In the Puno zone around Lake Titicaca, the ancient Huari and Tiwanaku cultures developed.
In the 3rd – con. 2nd millennium BC large settlements and temples on platforms were built on the coast. Maritime civilizations developed here, the most famous of which was the Mochica culture. In the mountain valleys, the Chavin culture underwent a complex evolution. Living in Puno since the 11th century. Quechua tribes led by the Incas created in the 14th century. confederation, subdued in the 14th century. during the wars of conquest, the neighboring peoples went to the ocean, creating a centralized caste state called Tauantisuyu.
In 1532, Spanish conquistadors led by F. Pisarro and D. Almagro, who sailed along the Pacific coast, captured Atahualpa, the ruler of the Incas, and in 1536 subjugated the country. In 1537, a new capital was founded on the coast – the city of Lima. In 1543 the Viceroyalty of Peru was formed. In 1573, the armed resistance of the Indians, led by the last Inca, Tupac Amaru, was suppressed.
From 1720, communal lands began to be sold and a policy of Hispanization of cultural life was pursued, accompanied by persecution for the public use of Indian languages. In 1773 Upper Peru was separated from Peru and ceded to the viceroyalty of la Plata. All this caused peasant uprisings. Especially large was the Peasant War of 1780–83 led by H.G. Condorcanki, who took the name Tupac Amaru. To suppress it, the Spanish authorities armed the Creoles and introduced a system of self-government in the cities. Trade between the colonies, trade with Great Britain, France, and the USA was allowed.
All this paved the way for the War of Independence in 1809–24. In Peru, this war took on the character of a civil war. The Argentine expeditionary force led by General J. de San Martin and the Colombian army led by S. Bolivar helped Peru to gain independence. In 1821, San Martin proclaimed the independence of Peru and formed the first government. In 1822 the Constituent Congress declared Peru a republic and adopted the first Constitution. After the victories of the Bolívar army over the Spanish troops in the battles of Junin and Ayacucho (1824), Peru gained full independence.
In 1825 Upper Peru seceded to the Republic of Bolivia. In 1827 the government of Peru broke off relations with the Bolívar army. In 1835–39, Marshal A. de Santa Cruz, who became president of Peru, created the Confederation of Peru and Bolivia, but it turned out to be fragile and quickly disintegrated. In 1864–66, Peru, in alliance with Bolivia and Chile, repulsed the aggression of Spain, which was trying to restore colonial rule. The President of Peru, R. Castilla, carried out a number of progressive reforms (the abolition of church tithes, as well as a number of laws left over from colonial times, the adoption of the Civil and Criminal Codes, and an active foreign policy).
Strengthened in the 1860s. dependence on external loans taken from British and German banks weakened Peru and led the country to decentralization and participation in the Pacific War with Chile in 1879–83. Peru and its ally Bolivia were defeated. Under the treaty of 1884, Peru lost Tarapaca with rich saltpeter mines and (for 10 years – subject to full payment of indemnity) the departments of Arica and Tacna. In 1929, a new treaty was concluded, according to which Tacna was returned to Peru, and Arica remained with Chile.
In 1919–30 the dictatorship of A. Legia was established. In 1920, a new Constitution was adopted, which introduced a system of social insurance and noted that the state should take care of its citizens. In 1924 student leader V.R. Haya de la Torre, in exile, created the anti-imperialist organization of the American People’s Revolutionary Alliance (APRA in Spanish).
According to localcollegeexplorer, the political and economic crisis in Peru worsened due to the global economic depression. The armed clash between Peru and Colombia due to the exit through the port of Leticia to the Amazon and through it to the Atlantic Ocean strengthened the position of the army. General O.R. came to power. Benavides, an adherent of the geopolitical concept of the patrimonial role of the Armed Forces, which formally do not take full power for themselves, but through the General Staff determine the main directions of the foreign and domestic policy of the state. In 1933 the corresponding Constitution was adopted. In 1942 Peru severed relations with the Axis powers, and in 1945 declared war on Germany.
Using the situation of world war, the army of Peru invaded Ecuador. US-brokered Peru. received disputed territory. The government of J. Bustamante established control over the export of profits abroad and prices for consumer goods, strengthened the public sector of the economy and achieved the elimination of the US military base, democratized political life. In 1948, General M. Odria staged a military coup, dissolved the Congress, banned parties and trade unions, and strengthened military cooperation with the United States. Peru began to play an active role in the OAS.
The civilian governments that operated from 1956–68 failed to bring the country out of the crisis. In 1968, a military junta led by General J. Velasco Alvarado removed the government, dissolved the Congress, and introduced direct control. During the reign of J. Velasco Alvarado (1968-75), a huge public sector of the economy was created, the beginnings of planning were introduced; raw materials enterprises, banks, air traffic were nationalized; carried out agrarian reform; Indian languages (Quechua and Aymara) acquired official status. In foreign policy, Peru became an active participant in the Non-Aligned Movement. In 1969 Peru. established diplomatic, trade, scientific, technical, military and cultural relations with the USSR and its allies in the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance.
The course towards the industrialization of Peru did not bring the expected result. In 1975, the military junta ousted J. Velasco Alvarado and appointed General F. Morales Bermudez (1975–80) as president, who reduced the public sector, paid compensation for nationalized property, attracted foreign capital, and drafted a new constitution, ensuring the transition to civilian rule.
Presidents F. Belaunde Terry (1980-85) and A. Garcia (1985-90) were unable to cope with the growing inflation, economic ruin, impoverishment of the people, and reform the public sector. The terrorist organizations “Sendero Luminoso” and “Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru” established control over a number of mining departments.
In the 1990 elections, A. Fujimori created the Change-90 bloc and won, promising to carry out economic and social reforms, raise living standards and include Indian and marginal organizations in the political system. Having come to power, A. Fujimori (1990-2000) suppressed the partisan movement by brutal repressions bordering on genocide, established vertical control and concentrated all power in his hands through the police apparatus.
In 1999, the presidents of Peru and Ecuador agreed to end the border dispute, which had lasted since 1941, by recognizing the border along the Sierra de Condor and ensuring free navigation of Ecuadorian ships along the Peruvian rivers.
Fujimori managed to pursue a tough neo-liberal course in the economy: cope with inflation, reform the public sector through the privatization of enterprises, and attract foreign capital, especially Japanese. He repealed the old constitution and dissolved Congress, introduced a new constitution in 1993 and then amended it to secure a 3rd term for re-election. But the scale of corruption in the highest echelons of power reached such proportions that the military-political apparatus collapsed under its weight, Fujimori fled and hid from prosecution in Japan.
As a result of the 2001 elections, A. Toledo, a candidate from the “Possible Peru” movement (a native of the “grassroots”, an Indian who received a higher economic education in the USA), became president, promising to pursue a socially oriented policy and democratize the political system. But his government did not cope with these tasks. In foreign policy, Toledo focuses on the United States, in domestic policy it continues the neoliberal course of the previous government, but without its extremes.
In the regional and municipal elections of 2002, President Toledo’s “Affordable Peru” movement was defeated. Great success fell to the Aprist Party, which formed 12 regional governments. In the capital, the right-wing opposition, the National Unity bloc, won by running its candidate for mayor. The left increased its representation in the municipalities of Puno.
