro Teixeira.)
Many Pacific islands 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
Yñigo Ortiz de Retez in
1545), the
Solomon Islands (by
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa in
1568) and the
Marquesas Islands (by
Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira in
1595).
The first
Jesuit reduction to convert and "civilize" the Indigenous population was founded in
1609, but some areas were occupied by Brazilians as
Bandeirantes gradually extended their activities throughout much of the basin and adjoining
Matto 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) making it impossible for the Spanish authorities to control them. One famous attack upon a Spanish mission in 1628 resulted in the enslavement of 60 000 indigenous people. In fact 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. Finally the reality of the situation was recognized with the transfer of sovereignty over the much of the basin and surrounding areas to Portugal in the
Treaty of Madrid (1750). This settlement led to the
Guarani War of 1756. In 1617,
Francisco de Borja y Aragón divided the government of Río de la Plata into two, Buenos Aires and Paraguay, both dependencies of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Viceroy Borja y Aragón also established the
Tribunal del Consulado, a special 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, Borja y Aragón, Fernández de Cabrera or Fernández Córdoba also expanded the colonial navy and fortified the ports to fight against pirate attacks, as those lead by the Englishman
Thomas Cavendish. Fernández de Cabrera suppressed an insurrection of the
Uru and
Araucano Indians.
The last Spanish Habsburgs (1643–1713)
Viceroys had to protect the Pacific coast from French contraband and English and Dutch pirates. 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 English 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) and
Woldes (1709–1711). 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,
Cojatambo 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)
In 1717 the
Viceroyalty of New Granada was created in northern Peru, from the
Audiencias of
Bogotá,
Quito and
Panamá. This establishment lasted only until
1724, but it was reestablished in 1740. With the creation of the
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (now
Argentina,
Bolivia,
Paraguay and
Uruguay) in
1776, the
Buenos Aires was similarly lost. The
Treaty of Tordesillas was superseded by the
1750 Treaty of Madrid which granted Portugal control of the lands it occupied in South America.
Manuel de Amat y Juniet organized an expedition to
Tahiti. Viceroy
Teodoro de Croix also decentralized the government through the creation of seven
intendencias.
Francisco Gil de Taboada reincorporated the region of
Puna into the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Image:Brazil states1534.png|1534
Brazil according to the Treaty of Tordesillas
Image:Brazil states1789.png|1789
Brazil according to the Treaty of Madrid (1750)
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, the Inca were not entirely suppressed. In the
eighteenth century alone, there were fourteen large uprisings, the most important of which were that of
Juan Santos Atahualpa in
1742, and the
Sierra Uprising of
Tupac Amaru II in
1780. The
Comunero Revolt broke out in
Paraguay from
1721 to
1732). In
1767, the
Jesuits were expelled from the colony.
End of the Viceroyalty (1806-1824)
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,
Chile and
Quito (Ecuador) into the Viceroyalty of Peru.
In 1812 occurred the great fire of
Guayaquil that destroyed half the city.
Lord Thomas Cochrane, in command of the newly created
Chilean Navy, unsuccessfully attacked Guayaquil and El 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. However the viceroyalty managed to defend
Chiloé Island until
1826.
On
September 8,
1820, the
Expedición Libertadora of Peru, organized in Chile, landed on the beach at
Paracas, near the city of
Pisco, Peru. The army was under the command of
José de San Martín. After fruitless negotiations with the viceroy, San Martín 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 isn't known. However, afterwards San Martín returned to Argentina while Bolívar prepared to launch an offensive against the remaining royalist forces in Alto Peru. 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. 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.
Royalist control was now reduced to a small area around the city of
Ayacucho, located in the south-central highlands. It was there that the final battle for the independence of Peru would be fought.
On
9 December 1824, the Battle of Ayacucho, or Battle of La Quinua, took place at Pampa de La Quinua, a few kilometers away from Ayacucho, near the town of
Quinua. This battle — between royalist (Spanish) and
nationalist (
republican) troops — sealed the independence of Peru and South America. The victorious nationalist forces were led by
Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar's lieutenant. Viceroy Serna was wounded and taken prisoner. The Spanish army had 2,000 dead and wounded and lost 3,000 prisoners, with the remainder of the army entirely dispersed. After the battle, Serna 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 regain its former colonies, such as at the
Battle of Callao, but in
1879 it finally recognized Peru's independence.
Politics
The town of
Lima, founded by Pizarro on
January 18,
1535 as the "Ciudad de los Reyes" (City of Kings), became the seat of the new viceroyalty. It grew into a powerful city, with jurisdiction over all of Spanish South America except for
Portuguese-dominated
Brazil. All of the colonial wealth of South America passed through Lima on its way to the
Isthmus of Panama and from there to
Seville, Spain. The rest of the country was dependent upon Lima, in a pattern that persists until today in Peru. On the local level, Spanish
encomenderos depended on local chieftains (
curacas) to control even the most remote settlements, in a rigorous hierarchy. By the eighteenth century, Lima had become a distinguished and aristocratic colonial capital, seat of a university and the chief Spanish stronghold in the Americas.
Administrative divisions
The Viceroyalty of Peru was divided into
audiencias, or administrative divisions. Each of these was governed by a regional governor who was controlled by the Viceroy of Peru. These divisions included the following (with dates of creation):
1. Lima (
1543)
2. La Plata de los Charcas (
1559)
3. Quito (
1563)
4. Santa Fe de Bogotá (
1548)
5. Chile (
1563-
1573;
1606)
6. Panamá (
1538)
Later Subdivisions
Economy
Once the Viceroyalty of Peru was established,
gold and
silver from the Andes enriched the conquerors, and Peru became the principal source of Spanish wealth and power in
South America. The first coins minted for Peru (and indeed for South America) appeared between 1568 and 1570. Viceroy
Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau was able to send back an enormous sum of money (1,600,000 pesos) to the king to cover some of the costs of the
War of the Spanish Succession. This was possible in part because of the discovery of the mines in
Caraboya. The silver from mines at Potosí circulated around the world.
Luis Jerónimo Fernández de Cabrera prohibited direct trade between Peru and
New Spain (Mexico) and the persecution of Portuguese Jews, the principal traders in
Lima.
Demographics
A census taken by the last Quipucamayoc indicated that there were 12 million inhabitants of Inca Peru; 45 years later, under viceroy Toledo, the census figures amounted to only 1,100,000 Indians. While the attrition wasn't an organized attempt at
genocide, the results were similar. Inca cities were given Spanish Christian names and rebuilt as Spanish towns, each centered around a
plaza with a church or cathedral facing an official residence. A few Inca cities like Cuzco retained native masonry for the foundations of their walls. Other Inca sites, like
Huanuco Viejo, were abandoned for cities at lower altitudes more hospitable to the Spanish.
Viceroy
José de Armendáriz reestablished the system whereby Inca nobles who could prove their ancestry were recognized as
hijosdalgos of Castile. This led to a frenzy on the part of the Indigenous nobility to legitimate their status.
In the 1790s Viceroy Francisco Gil de Taboada ordered the first official census of the population.
The last cargo of black slaves in Peru was landed in 1806. At that time an adult male slave sold for 600 pesos.
Culture
Viceroy Francisco de Borja y Aragón reorganized the
University of San Marcos and
Luis Jerónimo Fernández de Cabrera founded two chairs of medicine. In the 1710s, Viceroy
Diego Ladrón de Guevara established a chair of anatomy.
Teodoro de Croix and Francisco Gil de Taboada founded anatomy centers. In 1810 the medical school of San Fernando was founded.
On the death of the Peruvian astronomer Doctor
Francisco Ruiz Lozano, Viceroy
Melchor Liñán y Cisneros (with the approval of the Crown) gave mathematics a permanent position in the University of San Marcos. Mathematics was attached to the chair of cosmography. Doctor
Juan Ramón Koening, a Belgian by birth, was named to the chair.
(External Link
). Viceroy Manuel de Guirior created two new chairs at the university.
Luis Enríquez de Guzmán, conde de Alba de Liste founded the Naval Academy of the colony. Francisco Gil de Taboada supported the navigation school.
Teodoro de Croix began the Botanic Garden of Lima.
Francisco de Borja y Aragón also founded, in
Cuzco, the
Colegio del Príncipe for sons of the Indigenous nobility and the
Colegio de San Francisco for sons of the conquistadors. Manuel de Amat y Juniet founded the Royal College of San Carlos.
The first books printed in Peru were produced by Antonio Ricardo, a printer from Turin who settled in Lima. Diego de Benavides y de la Cueva built the first theater in Lima. Manuel de Oms y de Santa Pau founded a literary academy in
1709 and promoted weekly literary discussions in the palace that attracted some of Lima's best writers. These included the famous
Criollo scholar
Pedro Peralta y Barnuevo and several Indigenous poets. Oms introduced French and Italian fashions in the viceroyalty. The Italian musician
Rocco Cerruti (1688-1760) arrived in Peru. Francisco Gil de Taboada supported the foundation of the newspaper
El Mercurio Peruano in 1791 and founded the Academy of Fine Arts.
Jesuit
Barnabé de Cobo (1582-1657), who explored Mexico and Peru, brought the cinchona bark from Lima to Spain in 1632, and afterwards to Rome and other parts of Italy.
In 1737
Jorge Juan y Santacilia and
Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish scientists sent by the
French Academy on a
scientific mission to measure a degree of meridian at the equator, arrived in the colony. They also had the mission of reporting on disorganization and corruption in the government and smuggling. Their report was published later, under the title
Noticias Secretas de América (
Secret News From America).
Manuel de Guirior assisted the scientific expedition of
Hipólito Ruiz López,
José Antonio Pavón and
Joseph Dombey, sent to study the flora of the viceroyalty. The expedition lasted from 1777 to 1788. Their findings were later published as
La flora peruana y chilena (
The Flora of Peru and Chile). Again a major concern was stimulating the economy, which Guirior did by adopting liberal measures in agriculture, mining, commerce and industry.
Another French influence on science in the colony was
Louis Godin, another member of the meridian expedition. He was appointed
cosmógrafo mayor by Viceroy Mendoza.
(External Link) The duties of
cosmógrafo mayor included publishing almanacs and sailing instructions. Another French scientist in Peru at this time was
Charles Marie de La Condamine.
The
Balmis Expedition arrived in Lima on
May 23,
1806. At the same time these viceroys adopted rigorous measures to suppress the thought of the Encyclopedists and revolutionaries in the United States and France.
On
1671,
Saint Rose of Lima was canonized by
Pope Clement X. Rose was the first native-born American to become a Catholic saint.
Pope Benedict XIII elevated another two important Peruvian saints,
Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo and
Francisco de Solano.
Diego Quispe Tito was a famous artist before the age of Independence.
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