Peruvian Independence Proclaimed
José de San Martín proclaimed the independence of Peru in the main square of Lima on 28 July 1821, saying that it was free and independent by the general will of the people and by the justice of its cause. Peru was the hardest case in Spanish America. It was the seat of the oldest viceroyalty, the centre of royal administration and of the silver economy, and its creole elite had more reason than most to prefer Spanish rule — the rebellion of Túpac Amaru II in 1780 had shown them what an indigenous rising looked like. San Martín had concluded that Buenos Aires could not reach it overland. He spent two years assembling and training the Army of the Andes at Mendoza, crossed the cordillera in 1817 by passes above 4,000 metres, liberated Chile at Chacabuco and Maipú, and then built a navy under the Scottish admiral Lord Cochrane to carry the war by sea. He landed south of Lima in 1820 and did not attack. His method was blockade, proclamation and negotiation — he wanted the city to declare for him rather than be stormed, and he offered the Spanish a constitutional monarchy under a European prince. The viceroy withdrew to the highlands and Lima opened its gates. San Martín governed as Protector, abolished the mita and the tribute, and freed the children of the enslaved. The royalist army in the sierra was undefeated. After meeting Bolívar at Guayaquil in 1822 he resigned everything and left for Europe. Ayacucho settled it in 1824.
- Year: 1821 CE
- Category: Political
