Peru
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| Peru | |
|---|---|
| The Kingdom of Peru | |
| Reino del Perú | |
 | |
 Location of Peru | |
| Capital | Cusco |
| Largest City | Lima |
| Population | 42 Million |
| Government Type | Kingdom |
| Languages |
|
| Currency | Peruvian Peso |
Peru; (Spanish: Perú); (Quechua: Piruw); (Aymara: Piruw), officially the Kingdom of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the south by Chile and Carolina, in the north by Colombia and to the east by Brazil, Equador and Paraguay. Peru is a megadiverse country with habitats ranging from the arid plains, to the eastern lowlands, to the peaks of the Andes mountains and the tropical Amazon Basin rainforest.
The area that is now Peru was home to many ancient civilizations including the Inca empire and the Norte Chico civilization. The countries population is multiethnic including native Amerindians, Mestizos, Europeans, Asians and Africans. Dozens of indigenous languages are spoken in Peru with standardized Peruvian Quechua having co-official status with Spanish and Aymara and Guarani having regional official status in certain provinces.
The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a viceroyalty that encompassed most of its South American territories, with its capital in Lima. Peru formally proclaimed independence in 1875, and following the Communard invasion of Spain with former viceroy José Mateo Pérez de Avilés declaring Peruvian independence of Spanish authority in Lima.
History
Spanish rule
Conquest of the Inca Empire
The first contact between the Spanish and the Incas happened in 1536 in the town of Tumbes, but it was only in 1531 that the crown of Spain started the process of conquest. From 1531 to 1532, the commander Francisco Pizarro established cordial relations with native tribes living under the incas. Similar strategy to the one used on the conquest of Mexico.
In 1532, a combined spanish-native force stormed Cusco and managed to capture Inca emperor Atahualpa. A year later, Atahualpa was executed. Pizarro installed Manco Inca as a puppet emperor, but after disagreements with the crown, the new monarch rebelled, and established the Neo-Inca State on the highlands. The rebel kingdom managed to survive until 1572, when Spanish forces invaded the capital, Vilcobamba, and captured Tupac Amaru, last inca emperor and one of Manco’s children. Shortly after, the Neo-Inca State collapsed, establishing total Spanish control over the andes.
Colonial Peru
In 1535, the city of Lima was founded on the coast, and during the totality of colonial rule was the political center of Peru. At its height, the Viceroyalty of Peru claimed every territory in South America west of the Treaty of Tordesillas, with the exception of Venezuela, which was part of New Spain. In 1739, the northern part of Peru was granted self-rule and became the Viceroyalty of New Granada. In 1756, Spain agreed to sell La Plata to Britain in exchange for debt forgiveness.
Economically, the Viceroyalty of Peru was responsible for most of the mineral exports of all Spanish holdings, the mines on the Andes supplied the Spanish Crown demand for gold and silver during centuries. To extract those minerals, natives under tributary labor and imported enslaved individuals, but not on the same scale as other colonies such as Cuba, were used.
Socially, the colonial Peruvian society could be divided into four classes: on the down bottom were the enslaved people, right above, poor Spaniards, freed dark-skinned people, non-noble natives and mestizos. In the middle were the native nobility, middle-class merchants and corregidores (representatives of the justice of towns and districts). On the top of the pyramid were the Oidors (representatives of justice for one audiencia, a type of wider subdivision), rich merchants and the viceroy along his family.
Independence
In early 1874, the Spanish court fled Europe to escape the turmoil in the country. The Mainland was almost completely dominated by Communard forces, so to prevent the Spanish monarchy ending up like the French, with an executed king, the government moved its capital to Mexico City temporarily.
While in New Spain, king Ferdinand VII started a series of political reforms which benefit the peninsular class and royal military, rather than the local elites. This move raised tensions on the viceroyalty, and later, the same feeling would reach Peru. In June of 1874, the Independent Council of Peru was formed. Led by viceroy José Mateo Pérez Avilés , it consisted of most of the local elites and non-peninsular military. For about a year, the council discussed the path for independence and the future of the country.
On may 16th of 1875, viceroy Avilés declared Peru independent. The new country would be ruled by the Council until stability was established once again. Cusco was chosen as the country capital. The city was protected by the Andes, and also had cultural and historical relevance to the region.
a month later, most of the inner viceroyalty were under the council control, with colonial forces controlling only the coastlines.
The rebel government chose to fight in a guerilla style. With much more knowledge about the andes than the colonial forces, the mountains and the Spanish Royal Path became a natural stronghold. In 1876, conflict in the Andes had started months prior, and to have enough resources to keep fighting, Avilés tried to convince Colombia to join on his behalf. In exchange, Colombia demanded ownership over Quito, an area under dispute since Colombian independence, which Peru denied.
In 1878, the council government, Equador and the envoys from the Netherlands met in Belém to discuss support for the Peruvian independence. The Dutch already recovered from the defeats on the Wars of Dutch Humiliation (1850-1855), and saw the conflict in South America as the perfect opportunity to help end Spanish presence on the continent. Since this year, the Netherlands supplied the Peruvian rebels through the amazon river.
By 1880, Spain was in a terrible economic situation, the mainland was devastated by war, and adding to this, the feeling of Mexico soon revolting worried the crown. Too exhausted to continue fighting, Spain asked for peace on April 20th 1880, recognizing it officially in February 1881. On March 4th 1881, viceroy Avilés was declared king of Peru.
Wars with Colombia
Government and politics
Peru is a constitutional monarchy with a hereditary monarch and a unicameral parliament and a multi-party system. Since the 1950's the country has maintained a democratic unitary government with a prime minister acting as chief executive with the monarch of Peru acting as head of state, having legislative veto power and appointing one minister of the 14 member executive council of ministers.
Peru is a fairly unitary nation with each administrative region having only powers over cultural, short term planning and municipal matters with the Peruvian constitution dictating the indivisible unity of the Peruvian nation. Each administrative region elects one representatives to serve a 4 year term in the Peruvian parliament.
Administrative divisions
Peru is divided into 54 administrative communities based upon population and history and are renegotiated every 15 years. Additionally the municipal regions of Lima, Arequipa and Santa Cruz are granted a special municipal classification that allows for a slightly higher degree of autonomy from the federal government while the city of Cusco operates under a special capitol district classification.
