How Peru Became Independent

DESDE ESTE MOMENTO EL PERÚ ES LIBRE E INDEPENDIENTE POR LA VOLUNTAD GENERAL DE LOS PUEBLOS Y POR LA JUSTICIA DE SU CAUSA QUE DIOS DEFIENDE. ¡VIVA LA PATRIA!, ¡VIVA LA LIBERTAD!, ¡VIVA LA INDEPENDENCIA!.—José de San Martín. Lima, 28th of July of 1821
FROM THIS MOMENT PERU IS FREE AND INDEPENDENT BY THE GENERAL WILL OF THE PEOPLES AND FOR THE JUSTICE OF ITS CAUSE WHICH GOD DEFENDS. LONG LIVE THE FATHERLAND! LONG LIFE FREEDOM! LONG LIVE INDEPENDENCE!

Being from the original New World colony that sprang up in revolution against a European power, I had assumed that the story of Peru's independence would be similar to our own story in the fundamentals. Basically the colonial government gets too pushy, the people start to push back, hostilities break out and after a couple years of war a new country is formed. But that's not how it went in Peru.

For starters, Peruvian independence was not primarily a Peruvian cause. Those who've studied Latin American independence history will recognize General San Martín as the guy who got in the history books by marching around South American proclaiming independence.

Peru was the first colony Spain established in South America. It was also the last nation to declare independence from Spain. That means that at the moment of Peruvian independence, places like Argentina and Chile were already independent nations. San Martín was convinced that Argentinian freedom was in jeopardy as long as the Viceroyalty of Peru was under the control of the Spanish crown. So on February 5, 1819 Argentina and Chile* signed a treaty and prepared to invade.

On September 7, 1820 the Peruvian Liberation Expedition (which was flying the Chilean flag) invaded the Bay of Pisco** and within a day had control of the province of Ica (the next province south of Lima on today's map). A month later an uprising began in Cusco which ends with the province of Guayaquil proclaiming its independence. It would later become part of Peru.

On January 19, 1821 the viceroy was replaced. The new viceroy spent less than five months in office before reading the writing on the wall and bouncing. He bravely left behind orders for the royalist garrison in Lima to resist at the Real Felipe fortress. They followed those orders for almost 3 weeks before leaving themselves. The Liberation army enters Lima on June 27^th. The actual act of Independence is signed on July 15, 1821 but not proclaimed until the 28^th, when San Martín spoke the words quoted above in the Plaza de Armas in Lima.

Of course it took a while for the independence to be realized across the country. The Viceroy hadn't left, he'd just moved to Cusco and tried to run things from there. The Peruvian government eventually called in the other great liberator - Simón Bolívar – in 1823 to help rid the country of royalist forces. He spent the next three years completing that mission. The last royalist surrender didn't happen until 1826.

The specifics of the war for Peruvian Independence are very difficult to follow. It's a funny bit of history to look at, because isn't given very much focus. The Peru Reader, which details Peru from pre-Incan times to the present, doesn't have a single document about the war for independence. It skips from colonial times to the early days of the independent state. Like is always the case, the new state wasn't for everyone. Independence was a way for the rich of the colonies to make themselves richer by throwing out their responsibilities toward the spanish crown. For the people living up here in the Andes, the newly formed Peruvian nation had just about zero affect on their lives. 

The period following independence is a mess of regime changes. We'll (assuming I take the time to research it) look at young Peru sometime in the next month. 

*of all the countries-Chile! It's funny to think of Chileans helping Peruvians win their independence considering how bitterly Peruvians feel towards Chileans now.

**Which, despite its name, is not the place to find the hardest parties in Peru.