Introduction to History of Peru
Peru's earliest inhabitants arrived in the area about 12,000 years ago and settled along the coast. By about 8000 B.C., they had begun to occupy the highlands.
Important dates in Peruc. 2800 B.C. The first cities in the Americas were built in the region of Norte Chico on the coast of Peru.c. 800-400 B.C. The civilization of the Chavin Indians reached its peak.c. A.D. 1500 The empire of the Inca Indians reached its greatest size.1532-1533 Spanish troops led by Francisco Pizarro conquered Peru and made it a Spanish colony.1780 The mestizo Tupac Amaru led an unsuccessful revolt of Indians and mestizos against white rule.1821 Jose de San Martin declared Peru independent of Spain.1879-1883 Peru lost its nitrate-rich southern provinces to Chile in the War of the Pacific.1924 The revolutionary APRA political party was founded.1968 Military leaders took control of Peru's government and began socialistic reforms.1980 A civilian government, elected by the people, began working to increase private enterprise.1992 In April, President Alberto Fujimori suspended Peru's Constitution and dissolved the legislature.1993 Peru adopted a new constitution. It was written by a popularly elected Constituent Assembly.A number of distinct cultures developed in the region from 200 A.D. to 1000 A.D. The earliest known is that of the Chavins. The civilizations of the Chimu and Tiahuanaco followed. The Mochicas, Paracas, and Nazcas are known for their pottery and textiles.
By 1500, the Incas dominated the region. Having subjugated neighboring groups, they extended their control throughout most of Andean South America. The Incas were architects, warriors, and road builders. Great stores of silver and gold were held in the city of Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.
Spanish Conquest
Shortly after reaching America in the 15th century, Spanish explorers learned of the riches of the Incas, and in 1524 Francisco Pizarro sailed from Panama in his first attempt to reach the Inca homeland. It was unsuccessful. In 1527, on his second voyage, he reached Tumbes, on the south shore of the Gulf of Guayaquil. In May, 1532, Pizarro returned with a force of 180 men to Tumbes. There he learned that the death of the Inca emperor, Huayna Capac, had led to civil war between his sons Atahualpa and Huáscar. The victorious Atahualpa was camped across the Andes Mountains at Cajamarca. Pizarro marched his forces over the mountains and by treachery took Atahualpa prisoner. Atahualpa was forced to pay an immense ransom, and was then put to death. Inca resistance collapsed, and Cuzco was occupied in the autumn of 1533. A new capital, Lima, was built, with Callao as its port.
Diego de Almagro, a close associate of Pizarro's, was made governor of a region to the south (Chile and southern Bolivia). Finding no riches there and feeling cheated, Almagro seized Cuzco from Pizarro's forces. Pizarro retook the city and put Almagro to death in 1538. In 1541 Pizarro was slain by Almagro's followers. To establish order Charles I of Spain sent a viceroy, who was deposed in 1548 by Gonzalo Pizarro, Francisco's half brother, who had earlier declared himself governor. Royal authority was established in 1548.
Viceroyalty of Peru
Because of its gold and silver, Peru was the most important of Spain's American colonies. The viceroyalty included all Spanish South America, as well as Panama, across which the Peruvian treasure was carried to be shipped to Spain. Indians were used as miners, and occasionally they revolted under the harsh Spanish rule. After a rebellion in 1571, Viceroy Francisco de Toledo had Tupac Amaru, the last surviving member of the Inca royal line, put to death.
Peru's wealth attracted buccaneers of many nationalities. In 1624 the Dutch East India Company laid siege to Callao for five months in an unsuccessful attempt to take Lima. By the middle of the 17th century, however, the mines of Peru were playing out, and the colony began to decline economically and politically.
The area to the north was made a separate viceroyalty, called New Granada, in 1717. In 1776 formation of the viceroyalty of La Plata detached from Peru the southeastern part of the continent, including Upper Peru (Bolivia), where the mines were located. The captaincy-general of Chile became independent of Peru in 1778.
The Indians were oppressed and badly treated by the Spanish. They were forced to work for low wages in the fields, mines, and textile mills, and were heavily taxed besides. In 1780 José Condorcanqui, who took the name of Tupac Amaru II, led an unsuccessful Indian rebellion that lasted for three years.
Independence Movement
The first independence movements in South America came shortly after Spain was seized by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808. Peruvian officials remained loyal to the Spanish throne, and the viceroy was quick to send troops to rebellious spots in neighboring regions as well as in his own.
The revolutionary forces gained strength, however, and in 1818 Chile, with the assistance of José de San Martín of Argentina, won independence. The revolutionists launched an invasion of Peru in 1820, and Lima fell without a struggle in 1821. San Martín assumed authority as “Protector of Peru," but in 1822 returned to Chile. In 1824 Spain sent forces to reconquer Peru, but aided by Simón Bolívar and Antonio José de Sucre the patriot army won a decisive victory at Ayacucho. The Spanish held Callao until 1826.
A Century of Turmoil
In 1827 the Peruvians overthrew the government set up by Bolívar and established their own. During the next 100 years rival leaders resorted frequently to revolution and few presidents were permitted to serve out their terms. From 1835 to 1839 Peru and Bolivia were joined in a confederation under Bolivian dictator Andrés Santa Cruz. Thereafter Peruvian government passed from one “strongman" to another. There were frequent border conflicts with neighboring nations. National income, derived almost exclusively from the export of guano, slowly mounted as demand for the fertilizer increased.
The presidency of Ramón Castilla, 1845–51 and 1854–62, brought some economic and commercial improvements. Roads were constructed and a railway built from Lima to Callao. A new constitution was adopted in 1860, black slaves were freed, and the head tax on Indians was abolished. During 1861–75 about 85,000 Chinese were brought into the country as laborers.
In the 1860's Spain made a move to regain Peru as a colony, which led to war in 1866. A truce was declared in 1871 and in 1879 Spain recognized Peruvian independence. In the War of the Pacific, 1879–83, in which Peru and Bolivia fought Chile over the Atacama Desert nitrate deposits, Peru lost territory to victorious Chile.
Reform Movement
Heavy government spending and the depletion of the guano deposits put Peru deeply in debt by the 20th century. Social conditions were deplorable, and there was a growing demand for reform. The government was seized in 1919 by Augusto B. Leguía, who greatly improved facilities such as ports, railways, and highways. His rule lasted until 1930, when he was overthrown by a military junta.
In 1931, Luis Sánchez Cerro was elected president. Narrowly defeated was Victor Raúl Haya de la Torre, founder of a leftwing political party called the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA). APRA was outlawed after the election, and many of its leaders, including Haya de la Torre, were jailed or exiled, but it remained a powerful political force.
Boundary disputes were settled with Chile in 1929, Colombia in 1932, and Ecuador in 1942. In 1948 a military junta took power, but constitutional government was restored with free elections in 1956. Fernando Belaúnde Terry, running on a platform of social reform, defeated Haya de la Torre (the APRA-supported candidate) in the presidential election of 1963. In 1968 Belaúnde's government was overthrown in a military coup. Under the military regime there was high inflation, burgeoning foreign debt, and recession.
In 1977 the military promised a return to civilian government. A constituent assembly, led by Haya de la Torre, drew up a new constitution, which was adopted in 1979. The following year, Belaúnde was again elected president. At the same time, the Shining Path, a leftist guerrilla group, began a terrorist campaign to overthrow the government. Belaúnde's free-market approach to solving the country's economic problems only deepened them. The Shining Path intensified its campaign.
In 1985 Alan Garcia Perez was elected president. By the time of the 1990 presidential election, inflation had hit an all-time high and the Shining Path had gained still greater strength. Independent candidate Alberto Fujimori was elected. He implemented an austerity program that eventually improved the economy. A cholera epidemic began to plague Peru in early 1991. It left hundreds dead. Fear of contamination greatly reduced fruit and vegetable exports, further weakening Peru's troubled economy.
Fujimori suspended the nation's constitution and dissolved the Congress in 1992. A new constitution, which strengthened presidential powers, was ratified in a plebiscite in 1993. Fujimori was reelected in 1995. He was reelected again in 2000 amid accusations of corruption and voter fraud. Two months later, he resigned and fled to Japan. Alejandro Toledo was then elected president.
Meanwhile, in 1992, the founder and leader of the Shining Path was captured by the government. In 1999, the last of the original commanders of the group was arrested.
In elections in April 2001, Toledo and Alan Garcia Perez, the former president, received the most votes for president. However, neither man received a majority. In a runoff election in June, Toledo defeated Garcia.
In 2003, Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that over 69,000 people had been killed in the fighting between the government and the leftist rebels in the 1980's and 1990's. The commission was created by the government to investigate war crimes committed by both sides.
In 2005, Fujimori left Japan and flew to Chile, where he was arrested. In 2006, the Peruvian government formally requested that Fujimori be returned to Peru. The Chilean Supreme Court is reviewing the request.
In the 2006 presidential election, former president Garcia defeated Ollanta Humala Tasso. Garcia ran as a center-left candidate representing APRA. Humala ran as a radical nationalist representing the Union for Peru. Also in 2006, Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman was retried and convicted of terrorism in a civil court. He was sentenced to life in prison.