History
Little is known of the history of the region comprising present-day
Peru before the rise of the Incas. The earlier settlers were people
unrelated to the Incas. Possibly they began to migrate from Central
America. Some aspects of the history and culture of the pre-Inca Indian
people have been determined from the surviving examples of their art
and architecture.
Pre-Inca irrigation system near Nazca.
Image © SergeMees
What goes for Peru goes for all of the Americas: it has never been
proven where the original inhabitants, known as Indians, originate
from. Although the most common theory is that they migrated from
Siberia to Alaska, and from there spreaded across the continent, there
are recent excavations in Brazil which are much older then the
migration was supposed to have happened.
Peru is best known as the heart of the Inca
empire, but it was home to many diverse indigenous cultures long
before the Incas arrived. Although there is evidence of human
habitation in Peru as long ago as the eighth millennium BC, there is
little evidence of organised village life until about 2500 BC. It was
at about this time that climatic changes in the coastal regions
prompted Peru's early inhabitants to move toward the more fertile
interior river valleys. For the next 1500 years, Peruvian civilisation
developed into a number of organised cultures, including the
Chavín and the Sechín. The Chavín are best known
for their stylised religious iconography, which included striking
figurative depictions of various animals (the jaguar in particular) and
which exercised considerable influence over the entire coastal region.
The Sechín are remembered more for their military hegemony than
for their cultural achievement.
Ancient settlement. Image © Erich Henry Kuball
The decline of the Chavín and Sechín cultures around
the5th century BC gave rise to a number of distinctive regional
cultures. Some of these, including the Saliner and the Paracas, are
celebrated for artistic and technological advances such as kiln-fired
ceramics and sophisticated weaving techniques. From the Paracas arose
the Nazca, whose legacy includes the immense and cryptic Nazca Lines. However, the
accomplishments of these and other early Peruvian civilizations seem
today to pale in comparison to the robust pre-Columbian civilisation of
the Inca.
Inca Empire
The Incas, sometimes called “peoples of the sun,” were originally a
warlike tribe living in a semiarid region of the southern sierra. From
1100 to 1300 the Incas moved north into the fertile Cuzco Valley. From
this base they subsequently overran the neighbouring lands. By 1500 the
empire of the Incas stretched from the Pacific Ocean east to the
sources of the Paraguay and Amazon rivers, and from the region of
modern Quito in Ecuador south to the Maule River in Chile. This vast
empire was a theocracy, organised along socialistic lines and ruled by
an Inca, or emperor, who was worshiped as a divinity. Because the Inca
realm contained extensive deposits of gold and silver, it becamein the
early 16th century a natural target of Spanish imperial ambitions in
the New World.
Inca ruins near Pisac. Image © RTW2VT
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 Spanish possession. In 1535 Pizarro
founded on the banks of the Rimac River the Peruvian capital city of
Ciudad de Los Reyes (Spanish, 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 Indians. In the same year Spain created the
viceroyalty of Peru, which comprised all Spanish South America and
Panama, except what is now Venezuela.
The cathedral of Cuzco
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
(1515?-84) 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 Indians
who dealt directly with the native population. This system lasted for
almost 200 years.
Revolts for Independence
In 1780 a force of 60,000 Indians revolted against Spanish rule under
the leadership of the Peruvian patriot José Gabriel Condorcanqui
(1742?-81), who adopted the name of an ancestor, the Inca Tupac Amaru
(died 1572). Although initially successful, the up rising 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
persons of Spanish descent born in South America, who long resented
having a status inferior to that of the ruling minorities.
Freedom from Spanish rule, however, was imported 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.
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 the
battles of Junín on August 6,
1824, and Ayacucho on December 9,
1824, Bolívar's forces routed the Spanish.
Succession of Rulers
The following years were extremely chaotic. Bolívar, who left
for Gran Colombia in 1826, was succeeded by a series of his “marshals
of Ayacucho.” Andrés Santa Cruz served until 1827, when he was
replaced by José de La Mar (1776-1830), who was in turn
supplanted by Agustín Gamarra (1785-1841) 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 inoffice (1845-51 and 1855-62) initiated many important
reforms, includingthe abolition of slavery, the construction of
railroads 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 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. There sulting treaty (1879) constituted the first formal Spanish
recognition of Peruvian sovereignty.
The government building in Lima
Peru was badly defeated by Chile in a conflict (1879-83) known as the
War of the Pacific. 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.
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 United Nations.
In 1945 a coalition of liberal and leftist parties, including APRA,
elected as president José Luis Bustamante y Rivero (1894-1989).
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 (1897-1974), the leader of t he 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 program, and concluded a series of economic and
cultural pacts with Brazil, providing for closer co-operation between
the two countries. Along with Chile and Ecuador, it also extended the
country's territorial waters to 200 miles off the mainland. This action
brought sharp protests from the U.S., as many U.S. fishing vessels
operated in South American waters.
Liberal Period
In the elections of 1956, former President Prado was again victorious.
He immediately effected sweeping liberal reforms, but was soon hampered
by strikes and riots, occasioned by economic instability and runaway
inflation. In 1959 the government introduced a program to restrict the
outflow of dollars and encourage domestic industries by various means,
including facilitating the import of capital goods. By May 1960 the
economy had improved markedly, and foreign capital flowed into Peru in
the form of loans and development contracts. In October of that year
the government won approval of its policy of gradual nationalisation of
most Peruvian oil-production facilities.
In the presidential elections of 1962 no candidate received the
necessary one-third of the votes, and a military junta took control.
General Ricardo Pío Pérez Godoy was installed as
president in July but was deposed by the junta in March 1963. Three
months later Fernando Belaúnde Terry was elected president.
During the second half of his administration, political opposition
grew, and increasing inflation resulted in devaluation of the currency
in 1967.
Military Rule
A long dispute over the claims of the International Petroleum Company
(IPC), a subsidiary of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, in the
operation oft he rich La Brea y Pariñas oil fields was finally
settled by the Belaúnde government in August 1968. Widespread
disapproval of this settlement, however, forced the resignation of the
cabinet on October 1, and two days later Belaúndewas ousted. The
constitution was suspended and a military junta established, headed by
General Juan Velasco Alvarado (1910-7 7), president of the joint chiefs
of staff. His government expropriated the IPC's assets, seriously
straining relations with the United States, and they deteriorated still
further in February 1969, when a Peruvian gunboat accosted two U.S.
fishing vesselsoff the Peruvian coast, claiming they were poaching in
Peruvian waters. Despite these differences, U.S. relief supplies were
quickly sent to Peru followingan earthquake in 1970 that killed about
50,000 persons and left some 600,000 homeless.
In the early 1970s the Velasco government devoted its efforts to
radical reform of the social and economic system. Among the major
actions were the seizure of extensive foreign-owned ranchlands, the
imposition of price controls on basic articles and services, and a
sweeping land-reform law. The anchovy fishing industry, seriously hurt
in 1972 by alteration of ocean currents, was nationalised in 1973. The
1973-74 budget provided a 35 percent increase in spending to build up
and diversify private industry. In June 1973 the WorldBank extended
credits of $470 million to Peru, and the Inter-American Development
Bank lent Peru $30 million.
Return to Democracy
Domestically, the government continued its nationalisation program.
In1975, however, a series of strikes and demonstrations, coupled with
the declining health of President Velasco, led to a bloodless coup
staged by the leaders of the armed forces on August 29. The following
day, General Francisco Morales Bermúdez, who had been prime
minister and minister of war under Velasco, was sworn in as president.
His government announced that the country would be returned to
democratic rule in 1980. That year, as promised, presidential elections
were held. The winner, former President Belaúnde Terry, took
office in July, when a new constitution came into effect. During the
next five years, per capita income declined, the foreign debt rose, and
violence by leftist guerrillas and government counterinsurgency forces
mounted. In the 1985 presidential elections, voters chose the APRA
candidate, Alan García Pérez, who failed to stem the
country's rapid economic decline.
In an upset in the 1990 presidential election, Alberto Fujimori, an
agricultural economist of Japanese descent and leader of the Cambio 90
party, defeated Mario Vargas Llosa (the famous writer). Fujimori, who
ran in the June runoff with left-wing support, imposed a financial
austerity program within a month after taking office. The economic
hardships of the early 1990s led to an escalation of violence by
Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a leftist guerrilla group. In April
1992 Fujimori, alleging that congress and the judiciary had blocked his
efforts to suppress the drug trade and Sendero Luminoso, suspended the
constitution, dissolved the legislature, imposed censorship, and had
opposition politicians arrested. In the same year the main part of
Sendero Luminoso was eliminated with the arrestment of its leader
Guzmán.
In 1995 Alberto Fujimori won the presidential race. In December 1996
another guerrilla group called Tupac Amaru captured the Japanese
embassy in Lima and kept hostages for many months. It was an attempt to
regain some influence and free some of Tupac Amaru's staff-members from
prison. However, the police violently ended the conflict in April 1997.
In June 2000 there were presidential elections again, won by Fujimori.
However, the opposition led by Alejandro Toledo, and several other
countries including the Organisation of American States, discussed the
result, becausethere was proof of election fraud. Later that year,
Vladimiro Montesinos, the head of the Secret Service and a close ally
of president Fujimori, fled the country because of a corruption scandal
he was involved in. He was arrested in Venezuela and is facing trial in
a Peruvian prison on charges ranging from corruption to human rights
abuses.
In November 2000, the Peruvian congress sacked president Fujimori
because he was morally unfit to govern the country. The new interim
president of Peru,Valentin Paniagua, and the new vice-president, Javier
Perez de Cuellar (aformer United Nations Secretary-General) worked
towards free and fair electionsin April 2001. These elections were won
by Alejandro Toledo. Toledo continued the neo-liberal economics of
Fujimori. The 2006 elections were won by former president Alan Garcia
Pérez.
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