Viceroyalty of Peru

Kingdom of Peru
Reino del Perú
1542–1824
Motto: Plus Ultra (Latin)
"Further Beyond"
Anthem: Marcha Real
"Royal March"

Flag of Spain: first national flag, naval and fortress flag, the last flag to float in continental America, in the Real Felipe Fortress[3][4][5]
Location of the Viceroyalty of Peru: initial territory 1542–1718 (light green) and final de jure territory 1776–1824 (dark green)
Location of the Viceroyalty of Peru: initial territory 1542–1718 (light green) and final de jure territory 1776–1824 (dark green)
StatusViceroyalty of the Spanish Empire
CapitalLima
(1535–1821)
Cuzco
(1821–1824)
Common languagesSpanish (official, administrative)
Quechua
Kichwa
Aymara
Puquina
Mapudungun
Religion
Roman Catholic
GovernmentMonarchy
King 
• 1544–46
Charles I (first)
• 1816–24
Ferdinand VII (last)
Viceroy 
• 1544–46
Blasco Núñez Vela (first)
• 1821–24
José de la Serna e Hinojosa (last)
Historical eraSpanish Empire
• Established
20 November 1542
May 1572
27 May 1717
1 August 1776
28 July 1821
9 December 1824
• Dissolved
30 December 1824
23 January 1826
Area
• Total
1,340,000 km2 (520,000 sq mi)
CurrencySpanish dollar
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Neo-Inca State
Governorate of New Castile
Governorate of New Toledo
Province of Tierra Firme
Governorate of New Andalusia
Kingdom of Chile
Free Province of Guayaquil
Protectorate of Peru
Viceroyalty of New Granada
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

The Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish: Virreinato del Perú), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru, was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from the capital of Lima. Peru was one of the two Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

The Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The treaty was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal. The creation during the 18th century of Viceroyalties of New Granada and Río de la Plata (at the expense of Peru's territory) reduced the importance of Lima and shifted the lucrative Andean trade to Buenos Aires, while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated the progressive decay of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Eventually, the viceroyalty would dissolve, as with much of the Spanish Empire, when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These movements led to the formation of the modern-day country of Peru, as well as Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, the territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru.

  1. ^ López Guzmán, Rafael (2004). Perú indígena y virreinal (in Spanish). Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. p. 107. ISBN 9788496008649. alienados en el friso del Salón de Reinos del palacio del Buen Retiro, del escudo de Lima como símbolo del virreinato, vale decir el reino del Perú.
  2. ^ Sierra López, Alejandro. "El rincón de la heráldica. Escudos de ciudades y regiones americanas" [The heraldry corner Coats of arms of American cities and regions]. Gobierno de España. Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte (in Spanish). Tanto el escudo de Lima como el de la ciudad de México fueron tomados como sinécdoque de los reinos de los que eran capital, tal y como puede observarse en el Salón de Reinos de Madrid donde ambos aparecen representando a los reinos de Perú y México entre el total de los veinticuatro de los que era monarca Felipe IV
  3. ^ Callao-Lima, Peru. United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel. 1920. p. 26.
  4. ^ Lawrence, Sondhaus (2012). Naval Warfare, 1815-1914. p. 13.
  5. ^ Von Tschudi, Johann (1847). Travels in Peru. p. 33.


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