Chronography of Peru (also Inca) (Chavin) (Moche)
For far south American indigenous peoples (Mapuche,
Yaghan), see Chile
Page last
modified 17 September 2023
Map of Peru geographical changes here
17 April 2019, Former President of Peru, Alan Garcia, 69, shot himself
dead as police arrived to arrest him on corruption charges, connected with the
construction of the Lime metro system. The Brazilian construction company Odebrecht had admitted paying government
officials across 12 countries a total of almost US$800 million to obtain
contracts. Garcia
had been President 1985-90 and 2006-11.
13 July 2005, Thousands protested in
Lima, Peru, against a US trade pact that could lead to increase in the cost of
medicines.
2003, Beatriz Merino
was appointed Peru�s first woman Prime Minister.
2001, Presidential
elections were won by Alejandro Toledo, of the Peru Possible Party. Toledo
was the country�s first Amerindian President.
Rule of Fujimori
11/2000, Fujimori fled
to Japan, taking US$ 600 million with him, from where he sent a fax submitting
his resignation as President. Japan granted him citizenship, permitting him to
evade prosecution in Peru.
9/2000, Fujimori
suffered a political setback when his right hand man, Montesinos, was caught on video
attempting to bribe an opposition politician. Montesinos sought asylum in
Panama but was refused; he returned to Peru and went into hiding, with an
estimated US$ 2 billion having been siphoned off the economy by him.
4/2000, Fujimori faced strong
opposition for the Presidency from Alejandro Toledo, a US-trained economist. Toledo
refused to participate in the run-off elections, believing they woiuld be
rigged; Fujimori
went ahead with his 3rd 5-year term
as President, but faced strong criticism from previous allies such as the USA and
the Organisation of American States.
26
October 1998, Peru and Ecuador signed a treaty demarcating the
;last 48 miles of common border.
22 April 1997, The siege of the Japanese
Embassy in Peru by Tupac Amaru guerrillas was ended violently by government
troops. 14 guerrillas and one Japanese citizen were killed; the remaining 71
hostages were rescued. The guerrillas wanted the release of 440 of their
comrades.
1996, Fujimori got a compliant
Congress to amend the Constitution so he could stand for a third 5-year term
as President. Judges who objected were dismissed. Newspapers also had to report
favourably on Fujimori or risk being shut down.
17
December 1996, Tupac Amaru, a Leftist
guerrilla group whom Fujimori believed he had
defeated, resurfaced and took 400 hostages at a party at hosted by the� Japanese Ambassador. The siege was drawn-out
because Japan insisted on aiming for a negotiated settlement.
17
February 1995, Peru and Ecuador settled their border dispute (see
26 January 1995).
26
January 1995, Heavy fighting began along the Peru-Ecuador border. For more details
see Ecuador.
1994, Fujimori was re-elected as
President. However his economic policies, whilst satisfying the IMF, had
impoverished many Peruvians; two thirds remained below the poverty line, and
real wages had fallen by 10%.
6 January 1993, President
Alberto Fujimori restored
constitutional government in Peru.
7 October 1992, In Peru, the Sendero Luminoso (�Shining
Path�) Marxist
leader and former Philosphy professor Abimael Guzman Reynoso was convicted of
treason and sentenced to life in prison. He had been captured in Lima oin 12
September 1992.. The war on the Shining Path had cost the Peruvian economy
some US$22 billion, and 69,000 Peruvians had been killed or had �disappeared�;
many of these being impoverished Quecha
indigenous peoples. Hi9s captutre was a severe blow to the Shining Path, which graduially
declined thereafter, and allowed Peru to promote tourism,
23 September 1992, Abimael Guzman Reynoso Shining Path
leader, was arrested in Peru after 12 years as a wanted man.
14 February 1991, The Peruvian Cabinet
resigned over splits caused by an economic crisis.
1990, Peru was suffering over
3,000 political murders a year.
28 July 1990, Alberto Fujimori
became President of Peru. He
defeated Vargas
Llosa. Elected on an anti-corruption platform, he inherited an
economy where payments on US$ 23 billion foreign debts had not been made for 2
years, the inflation rate was 40% per month, and central government control did
not extend to the remote rural areas where guerrillas held sway. He got
inflation down within 6 months. In April 1992 he then formed an alliance with
the military and suspended the Constitution, assuming Emergency Powers. He was
strongly allied to the
USA, and his headquarters was known as �The Little Pentagon�.
11 June 1990, Right wing politician Mario Vargas Llosa lost the
second round of the Peruvian elections.
6/1988, By this time some 9,000
people had died due to the Senderoso Luminoso insurgency. About half were
guerrillas.
1987, Peru went bankrupt; plans
to nationalise the plans by President Garcia were blocked by the new
Libertad Movement, led by novelist Mario Vargas Llosa.
28 July 1985, In Peru there was a democratic transfer of power
from Fernando
Belaunde Terry to Alan Garcia Perez. Social Democrat Party. However
Peru was far from stable, with the Marxist rebel organisation Sendero Luminoso
(Shining Path) controlling large areas of the country.
1982, The Peruvian Army stepped
up an anti-drugs campaign, cracking down on guerrillas; dxeaths and
�disappearances� escalated.
1981, Peru fought a border war
(until 1990) with Ecuador over the El
Oro region, an Amazonian region given to Peru by a 1942 treaty,which
Ecuador wanted as it would give it access to the Amazon basin. For more details see Ecuador.
17 May 1980, The Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) Maoist rebel
group, founded by Abimael Guzman in the 1970s, began an armed
uprising in Peru.
27 July 1980, President Fernando Belaunde Terry of Peru was
inaugurated, ending 12 years of military rule.
1975, A new
right-wing military junta took control of government. Velasco was replaced, in a
bloodless coup, by General Morales Bermudez.
19 March 1971, An avalanche triggered by
a earthquake killed some 700 people at a mining camp at Chungar, Peru.
1968, A left-wing
military junta took over government, and started a programme of widespread
nationalisation.
October 1968, President Belaunde�s government
resigned after his decision to pay Standard
Oil compensation for handing their installations over to Peru. Juan Velasco
Alvarado seized power in a military coup, and nationalised entire
industries, including fishing, mining, power and telecommunications. He also
instituted extensive land reform, redistributing some 100,000 square
kilometres; about 72% of Peru�s arable land. He held power until 1975; his
economic reforms suffered from the oil price rise in 1973/4.
1963, Fernando
Belaunde Terry, a moderate Conservative, was elected President, He
began a programme of land reform, redistriubuting land to peassants, but also
used the military to suppress a Communist-backed insurgency.
18 July 1962, A military
coup in Peru; President Prado was arrested by the Army.
There was a further coup in 1963.
1956, Civilian Government
returned to Chile.
22 February 1952, The USA signed a
military assistance pact with Peru.
2 July 1950, Manuel Odria was legally elected
President of Peru.
27 October 1048, General Manuel Odria (1897-1974), Conservative
Peruvian Army Chief of Staff,, took power, and APRA was banned again. Haya de
la Torre took refuge in the Colombian Embassy in Lima, as many
APRA
members were jailed or exiled
APRA President Rivero, 1945-48
1948, Militant APRA members staged a revolt oin the port city
of Callao, and sailors seized some warchips. Civil war seemed imminent.
1947, The murder of a prominent
Conservative mewspaper editor was blamed on APRA. The Peruvian Government
fell apart, with non APRA members refusing to co-operate.
1945, Jose Luis Bustamente y Rivero
(1894-1989) was elected President of Peru, He was backed by APRA,
and wanted to push through major social reforms. However he was strongly
opposed by the Conservatives. Peru remained a very unequal country, with 80% of
the land owned by 1% of the landowners; the wealthiest owned over 4,000 square
kilometres each; most lay uncultivated. Occasional revolts by the landless
peasants were crushed by the Peruvian Army.
1942, Under the Rio Protocol, Ecuador ceded the
mineral-rich el Oro region to Peru, ca.
200,000 square kilometres, after a period of border warfare. Ecuador� had invaded this region in 1941. For more details see Ecuador.
1939-45, A moderate
pro-US government ruled Peru.
1931, APRA
was banned, until 1945.
1930, Salcedo
was ousted from power, and the APRA came to Peru as its first political
Party.
25 August 1930, Augusto Legula, President of
Peru, resigtned and fled the country after a coup by Colonel Luis Sanchez Carro.
1924, Peruvian Dr Victor Raul
Haya de la
Torre (1895-1979) founded the nationalist and
radical American
Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) whiulst in exile in Mexico.
21 August 1916, Peru declared neutrality during World War One.
18 February 1914, British explorer Captain
Campbell Besley announced the discovery of three Inca cities in
Peru.
8 August 1912, The Pope
issued an encyclical about abuse of the indigenous tribes in the Putumayo
region of Peru.
24 July 1911, The lost
city of Machu Picchu, Peru, was
rediscovered by Hiram
Bingham.
20 January 1911, Ecuador
refused to allow the Hague Tribunal to arbitrate in its boundary dispute with
Peru.
3 June 1910, Ecuador
and Peru withdrew their troops from the border between the two nations as the
first step in the mediation of their dispute.
1908, Augusto Leguia
y Salcedo became dictator, ruling until 1912, and again from
1919-30.
31 December 1886, Mariano Felipe
Paz Soldan, Peruvian geographer and historian, died (born in
Arequipa 22 August 1821)
1879, The War of
the Pacific broke out. When it ended in 1884, Chile had taken Bolivia�s
entire coatline, and the southern province of Peru. See Chile for more details.
1872, Manuel Pardo
became Peru�s first democratically-elected President.
2 May 1866, Spain bombarded the Peruvian
port of Callao. A week later Spain ceased hostilities.
31 March 1866, A Spanish fleet under
Admiral Casto Mendez Nunez bombarded the port of Valparaiso, Chile. Peru allied
with Chile.
14 January 1866, Resentment in Peru at the
terms of the treaty woth Spain (see 27 January 1865) allowed General Mariano
Ignacio Prado (1826-1901) to take control of government. He then
made defensive alliances with Bolivia and Ecuadoir, then declared war on Spain.
27 January 1865, Spain and Peru agreed a
treaty where Spain recognised Peruvian independence and Peru would pay a 3
million peso indemnity for losses suffered by Spanish subjects at Talambo, and
for the return of the Chincha Islands.
14 April 1864, Spain occupied the
guano-rich Peruvian Chincha Islands, 12 miles off the Peruvian coast.
1849, Large inflow
of Chinese labourers, mostly to do low-paid jobs such as collecting guano.
Inflow lasted until 1872.
1864, Spain occupied the Peruvian island of Central Chinch, rich
in guano, in an attempt to regain Peru.
1844, General Ramon
Castilla became President, serving until 1851, and again
from1855-62. Under his administration, Peru enjoyed stability and economic
prosperity. Its guanoi and niyrate deposits were mined for the first time, and
transport links improved.
20 November 1841, Peru attempted an invasion of Bolivia but was
defeated. The Peruvian President, Augustin Gamarra, was killed this day in the
fighting, aged 56. His death started a civil war in Peru that continued until
1845.
26 January 1827 Peru ended
its union with Chile and declared independence.
9 December 1824, Battle of Ayacucho. Further Spanish defeat
in the war to retain Peru as a colony. Peru and Bolivia would have been united
at this point but Sucre had already agreed with the leaders of
Upper Peru (Bolivia) to cteate a separate State there.
6 August 1824, Spain finally
lost Peru after the Battle of Junin,
led by Simon
Bolivar and Antonio Jose de Sucre.
10 September 1823. Simon Bolivar became dictator of Peru.
26 July 1822, San Martin and Simon Bolivar met at Guayaquil. San Martin
turned over control of the anti-Spanish independence struggle to Bolivar
and retired from further revolutionary action.
22 August 1821, Mariano Felipe Paz Soldan, Peruvian geographer
and historian, was born in Arequipa (died 31 December 1886)
28 July 1821, Peru proclaimed its independence from Spain, after
the capoital Lima was captured by Argentine liberator Jose de San Martin, who had also
liberated Chile from the Spanish.
1780, Tupac Amaru II
led an unscusseful revolt against Spanish rule.
1543, A South
American Indian, Diego Gualpa, discovered a rich seam of silver ore in the
mountains of Peru. This gave rise to the silver boom town of Potosi and ultimately had a major
impact on world finances. Between 1556 and 1783 the mountain of Cerro Rico, or
�rich hill�, yielded 45,000 tons of pure silver.
1542, The Vice-Royalty of Peru
was established.
Inca Empire, 1219 � 1572
1572, The last Inca resistance under Tupac Amaru ended as their
leader was executed.
1539, Although the Inca State had fallen to Spain in 1532, a
relict Inca
State was recreated by a minor Inca noble, Manco Inca Yupanqi, at the
remote settlement of Vilcabamba. From here intermittent warfare was waged on
the Spanish.
1539, Pizarro founded the town of Ayacucho, Peru.
18 January 1535, Lima, Peru, was founded by Francisco Pizarro.
16 November 1532, Atuahalpa met Pizarro
at his mountain fortress of Cajamarca. The Spanish handed Atahualpa a Bible and demanded
that he convert to Christianity. Atahualpa refused, and was taken hostage by
the Spanish. The Inca offered the Spanish a �roomful of gold� to release Atahualpa;
the ransom was paid, but Pizarro did not keep his side of the bargain.
Instead he had Atahualpa
garrotted in the main square in July 1533.
13 May 1532, Francisco Pizarro landed on the northern coast of Peru.
19 January 1530, Francisco Pizarro sailed from Spain, with a
commission to conquer Peru. He sailed to Panama, and from there to Peru in
12/1530.
1528, Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro sailed along the South
Amrican coast as far up as the present day frontier between Peru and Ecuador. The
Inca Empire now stretched for 2,500 miles from the Maule River in central Chile
up as far north as the modern Colombia-Ecuador border. This made control of the Empire very difficult,
as it took ten days for messengers to reach the capital, Cuzco, from the
frontiers, even with the well-developed road system they possessed.
1525, In Peru, Huanaya Capac,
11th Inca
King, died at Quito. His empire was divided between his two sons, Huascar
and Atahualpa.
The Inca Empire descended
into civil war, making the Spanish conquest, when they arrived in 1532, much
easier.
1493, Accession of Inca
ruler, Huayna
Capac. He ruled until 1525.
1476, Inca conquest of the south coast
of Peru.
1471, Topa became the 10th
Sapa Inca,
and began a road building programme to connect all parts of his empire. He
ruled until 1493.
1470, The Incas captured the city of Quito from local Amerindian tribes;
even then it was a major settlement.
1438, The Inca dynasty that ruled Peru
until 1553 was founded by Pachacutec. He ruled until 1471.
1300s, The Incas,
whio now ruled the Peru area, began to expand into neighbouring areas, reaching
what is now central Chile by 1500. The Inca language, Quecha, was imposed on all their subjects.
1219, Traditional date for the
founding of the Inca
civilisation in Peru by Manco Capac.
1000, Decline of Wari culture.
800 AD, The Chachapoya
culture began in Peru�s northern highlands. It was invaded by the Incas
around 1475. The Inca conquerors then dispewrsed most of the Chachapoya people to distant parts of the Inca Empire, to
avoid any insurrection. The few Chachapoya who
remained in situ sided with the Spanish when they arrived, but new European
doiseases and harsh treatment by the Spanish colonisers ensured that by .the early 1600s
the Chachapoya culture had virtually disappeared.
700, The city / state of Wari became dominant and its influence
began to spread beyond the Ayacucho Valley.
100 AD, The Moche culture began in what is
now northern coastal Peru. It lasted until ca. 700.
200 BCE, End of Chavin
culture
350 BCE, Emergence of the Nazca Culture in Peru. Huge line
drawings were made in the desert, too large to appreciate except from the air.
They developed
large-scale irrigation systems.
850 BCE, Peak of Chavin culture in Peru.
800 BCE, The Chavin
city of Chavin de Huantar was
founded. It was primarily a religious centre.
1200 BCE, Emergence of the Chavin culture in Peru.