Peru

B

Spanish Rule

In 1532 the Spanish soldier and adventurer Francisco Pizarro landed in Peru with a force of about 180 men. By guile and by force of arms Pizarro made the Inca Empire a possession of the Spanish Empire. In 1535 Pizarro founded on the banks of the Rímac River the Peruvian capital city of Ciudad de los Reyes (Spanish for “City of the Kings”; present-day Lima). Subsequently, disputes over jurisdictional powers broke out among the Spanish conquerors, or conquistadors, and in 1541 a member of one of the conflicting Spanish factions assassinated Pizarro in Lima.

In 1542 a Spanish imperial council promulgated statutes called New Laws for the Indies, which were designed to put a stop to cruelties inflicted on the Native Americans. In the same year Spain created the viceroyalty of Peru, which comprised all Spanish South America and Panama, except what is now Venezuela.

The first Spanish viceroy arrived in Peru in 1544 and attempted to enforce the New Laws, but the conquistadores rebelled and in 1546 killed the viceroy. Although the rebellion was crushed by Spanish government forces in 1548, the New Laws were never put into effect.

In 1569 the Spanish colonial administrator Francisco de Toledo arrived in Peru. During the ensuing 14 years he established a highly effective, although harshly repressive, system of government. Toledo’s method of administration consisted of a major government of Spanish officials ruling through a minor government made up of Native Americans who dealt directly with the native population. This system lasted for almost 200 years.

C

Revolts for Independence

In 1780 a force of 60,000 Native Americans revolted against Spanish rule under the leadership of the Peruvian patriot José Gabriel Condorcanqui, who adopted the name of an ancestor, the Inca Tupac Amaru. Although initially successful, the uprising was crushed in 1781, and Condorcanqui was tortured and executed, as were thousands of his fellow revolutionaries. Another revolt was similarly put down in 1814. Subsequently, however, opposition to imperial rule grew throughout Spanish South America. The opposition was led largely by South Americans of Spanish descent, who long resented having a status inferior to that of the ruling minorities.

Freedom from Spanish rule, however, was brought to Peru by outsiders. In September 1820 the Argentine soldier and patriot José de San Martín, who had defeated the Spanish forces in Chile, landed an invasion army at the seaport of Pisco, Peru in the course of the South American wars of independence. On July 12, 1821, San Martín’s forces entered Lima, which had been abandoned by Spanish troops. Peruvian independence was proclaimed formally on July 28, 1821. The struggle against the Spanish was continued later by the Venezuelan revolutionary hero Simón Bolívar, who entered Peru with his armies in 1822. In 1824, in the Battle of Junín on August 6 and the Battle of Ayacucho on December 9, Bolívar’s forces routed the Spanish.

D

Succession of Rulers

The following years were extremely chaotic. Bolívar, who left for Gran Colombia in 1826, was succeeded by a series of his so-called marshals of Ayacucho. Andrés Santa Cruz served until 1827, when he was replaced by José de La Mar, who was in turn supplanted by Agustín Gamarra in 1829. Gamarra ruled until 1833. In the meantime Santa Cruz had become president of Bolivia, and in 1836 he invaded Peru, establishing a confederation of the two countries that lasted three years. After that, Gamarra took power again. The country, however, enjoyed no peace until 1845 when Ramón Castilla, another veteran of Ayacucho, seized the presidency. Fortunately, he proved to be an able ruler, who during his two terms in office (1845-1851 and 1855-1862) initiated many important reforms, including the abolition of slavery, the construction of railways and telegraph facilities, and the adoption in 1860 of a liberal constitution. Castilla also began exploitation of the country’s rich guano and nitrate deposits. In 1864 these deposits involved Peru in a war with Spain, which had seized the guano-rich Chincha Islands. Ecuador, Bolivia, and Chile aided Peru, defeating the Spanish forces in 1866. The resulting treaty of 1879 constituted the first formal Spanish recognition of Peruvian sovereignty.

Peru was badly defeated by Chile in the War of the Pacific (1879-1883). The war severely depleted Peruvian financial reserves and placed subsequent relations between the two countries under a continuing strain. For the next 25 years Peru was ruled by a succession of dictators.

E

Foundation of APRA

In 1908 a programme of economic reform was instituted by President Augusto Leguía y Salcedo. After his first term (1908-1912), Leguía travelled in Britain and the United States, where he learned methods of banking and finance, which he later applied in Peru, and made many friends in the business community. He regained the presidency in 1919 by means of a military coup and thereafter ruled as virtual dictator. In 1924, during his rule, some exiled Peruvian intellectuals founded the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), which for more than 40 years was led by Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre. As a result of its radical ideology, which called for basic reforms—especially in the conditions of the Native Americans—APRA was soon banned by Leguía (as it would be often later), but managed nevertheless to become the most influential of Peru’s political parties. Before Leguía was overthrown in 1930, he had settled by a 1929 treaty the long-standing Tacna-Arica dispute with Chile.

On April 9, 1933, a new constitution was adopted. Later that month President Leguía’s successor, Luis Sánchez Cerro, was assassinated. The next chief executive, General Óscar Raimundo Benavides, followed the new pattern of harsh political rule combined with marked economic advances. Manuel Prado y Ugarteche, who succeeded Benavides in 1939, was forced, however, to make concessions to the powerful reform sentiment fostered by APRA.

F

World War II and After

During World War II Peru gave limited support to the Allied cause. It broke off relations with the Axis powers in January 1942, but declared war against Germany and Japan only in February 1945 in order to be accepted as a charter member of the UN.

In 1945 a coalition of liberal and leftist parties, including APRA, elected as president José Luis Bustamante y Rivero. Bustamante instituted numerous liberal reforms; civil rights and freedom of the press were strengthened, and certain dictatorial powers of the president were abolished by constitutional amendment. In October 1948, however, rightist revolutionary leaders unseated Bustamante, seized the government, and outlawed APRA. On July 2, 1950, Manuel A. Odría, the leader of the 1948 coup d’état, was elected president. Odría’s chief opponent was not placed on the ballot.

The Odría administration strengthened Peru’s defences, initiated a large public-works programme, and concluded a series of economic and cultural pacts with Brazil that provided for closer cooperation between the two countries. Along with Chile and Ecuador, Peru also extended the country’s territorial waters to 320 km (200 mi) off the mainland. This action brought sharp protests from the United States, as many American fishing vessels operated in South American waters.