History of Peru


The history of Peru spans 15 millennia, extending back through several stages of cultural development along the country's desert coastline and in the Andes mountains. Peru's coast was home to the Norte Chico civilization, the oldest civilization in the Americas and one of the six cradles of civilization in the world. When the Spanish arrived in the sixteenth century, the highlands of southern Peru were the center of the Inca Empire, the largest and most advanced state in pre-Columbian America. After the conquest of the Incas, the Spanish Empire established a Viceroyalty with jurisdiction over most of its South American domains. Peru declared independence from Spain in 1821, but achieved independence only after the Battle of Ayacucho three years later.
Modern historiography of Peru divides its history into three main periods:
  • A [|pre-Hispanic period], which lasts from the first civilizations of the region to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
  • A [|viceregal or colonial period], which lasts from the aforementioned conquest to the [|Peruvian declaration of independence].
  • A [|republican period], which lasts from the war of independence to the current day.

    Pre-Hispanic era

Pre-Columbian cultures

Hunting tools dating back to more than 11,000 years ago have been found inside the caves of Pachacamac, Telarmachay, Junin, and Lauricocha. Some of the oldest civilizations appeared circa 6000 BC in the coastal provinces of Chilca and Paracas, and in the highland province of Callejón de Huaylas. Over the next three thousand years, inhabitants switched from nomadic lifestyles to cultivating land, as evidenced from sites such as Jiskairumoko, Kotosh, and Huaca Prieta. Cultivation of plants such as corn and cotton began, as well as the domestication of animals such as the wild ancestors of the llama, the alpaca and the guinea pig, as seen in the 6000 BC dated Camelid relief paintings in the Mollepunko caves in Callalli. Inhabitants practiced spinning and knitting of cotton and wool, basketry, and pottery.
As these inhabitants became sedentary, farming allowed them to build settlements. As a result, new societies emerged along the coast and in the Andean mountains. The first known city in the Americas was Caral, located in the Supe Valley 200 km north of Lima. It was built in approximately 2500 BC.
The remnants of this civilization, also known as Norte Chico, consists of approximately 30 pyramidal structures built up in receding terraces ending in a flat roof; some of them measuring up to 20 meters in height. Caral is regarded as one of several cradles of civilization around the world where civilization emerged independent of other civilizations.
In the early 21st century, archeologists discovered new evidence of ancient pre-Ceramic complex cultures: three irrigation canals that were 5400 years old, and a possible fourth that was 6700 years old in the Zaña Valley in northern Peru. This was the evidence of community agricultural improvements that occurred at a much earlier date than previously believed.
In 2006, a research team discovered a 4200-year-old observatory at Buena Vista. They believe the observatory was related to the society's reliance on agriculture and understanding of the seasons. The site includes the oldest three-dimensional sculptures found thus far in South America. In 2007, the archaeologist Walter Alva and his team found a 4000-year-old temple with painted murals at Ventarrón, in the northwest Lambayeque region. The temple contained ceremonial offerings gained from an exchange with Peruvian jungle societies, as well as those from the Ecuadorian coast. Such finds show sophisticated, monumental construction requiring large-scale organization of labor, suggesting that hierarchical complex cultures arose in South America much earlier than previously thought.
Many other civilizations developed and were absorbed by the most powerful ones such as Kotosh; Chavin; Paracas; Lima; Nasca; Moche; Tiwanaku; Wari; Lambayeque; Chimu and Chincha, among others. The Paracas culture emerged on the southern coast around 300 BC. They are known for their use of vicuña fibers instead of just cotton to produce fine textiles—innovations that did not reach the northern coast of Peru until centuries later. Coastal cultures such as the Moche and Nazca flourished from about 100 BC to about AD 700: the Moche produced impressive metalwork, as well as some of the finest pottery seen in the ancient world, while the Nazca are known for their textiles and the enigmatic Nazca lines.
These coastal cultures eventually began to decline as a result of recurring el Niño floods and droughts. In consequence, the Huari and Tiwanaku, who dwelt inland in the Andes, became the predominant cultures of the region encompassing much of modern-day Peru and Bolivia. They were succeeded by powerful city-states such as Chancay, Sipán, and Cajamarca, and two empires: Chimor and Chachapoyas. These cultures developed relatively advanced techniques of cultivation, gold and silver craft, pottery, metallurgy, and knitting. Around 700 BC, they appear to have developed systems of social organization that were the precursors of the Inca civilization.
In the highlands, both the Tiahuanaco culture, near Lake Titicaca in both Peru and Bolivia, and the Wari culture, near the present-day city of Ayacucho, developed large urban settlements and wide-ranging state systems between 500 and 1000 AD.
While in the forested region of the Amazon, architectural excavations from the Chachapoya and the Wari culture allow for the evidence of complex societal presences prior to the conquest of Amazonas region by the Incan Empire.
As the Incan empire expanded, it defeated and assimilated Andean cultures like the Chachapoyas culture.
Archaeologists revealed the largest mass child sacrifice with more than 140 child skeletons and 200 Llamas dating to the Chimú culture. In September 2021, archaeologists announced the remains of eight 800-year-old bodies nearby ancient town of Chilca. Researchers think remains belong to the Chilca culture, which was apart from other pre-Hispanic cultures in the area.
In July 2025, a prehistoric urban center named Peñico, dating back approximately 3,500 years, was identified in northern Peru by a team of Peruvian and international archaeologists. Located approximately 600 m above sea level, the site consists of 18 structures including a circular ceremonial plaza, temples, and residential buildings constructed between 1800 and 1500 BC. According to the archaeologists, the settlement demonstrates that early Andean societies engaged in complex societal organization, serving as a cultural bridge between coastal and Amazonian communities during the early Formative stage.

Inca Empire (1438–1532)

The Incas built the largest and most advanced empire and dynasty of pre-Columbian America. The Tahuantinsuyo—which is derived from Quechua for "The Four United Regions"—reached its greatest extension at the beginning of the 16th century. It dominated a territory that included the southwest part of Ecuador, part of Colombia, the main territory of Peru, the northern part of Chile, and the northwest part of Argentina; and from east to west, from the southwest part of Bolivia to the Amazonian forests.
The empire originated from a tribe based in Cusco, which became the capital. Pachacuti wasn't the first Inca regent, but he was the first ruler to considerably expand the boundaries of the Cusco state. His offspring later ruled an empire by both violent invasions and peaceful conquests, that is, intermarriages among the rulers of small kingdoms and the current Inca ruler.
In Cuzco, the royal city was created to resemble a cougar; the head, the main royal structure, formed what is now known as Sacsayhuamán. The empire's administrative, political, and military center was located in Cusco. The empire was divided into four quarters: Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Kuntisuyu and Qullasuyu.
The official language was Quechua, the language of a neighbouring tribe of the original tribe of the empire. Conquered populations—tribes, kingdoms, states, and cities—were allowed to practice their own religions and lifestyles, but had to recognize Inca cultural practices as superior to their own. Inti, the sun god, was to be worshipped as one of the most important gods of the empire. His representation on earth was the Inca.
The Tawantinsuyu was organized in dominions with a stratified society in which the ruler was the Inca. It was also supported by an economy based on the collective property of the land. The empire, being quite large, also had an impressive transportation system of roads to all points of the empire called the Inca Trail, and chasquis, message carriers who relayed information from anywhere in the empire to Cusco.
Machu Picchu is a well-preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located on a high mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley, about 70 km northwest of Cusco. Elevation measurements vary depending on whether the data refer to the ruin or the extremity of the mountain; Machu Picchu tourist information reports the elevation as 2,350 m . Forgotten for centuries by the outside world, it was brought back to international attention by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham III. Bingham, often cited as the inspiration for Indiana Jones, "scientifically rediscovered" the site in 1911 and brought international attention to the site with his best-selling book Lost City of the Incas. However, Agustín Lizárraga already reached the site on July 14, 1902 and left the inscription "A. Lizárraga 1902" on the Temple of Three Windows. Peru is pursuing legal efforts to retrieve thousands of artifacts that Bingham removed from the site and sold to the current owners at Yale University.

Spanish era

[|Spanish conquest] (1532–1572)

The word Peru may be derived from Birú, the name of a local ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama, in the early 16th century. When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans. Thus, when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be designated Birú or Peru. An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la Vega, son of an Inca princess and a conquistador. He says the name Birú was that of a common Indian happened upon by the crew of a ship on an exploratory mission for governor Pedro Arias de Ávila, and goes on to relate many more instances of misunderstandings due to the lack of a common language. The Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of Peru. Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of Peru, which became Republic of Peru after independence.
When the Spanish landed in 1531, Peru's territory was the nucleus of the highly developed Inca civilization. Centered at Cuzco, the Inca Empire extended over a vast region, stretching from southwest Ecuador to northern Chile.
Francisco Pizarro and his brothers were attracted by the news of a rich and fabulous kingdom. In 1532, they arrived in the country, which they called Peru. According to Raúl Porras Barrenechea, Peru is not a Quechuan nor Caribbean word, but Indo-Hispanic or hybrid.
In the years between 1524 and 1526, smallpox, introduced from the conquistadors in Panama and preceding the Spanish conquerors in Peru through transmission among natives, had swept through the Inca Empire. Smallpox caused the death of the Inca ruler Huayna Capac as well as most of his family including his heir, caused the fall of the Inca political structure and contributed to the civil war between the brothers Atahualpa and Huáscar. Taking advantage of this, Pizarro carried out a coup d'état. On 16 November 1532, while the Atahualpa's victorious army was in an unarmed celebration in Cajamarca, the Spanish lured Atahualpa into a trap during the Battle of Cajamarca. The well-armed 168 Spaniards killed thousands of barely armed Inca soldiers and captured the newly minted Inca ruler, causing a great consternation among the natives and conditioning the future course of the fight. When Huáscar was killed, the Spanish tried and convicted Atahualpa of the murder, executing him by strangulation.
For a period, Pizarro maintained the ostensible authority of the Inca, recognizing Túpac Huallpa as the Sapa Inca after Atahualpa's death. But the conqueror's abuses made this facade too obvious. Spanish domination consolidated itself as successive indigenous rebellions were bloodily repressed. By 23 March 1534, Pizarro and the Spanish had re-founded the Inca city of Cuzco as a new Spanish colonial settlement.
Establishing a stable colonial government was delayed for some time by native revolts and bands of the Conquistadores fighting among themselves. A long civil war developed, from which Pizarro emerged victorious at the Battle of Las Salinas. In 1541, Pizarro was assassinated by a faction led by Diego de Almagro II, and the stability of the original colonial regime was shaken up in the ensuing civil war.
Image:Pizarro in Lima.JPG|thumb|left|Pizarro and his followers in Lima in 1535
Despite this, the Spaniards did not neglect the colonizing process. Its most significant milestone was the foundation of Lima in January 1535, from which the political and administrative institutions were organized. The new rulers instituted the encomienda system, by which the Spanish extracted tribute from the local population, part of which was forwarded to Seville in return for converting the natives to Christianity. Title to the land itself remained with the king of Spain. As governor of Peru, Pizarro used the encomienda system to grant virtually unlimited authority over groups of native Peruvians to his soldier companions, thus forming the colonial land-tenure structure. The indigenous inhabitants of Peru were now expected to raise Old World cattle, poultry, and crops for their landlords. Resistance was punished severely, giving rise to the "Black Legend".
The necessity of consolidating Spanish royal authority over these territories led to the creation of a Real Audiencia. In 1542 or 1543, the Viceroyalty of Peru was established, with authority over most of Spanish-ruled South America. Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela were split off as the Viceroyalty of New Granada.
After Pizarro's death, there were numerous internal problems, and Spain finally sent Blasco Núñez Vela to be Peru's first viceroy in 1544. He was later killed by Pizarro's brother, Gonzalo Pizarro, but a new viceroy, Pedro de la Gasca, eventually managed to restore order. He captured and executed Gonzalo Pizarro.
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 Inca. Historian Noble David Cook estimates that their population decreased from an estimated 9 million in the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases. While the attrition was not an organized attempt at genocide, the results were similar. Scholars now believe that, among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease such as smallpox was the overwhelming cause of the population decline of the American natives. Inca cities were given Spanish Christian names and rebuilt as Spanish towns 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.