PERU 2004
17th August 2004 - 14th September 2004
A Brief History of Peru
CONQUEST OF THE INCAS
In 1519 Hernan Cortes and a group of Spanish men landed in Mexico and after a 2 year struggle against the Aztecs (an advanced civilization similar the Incas) they managed to defeat them. The news of vast gold supplies and wealth in the New World encouraged many Spanish explorers to come over to South America in pursuit of riches.In 1532 Francisco Pizarro and 180 men sailed to Peru.
Smallpox (which the natives were not immune to) had spread rapidly from Mexico all down South America, devastating the native population and killing the Inca king. A civil war between Atahualpa and his half-brother Huascar was fought over who would take over as ruler just prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Atahulpa won and was proclaimed the new Inca emperor.
The Spanish were initially welcomed into the Inca city and had planned to remain friendly towards the Incas until they had decided on a plan of action. This didn’t work out and soon after their arrival a huge massacre occurred and hundreds of natives were killed. Atahulapa was then captured and held hostage by the Spaniards for several months. He famously offered to fill a room measuring 22 feet long by 17 feet wide (6.7m x 5.2m) with gold as a ransom. Although they provided the gold he was murdered anyway in July 1533
Pizarro successfully manipulated and exploited divisions amongst the Inca people and after the death of Atahualpa aligned himself with Huascar’s side of the family and ensured that the next Inca ruler was friendly towards the Spanish. Horses and superior Spanish technology ensured that the Incas were fairly easily defeated and by November 1533 Cuzco had fallen with little resistance.
The Inca Empire is particularly famous for its magnificent temples and fortresses. Using construction methods now forgotten, the Inca stone masons used rocks weighing up to several hundred tons to build close-fitting walls of remarkable strength. Even today, after many centuries and powerful earthquakes, the Inca walls stand firm and it is impossible to put a knife-blade between many of the rocks. The Incas were the most advanced civilization of the New World and were the first to build great road systems. There are some remarkable comparisons and similarities between the Incas and the early advanced and sophisticated civilizations in Egypt and Europe. It is a tragedy that this advanced and superior civilization was so easily destroyed and shattered by the Spanish. Many of the Inca fortresses and temples were systematically destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors and priests in an effort to stamp out the native resistance and religion. Those that survive are mostly ruins.
The Inca civilization had unified what are now Peru, Ecuador, and Bolívia and created an integrated society. The Spanish, whose main aims were plunder and the conversion of native tribes to Christianity, stopped the development of the indigenous civilization. The Spaniards treated the Inca ruthlessly, using their labour to produce the minerals needed in Spain. The result was the creation of a psychic chasm between the Inca and the Europeanized population, a chasm that has endured for more than 400 years. Even today native Indians are not full integrated into Peruvian society.
INDEPENDENCE
In 1780s thousands of Indians revolted against Spanish rule. Discontent and dissatisfaction with Spanish rule was growing but there was no united sense of purpose and there was not a coherent independence movement yet.
Opposition to imperial rule grew throughout Spanish South America. The opposition was led largely by Creoles (people of Spanish descent born in South America.) The Creoles grew to resent the fact that the Spanish government awarded all important government positions in the colonies to Spaniards born in Spain (known as Peninsulares.)
The independence movement really began after Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 and put his brother onto the throne. Latin Americans refused to accept his authority and responded by setting up juntas and some areas declared complete independence from Spain. Other areas remained loyal to the crown however. When King Ferdinand returned to the throne in 1814 all of South America was taken back under Spanish rule and for a while the independence movement seemed to die down. In the north Simon Bolivar began to lead an independence movement and liberated Venezuela and Colombia. Meanwhile from the south San Martin led an army into Chile and liberated the southern states. Lima was quite a conservative area and many of the Creole elites remained loyal to Spain and were reluctant to allow independence. San Martin entered Lima and declared independence in July 1822 but the situation was quite precarious and royalists kept fighting to try to keep Lima under Spanish rule.
San Martin and Bolivar met on July 27th in Ecuador. For some reason San Martin withdrew and shortly left for Europe never to return. Bolivar continued as the main liberator. He went back into Lima and reinforced its independence and continued to lead battles in what is now Bolivia and Peru. In 1824 two major battles at Junin and Ayacucho finally defeated the Spanish. By August the whole of South America was free from Spanish rule (except Brazil which achieved independence from Portugal peacefully in 1822)
The wars of independence devastated Latin America and the years following independence were turbulent and unstable. Governments and constitutions were all very short-lived and in several of the new nations dictators came to power.The War of the Pacific in 1979 was disastrous for Peru who lost much of its southern territory to Chile
Pippa Gilchrist, Vice President
