Viceroyalty of Peru
The Viceroyalty of Peru, officially known as the Kingdom of Peru, was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from the capital of Lima. Along with the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Peru was one of two Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
The Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The treaty was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal. The creation during the 18th century of the Viceroyalties of New Granada and Río de la Plata reduced the importance of Lima and shifted the lucrative Andean trade to Buenos Aires, while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated the progressive decay of the Viceroyalty of Peru.
Eventually, the viceroyalty dissolved, as with much of the Spanish Empire, when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These movements led to the formation of the modern-day country of Peru, as well as Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, the territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru.
History
Conquest of Peru
After the Spanish conquest of Peru, 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, Governorate of New Toledo, Governorate of New Andalusia, and Province of Tierra Firme.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 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. He improved the defensibility of the viceroyalty with fortifications, bridges, and la Armada del Mar del Sur 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, the Solomon Islands, and the Marquesas Islands 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)
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 and Trujillo. 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, Charles Wager and Thomas Colb. 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 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 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 in 1664 and Pedro Álvarez de Toledo y Leiva introduced the papel sellado. 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, 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 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.
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. 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 most important of which were that of Juan Santos Atahualpa in 1742, and the Sierra Uprising of Túpac Amaru II in 1780. The Comunero Revolt broke out in Paraguay from 1721 to 1732). In 1767, the Jesuits were expelled from the colony.