as to the limits of their respective jurisdictions. An interview
took place at Mala, on the sea-coast, on the 13th of November
1537, which led to no result, and Almagro was finally defeated
in the battle of Las Salinas near Cuzco on the 26th of April 1538
His execution followed. His adherents recognized his young
half-caste son, a gallant and noble youth generally known as
Almagro the Lad, as his successor. Bitterly discontented, they
conspired at Lima and assassinated Francisco Pizarro on the
26th of June 1541. Meanwhile Vaca de Castro had been sent
out as governor of Peru by Charles V., and on hearing of the
murder of Pizarro he assumed the government of the country
On the 16th of September 1542 he defeated the army of Almagro
the Lad in the battle of Chupas near Guamanga, and the boy
was beheaded at Cuzco.
Charles V. enacted the code known as the “New Laws” in 1542. “Encomiendas,” or grants of estates on which the inhabitants were bound to pay tribute and give personal service to the grantee, were to pass to the Crown on the death of the actual holder; a fixed sum was to be assessed as tribute; and forced personal service was Civil Wars. forbidden. Blasco Nunez de Vela was sent out, as first viceroy of Peru, to enforce the “New Laws” Their promulgation aroused a storm among the conquerors. Gonzalo Pizarro rose in rebellion, and entered Lima on the 28th of October 1544 The viceroy fled to Quito, but was followed, defeated and killed at the battle of Anaquito on the 18th of January 1546. The “New Laws” were weakly revoked, and Pedro de la Gasca, as first president of the Audiencia (court of justice) of Peru, was sent out to restore order He arrived in 1547, and on the 8th of April 1548 he routed the followers of Gonzalo Pizarro on the plain of Sacsahuaman near Cuzco. Gonzalo was executed on the field La Gasca made a redistribution of “encomiendas” to the loyal conquerors, which caused great discontent, and left Peru before his scheme was made public in January 1550. On the 23rd of September 1551 Don Antonio de Mendoza arrived as second viceroy, but he died at Lima in the following July. The country was then ruled by the judges of the Audiencia, and a formidable insurrection broke out, headed by Francisco Hernandez Giron, with the object of maintaining the right of the conquerors to exact forced service from the Indians. In May 1554 Giron defeated the army of the judges at Chuquinga, but he was hopelessly routed at Pucara on the 11th of October 1554, captured, and on the 7th of December executed at Lima Don Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, marquis of Canete, entered Lima as third viceroy of Peru on the 6th of July 1555, and ruled with an iron hand for six years. All the leaders in former disturbances were sent to Spain. Corregidors, or governors of districts, were ordered to try summarily and execute every turbulent person within their jurisdictions. All unemployed persons were sent on distant expeditions, and moderate “encomiendes” were granted to a few deserving officers. At the same time the viceroy wisely came to an agreement with Sayri Tupac, the son and successor of the Inca Manco, and granted him a pension He took great care to supply the natives with priests of good conduct, and promoted measures for the establishment of schools and the foundation of towns in the different provinces. The cultivation of wheat, vines and olives, and European domestic animals were introduced. The next viceroy was the Conde de Nieva (1561–1564). His successor, the licentiate Lope Garcia de Castro, who only had the title of governor, ruled from 1564 to 1569. From this time there was a succession of viceroys until 1824. The viceroys were chief magistrates, but in legal matters they had to consult the Audiencia of judges, in finance the Tribunal de Cuentas, in other branches of administration the Juntas de Gobierno and de Guerra.
Don Francisco de Toledo, the second son of the count of Oropesa, entered Lima as viceroy on the 26th of November 1569 Fearing that the little court of the Inca Tupac Amaru (who had succeeded his brother Sayri Tupac) might become a focus of rebellion, he seized the young prince, and unjustly beheaded the last of the Incas in the square Toledo’s Administra-tion. of Cuzco in the year 1571. After a minute personal inspection of every province in Peru, he, with the experienced aid of the learned Polo de Ondegardo and the judge of Matienza, established the system under which the native population of Peru was ruled for the two succeeding centuries. His Libro de Tasos fixed the tribute to be paid by the Indians, exempting all men under eighteen and over fifty. He found it necessary, in order to secure efficient government, to revert in some measure to the system of the Incas. The people were to be directly governed by their native chiefs, whose duty was to collect the tribute and exercise magisterial functions. The chiefs or “curacas” had subordinate native officials under them called “pichca-pachacas” over 500 men, and “pachacas” over 100 men. The office of curaca or cacique was made hereditary, and its possessor enjoyed several privileges. Many curacas were descended from the imperial family of the Incas, or from great nobles of the Incarial court. In addition to the tribute which was in accordance with native usage, there was the “mita,” or forced labour in mines, farms and manufactories. Toledo enacted that one-seventh of the male population of a village should be subject to conscription for this service, but they were to be paid, and were not to be taken beyond a specified distance from their homes.
The Spanish kings and viceroys desired to protect the people from tyranny, but they were unable to prevent the rapacity and lawlessness of distant officials and the country was depopulated by the illegal methods of enforcing the mita. Toledo was succeeded in 1581 by Don Martin Henriquez, who died at Lima two years afterwards. Vice-royalty. The Spanish colonies suffered from the strict system of monopoly and protection, which was only slightly relaxed by the later Bourbon kings, and from the arbitrary proceedings of the Inquisition Between 1581 and 1776 as many as fifty-nine heretics were burned at Lima, and there were twenty-nine “autos”; but the Inquisition affected Europeans rather than natives, for the Indians, as catechumens, were exempted from its terrors. The curacas sorrowfully watched the gradual extinction of their people by the operation of the mita, protesting from time to time against the exactions and cruelty of the Spaniards. At length a descendant of the Incas, who assumed the name of Tupac Amaru, rose in rebellion in 1780 The insurrection lasted until July 1783, and cruel executions followed its suppression. This was the last effort of the Indians to throw off the Spanish yoke and the rising was by no means general. The army which overthrew Tupac Amaru consisted chiefly of loyal Indians, and the rebellion was purely anti-Spanish, and had no support from the Spanish population. The movement for independence, which slowly gained force during the opening decade of the 19th century, did not actually become serious until the conquest of Spain by the French in 1807–1808. The Creoles (Criallos) or American-born Spaniards had for long been aggrieved at being shut out from all important official positions, and at the restrictions placed upon their trade, but the bulk of the Creole population was not disloyal.
Peru was the centre of Spanish power, and the viceroy had his military strength concentrated at Lima. Consequently the insurrections in the more distant provinces, such as Chile and Buenos Aires, were the first to declare themselves independent, in 1816 and 1817. But the destruction of the viceroy’s power was essential to their Peru Independent. continued independent existence. The conquest of the Peruvian coast must always depend on the command of the sea. A fleet of armed ships was fitted out at Valparaiso in Chile, under the command of Lord Cochrane (afterwards earl of Dundonald) and officered by Englishmen. It convoyed an army of Argentine troops, with some Chileans, under the command of the Argentine general, San Martin, which landed on the coast of Peru in September 1820. San Martin was enthusiastically received, and the independence of Peru was proclaimed at Lima after the viceroy had withdrawn (July 28, 1821). On the 20th of September 1822 San Martin resigned the protectorate, with which he had been invested, and on the same day the first
