Upper Peru
Upper Peru is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776. It comprised the governorships of Potosí, La Paz, Cochabamba, Chiquitos, Moxos and Charcas.
Following the Bolivian War of Independence, the region became an independent country and was renamed Bolivia in honor of Simón Bolívar.
History
By 1821, the Spanish colonial empire in Latin America was falling apart because of the Napoleonic occupation of Spain, and the troops of generals Bolívar and Sucre, who had already liberated Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, were already approaching the Upper Peru region.Following the defeat of Spanish Royalist forces at the Battle of Ayacucho in December 1824 and the effect collapse of Spanish power in Upper Peru, province governors scrambled in the ensuing power vacuum. In this context, the governor of Chiquitos, Colonel Sebastián Ramos, considered to have the province incorporated into Brazil, at least until Spanish serenity of South America was restored.
Fearing that the new revolutionary government would punish him, Ramos sent his adjunct, Captain José María de Velasco, to Cuiabá in March 1825 to arrange for the occupation of Chiquitos into the Captaincy of Mato Grosso. Despite Emperor Pedro I of Brazil not being informed and only three of the seven council members of Mato Grosso present, a treaty declaring the annexation of Chiquitos was passed in Mato Grosso.
In the following month, due to the disapproval of returning council members and the denouncing of the annexation by Emperor Pedro I, the treaty between Mato Grosso and Chiquitos was annulled in May 1825. In the weeks following, Brazilian troops evacuated the province without clashing with revolutionary forces, looting was reported to have occurred by Brazilian forces during their retreat.
Generals Antonio Jose de Sucre and Simón Bolívar received reports of a Brazilian incursion into Chiquitos and Moxos and believed it to be a local initiative rather than an action sanctioned by Brazil’s federal government, given that the expedition was led by a low-ranking retired lieutenant. While Sucre and Bolívar championed a peaceful resolution, they made clear that any attempt by Brazil to retain the province would be met with force, including the expulsion of Brazilian troops and Bolívar’s intention to spread the revolution into Mato Grosso and the rest of Brazil.
Over the following months, tensions between the provinces slowly decreased as looted goods were returned.