History of Peru

The story of the origins and development of Peruvian archaeology begins with the earliest Spanish contact in 1524, and continues through the Colonial and Independence periods, leading at the close of the Early Republican period in 1900 to the emergence of the discipline of archaeology. It is to these three periods of time, spanning approximately...

Like most ancient peoples, the Incas and their contemporaries worshipped multiple gods. Yet there was an unmistakable tendency for each group to recognize a single god as supremely significant, at least so far as its own tribal fortunes were concerned.

Jorge Basadre Grohmann is one of the most notable Peruvian historians. As a professor, researcher and publicist Jorge Basadre opened a new page in the view of history, introducing innovative methods and perspectives. His main focus and dedication was always the Peruvian Republican history. Basadre left us many significant publications.

Pedro Abraham Valdelomar Pinto was a famous Peruvian writer leaving us some of the most beautiful Peruvian narrations, short stories, plays for theaters, essays and chronicles; and for his time even some quite daring writings. He was a regular at the famous Palais Concert, a café and the center for regular meetings of Lima's intellectual scene; ...

José Abelardo Quiñones Gonzáles was a famous Peruvian aviaor. Named the best fighter pilot of the year 1939, he was the first cadet performing an inverted loop and three "tanneaux verticales", a pirouette in which the aircraft rotates around its pivotal point flying in horizontal direction. José Quiñones died in action in July 1941 during the Pe...

After the Italian explorer and navigator Christopher Columbus on its way to find a new route to India and the Spice Islands set foot on the Caribbean islands of San Salvador (October 1492) and Hispaniola (December 1492) claiming the islands for the King and Queen of Spain (who had sponsored the trip), it took the Spaniards less than 50 years to ...

When Napoleonic France invaded and occupied Spain during the Peninsular War (1807 – 1814) installing Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon’s brother, on the Spanish throne, aspirations for independence from Spain developed in the Spanish South American territories mainly fueled and supported by personalities from the wealthy, respected and aristocratic upp...

After independence Peru had a hard time with the transition from the feudal society imposed by the Spanish Viceroyalty to a self-governed democratic Republic.

The War of the Pacific, also known as Saltpeter War or Ten Cents War, arose from a dispute between Chile and Bolivia over valuable mineral deposits in the Atacama Desert.

After the War of the Pacific, the war expenditures, the loss of revenue from the Tarapaca region and a devastated country led to political instability with different civilian and military forces aiming for power and near bankruptcy which was averted by Peru accepting a proposal from its creditors giving them the right to control the railroads fo...