Peru
Peru
Republic of South America, on the western coast. Spanish explorers and conquerors in the 16th century brought with them missionaries; five Dominicans arrived in 1532, and one of them, Father Vicente de Valverde, became Bishop of Cuzco with jurisdiction over all the conquered territory of a large region. He was assassinated by Indians in 1541. Other missionaries of various societies, including Franciscans, Augustinians, Brothers of Mercy, and Jesuits, soon established churches, schools; and monasteries for men and for women. In 1546 Father Pedro de La Gasca was sent to act as arbitrator to end the civil war which had raged for several years; he succeeded in making peace and in establishing reforms to restrict the colonists in their oppression of the natives. In 1577 the Jesuits in Peru founded a school for the training of missionaries in the native dialects, and they established the first printing press in South America. The second Bishop of Lima was Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo, a heroic missionary; two other saints of early Peruvian history were Saint Rose of Lima, and Saint Francis Solanus. The War of Independence, 1820-1826, was followed by several civil wars and by boundary disputes which have not yet been settled. The Constitution of 1920 grants liberty to all religions. The Catholic Faith is recognized as the State religion, and churches and convents are owned and partly supported by the State.
Ecclesiastically the country is governed by the archdioceses of
Arequipa
Ayacucho o Huamanga
Cuzco
Huancayo
Lima
Piura
Trujillo
the dioceses of
Abancay
Cajamarca
Callao
Carabayllo
Chachapoyas
Chiclayo
Chimbote
Chosica
Chulucanas
Huacho
Huancavlica
Hunuco
Huaraz
Ica
Lurn
Puno
Tacna y Moquegua
Tarma
the territorial prelatures of
Ayaviri
Caravel
Chota
Chuquibamba
Chuquibambilla
Huamachuco
Huar
Juli
Moyobamba
Sicuani
Yauyos
the vicariates apostolic of
Iquitos
Jan en Peru o San Francisco Javier
Pucallpa
Puerto Maldonado
Requena
San Jos de Amazonas
San Ramn
Yurimaguas
and the
Peruvian Military Ordinariate
See also
Catholic-Hiearchy.Org
World Fact Book
patron saints index : Lima, Peru
patron saints index : Peru
New Catholic Dictionary
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Peru
A republic on the west coast of South America, founded in 1821 after the war of independence, having been a Spanish colony. It is difficult to ascertain the true origin of the work “Peru”, as the opinions advanced thereon are vague, numerous, and conflicting. Almost all, however, derive it from the terms “Beru”, “Pelu”, and “Biru”, which were, respectively, the names of an Indian tribe, a river and a region. Prescott asserts that “Peru” was unknown to the Indians, and that the name was given by the Spaniards.
Peru’s territory lies between 1°29′ North and 19°12’30” South latitude, and 61°54’45” and 81°18’39” West longitude. Bounded by Ecuador on the north, Brazil and Bolivia on the east, Chile on the south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west, its area extends over 679,000 square miles. The Andean range runs through Peru from southeast to northwest, describing a curve parallel to the coast.
HISTORY
However true the fact may be that gold was the object uppermost in the minds of the Spanish conquerors of the New World, it is a matter of history that in that conquest, from the northernmost confines of Mexico to the extreme south of Chile, religion always played a most important part, and the triumphant march of Castile’s banner was also the glorious advance of the sign of the Saviour. That religion was the key-note of the American Crusades is evident from the history of their origin; the sanction given them by the Supreme Pontiff; the throng of self-devoted missionaries who followed in the wake of the conquerors to save the souls of the conquered ones; the reiterated instructions of the Crown, the great purpose of which was the conversion of the natives; and from the acts of the soldiers themselves (Prescott, “Conquest of Peru”, II, iii) The first news of the existence of the great Empire of the Incas reached the Spaniards in the year 1511, when Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, the discoverer of the Pacific Ocean, was engaged in an expedition against some Indian tribes in the interior of Darien. Perhaps the glory of conquering Peru would have fallen upon Balboa had not the jealousy of his chief, Pedro Arias de Avila, Governor of Panama, cut short his brilliant career. The second attempt to reach the coveted domain of the Incas was made in 1522, when Pascual de Andagoya started south from Panama, but he was compelled by ill health to return. Francisco Pizarro, after two unsuscessful expeditions (1524-25 and 1526-27) and a trip to Spain for the purpose of interesting Charles V in the undertaking, finally started the actual work of invading Peru, sailing from Panama in January, 1531. (See PIZARRO, FRANCISCO.)
When the persistent commander finally reached the country in 1532, the vast Inca empire is said to have extended over more than one-half of the entire South American continent. He found a people highly civilized, with excellent social and political institutions who had developed agriculture to a remarkable degree through a splendid system of irrigation. They worshipped the sun as embodying their idea of a supreme being who ruled the universe. This worship was attended by an elaborate system of priestcraft, ritual, animal sacrifices, and other solemnities. After the conquest had been consummated (1534), Father Vincente Valverde, one of the five Dominicans who had accompanied the conqueror from Spain, was nominated Bishop of Cuzco and soon afterwards confirmed by Paul III, his jurisdiction extending over the whole territory of the newly-conquered domain. He was assassinated by the Indians of Puna, off Guiyaquil, in 1541 when returning to Spain. Upon taking Cuzco, the capital of the empire, Pizarro provided a municipal government for the city, and encouraged its settlement by liberal grants of lands and houses. On 5 Sept., 1538, Bishop Valverde laid the foundations of the cathedral, and later a Dominican monastery was erected on the site of the Incaic temple of the sun, a nunnery was established, and several churches and monasteries built. The Dominicans, the Brothers of Mercy, and other missionaries actively engaged in propagating the Faith among the natives. Besides the priests that Pizarro was required to take in his own vessels, the succeeding ships brought additional numbers of missionaries, who devoted themselves earnestly and disinterrestedly to the task of spreading the religion of Christ among the Indians. Their conduct towards them was in marked contrast to that of the conquerers, whose thirst for gold was never satiated, and who having ransacked the villages and stripped the temples of their gold and silver ornaments, had enslaved the Indians, forcing them to work in the mines for their benefit.
At the outset and for several years thereafer the missionaries had to labour under almost unsurmountable obstacles, such as the uprising of the Inca Manco (a brother of Atahualpa, whom Pizarro had placed on the vacant throne) and the first civil wars among the conquerors themselves. These culminated in the execution of Deigo de Almagro (1538) by order of Pizarro, and the assassination of the latter by the former’s son, and were followed by other no less bloody conflicts between Cristobal Vaca de Castro (the newly appointed governor) and Almagro’s son (1543), and Gonzalo Pizarro, and Blasco Nunez de Vela, the first viceroy (1544-45). The news of this, the most formidable rebellion that had so far been recorded in the history of Spain, caused a great sensation at the Court. Father Pedro de la Gasca was selected for the delicate task of pacifying the colony. Provided with unbounded powers, Gasca reached Peru in July, 1546, and scarcely three years had elapsed when he accomplished the great object of his mission. Having restored peace, his next step was to ameliorate the condition of oppressed natives, in doing which he went farther than was agreeable to the wishes of the colonists. Other reforms were introduced by the far-seeing priest, thus placing the administration upon a sound basis and facilitating a more stable and orderly government by his successors. Upon his return to Spain he was raised to the Bishopric of Palencia, which diocese he administered until 1561, when he was promoted to the vacant See of Siguenza. He died in 1567 at the age of seventy-one. Unfortunately, the disturbances of the country were renewed on the departure of Gasca. The most serious uprising was that of Francisco Fernandez Girón (1550-54) during the regime of the second viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza. Girón’s execution (Dec. 1554) put an end to the last of the civil wars among the conquerors; and through the conciliatory and energetic measures of Andres Hurtado de Mendoza, the third viceroy, the county was at last pacified, and the authority of Spain firmly established.
The Dominicans were the first ministers of the Gospel to come to Peru, and did splendid and efficient work in Christianizing the natives. They built many churches, monasteries, convents, and colleges, and acquired considerable prominence in ecclesiastical matters during the seventeenth century. Saint Rose of Lima (1586-1617), the patron of the Peruvian capital, was educated in one of their nunneries, and lived there until her death. The Franciscan fathers were also among the pioneer missionaries of Peru, and were prominent for their unceasing labours in the remotest wilds of South America. One of them, Saint Francis Solanus, made a journey from Peru to the Paraguayan Chaco, preaching to the tribes in their own dialects (1588-89). The Franciscan churches and buildings are among the handsomest in the country. Likewise, the good work of the Order of Saint Augustine stands high in the annals of Peruvian church history. Of the several temples and convents erected by the order during the viceroyalty, the church of Our Lady of Mercy is one of the most attractive in Lima. In 1567, at the earnest request of Philip II, St. Francis Borgia, then General of the Society of Jesus, sent the first Jesuits to Peru under Father Geronimo Ruiz Portillo, who with his six companions arrived at Callao on 28 March, 1568, and entered Lima on 1 April. As in Paraguay and other parts of South America, the work of the Jesuits in Peru was most effective in propagating the faith among the Indians as well as educating them. After establishing a convent, a seminary, and a church in Lima, they built temples and schools in almost all the towns. At Juli, on the shores of Titicaca Lake, they founded a training school for missionaries (1577), where the novices were taught the native dialects. At that time the first printing press in South America was introduced by the order. Among their number were several of the most famous educators, historians, scientists, geographers, naturalists, and literary men of the period. Their educational institutions soon became renowned, not only in the American colonies, but also in Spain and Europe. The great and redeeming work of the Jesuits was flourishing when the decree of Charles III of 1769, ordering their expulsion from the Spanish domains, reached Peru and was executed by the Viceroy Manuel de Amat.
The Dominican Geronimo de Loayza, first Bishop of Lima (1546-1575) was succeeded by Saint Toribio de Mogrovejo (1538-1606). Nominated to the See of Lima in 1578, he entered that capital on 24 May, 1581. He learned the Quichua language thoroughly in order to find out for himself the real condition and actual wants of the Indians, whose interests he protected and promoted with the greatest zeal and care. Such was his activity that within comparatively few years he held fourteen synods and three councils, through which many beneficial reforms were instituted; and personally visited twice the whole territory under his jurisdiction, comprising at that time the greater portion of the South American continent. These tours of inspection he made on foot and accompanied only by two of his secretaries. He had scarcely started on his third journey when death surprised him on 23 March, 1606. Among other works which stand as a lasting monument to his memory are the Seminary of Saint Toribio and the Convent of Santa Clara in Lima. The Holy Office was established in Peru in 1570, during the regime of the viceroy Francisco de Toledo, the tribunal of the Inquisition sitting at Lima and extending its jurisdiction over the Captaincy-General of Chile, the Presidency of Quito, the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, and part of the Viceroyalty of New Granada. It was abolished on 23 Sept. 1813, when the Viceroy Abascal enforced the order to that effect, enacted by the Cortes of Cadiz on 22 Feb. of the same year. But shortly after Ferdinand VII was restored to the throne of Spain, the inquisition was re-established in Peru (16 January, 1815) and operated until its definite abolition in 1820, when the struggle for freedom had assumed full sway. By an express provision, the jurisdiction of the Holy Office never comprised the Indians, who continued under the authority of the bishops and the ordinary courts.
For nearly three centuries, Peru was ruled by thirty-eight viceroys, or, in their stead, the government was temporarily exercised by the Audiencia Real of Lima, founded in 1544. As the representative of the King of Spain the viceroy was vested with almost absolute powers, and besides his executive functions he discharged those of Vice-Patron of the Church, President of the Audiencia, captain-general of the army, and Superintendent of the Royal Exchequer. The movement for emancipation in Peru began early in the nineteenth century, but the first attempts were repressed with considerable severity, and it was not until 28 July, 1821, that independence was declared. The defeat of the royalists at the battle of Ayacucho (9 Dec., 1824) put an end to the Spanish rule. Under the independent government, the executive assumed the same rights of patronage vested in the viceroy, and the five different constitutions adopted since the establishment of the republic recognized the Roman Catholic religion as the official church of the country with exclusion of any other.
POPULATION
The last census of Peru was taken in 1876, hence the present population of the republic is known only approximately. According to the enumeration of that year, the number of inhabitants was 2,676,000. Recent estimates have, however been made (1906) that show the population to have increased to 3,547,829. Of this total fifty per cent. Is formed by Indians; fifteen per cent. By whites, mostly the descendants of Spaniards; three percent by negroes; one per cent. By Chinese and Japanese; and the remaining thirty-one per cent. By the offspring of intermarriage between the different races. According to the “Annuario Ecclesiastico” of Rome (1909), the Catholic population of Peru is 3,133,830, distributed as follows among the various dioceses: Lima, 606,900; Arequipa, 270,460; Ayacucho, 200,610; Chachapoyas, or Maynas, 95,370; Cuzco, 480,680; Huánuco, 288,100; Huaraz, 350,000; Puno, 260,810; Trujillo, 580,900.
ECCLESIASTICAL DIVISIONS
The ecclesiastical Province of Peru comprises: one archdiocese, Lima, erected in 1534 and raised to metropolitan rank in 1546; nine suffragan dioceses, enumerated in order of seniority: Cuzco, 1536; Arequipa, 1609; Ayacucho, formerly Huamanga, 1615; Trujillo, 1616; Chachapoyas or Maynas, 1843; Huánuco 1865; Puno, 1865; Huaraz, 1900; and three prefectures Apostolic: San Leon de Amazonas, 1900; San Francisco del Ucayali, 1900; and Santo Domingo del Urubamba, 1900. The cathedral and episcopal residences are situated in the capital city of Lima. There are 66 parish churches in the Archdiocese of Lima, 85 in Cuzco, 71 in Arequipa, 102 in Trujillo, 87 in Ayacucho, 44 in Chachapoyas, 58 in Huánuco, 52 in Puno, and 48 in Huaraz. The number of additional churches and public chapels is perhaps about three times this number, as each parish has three or four churches besides the parish church. Then number of secular priests corresponds to the number of parishes, approximately one-fourth of the entire number, when the number of assistant parish priests, chaplains, and priests without regular appointments are taken into consideration. The religious orders, both male and female, are well represented. In the Archdiocese of Lima the Franciscans have three convents, and the Lazarists, Redemptorists, Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, Jesuits, Mercedarians, Augustinians, and Fathers of St. Camillus one each. Among the women, the Tertiaries of St. Francis have five convents; the Sisters of St. Joseph of Cluny four; the Dominicans, Carmelites, Conceptionists, Salesians, Religious of the Sacred heart, and the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary two each; the Poor Clares, Bernardines, Capuchinesses, and Augustinians one each.
In the various dioceses many religious houses are to be found. Cuzco: Franciscans two, Dominicans, Mercedarians, Poor Clares, Carmelites, Dominican nuns, Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary one each; Trujillo: Franciscans two, Lazarists, Conceptionists, Carmelites, Poor Clares, Tertiaries of St. Dominic one each; Ayacucho: Redemptorists Franciscans, Tertiaries of St. Francis (women), Conceptionists one each; Huánuco: Franciscans, Sisters of Our Lady of Lourdes, Tertiaries of St. Francis (women) one each. The Dioceses of Chachapoyas and Puno have no religious houses. The three prefectures Apostolic in the north, centre, and south of the republic, are under the care of the Augustinians, Franciscans, and Dominicans, who work principally for the conversion of the infidel native tribes. The Government allows a small subsidy for the maintenance of these missions, but their greatest source of income is derived from the “Propagación de la Fe en el Oriente del Per&uuacute;”. This pious association has spread over the whole republic and collects the contributions of the faithful, which are, relatively speaking, very abundant. Each diocese has its own diocesan seminary for the education of its priests. Franciscans are in charge of the seminaries of the dioceses of Cuzco and Ayacucho, the Lazarists of those of Trujillo and Arequipa, the Fathers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, of that of Huaraz and the rest are under the care of the seculars. The Government does not claim supervision over the seminaries, which are under the control of the respective bishops.
CHARITIES
There are some thirty hospitals in Peru administered by various charitable societies, one old people’s home, one orphan asylum, and several congregations especially dedicated to charitable works, besides a great number of private associations devoted to the work of gratuitous teaching, visiting the sick poor in their homes, legalizing illicit unions, etc.
LAWS
Religion
The constitution, promulgated on 10 Dec., 1860, expressly provides that the nation profess the Roman Catholic religion; that the State protect it and does not permit the public exercise of any other (Art. 4). There is, however, no interference in personal religious beliefs, and there are Protestant churches in the republic. Under the Organic Law of 17 Sept., 1857 (Arts. 49-54), the prefects of departments are given certain supervisory powers over ecclesiastical affairs connected with the national patronage. Article 94 of the Constitution, on the duties of the president of the republic, establishes that the chief magistrate shall: exercise the ecclesiastical patronage according to law; nominate for archbishops and bishops, with the approval of Congress, those who have been chosen according to law; nominate church dignitaries, canons, curates, and incumbents of ecclesiastical benefices; conclude concordats with the Apostolic See, according to instructions given by Congress; grant or refuse, with the assent of Congress, passage to decrees of councils, or pontifical Bulls, Briefs, and Rescripts; but in case that these affect matters in litigation, the supreme court of justice of the republic must be previously heard.
Article 1358 of the Civil Code in force, under which the Church and religious orders were prohibited from disposing of their property without the consent of the Government, was repealed, 30 September, 1901. Hence the Church in Peru, as a juridical entity, can acquire and possess property of all kinds, as well as contract obligations and exercise civil or criminal action, according to the statutes of the country, the concordat, and the ecclesiastic canons and discipline. Temples and all places of worship are exempt from taxation, but other church property yielding a revenue of $100 or more is subject to the ecclesiastical tax according to the Regulation of 20 December, 1886. Arts. 83 to 94 of the Civil Code refer to clergymen and religious, containing a definition of who are such; the qualifications necessary for the profession; their exemption from public services; the recovery of civil rights by religious upon their secularization, etc. The religious orders are governed by the Regulations for Regulars (Reglamento de Regulares), approved by Resolution of 12 Jan., 1872. Although the modern law obliges all citizens to military duty, there has never been a case where it has been applied to priests or seminarists. No special exemption is granted to clerics in regard to trials; they are tried in the public courts, civil or criminal, as the case may be. There is no law enforcing the observance of holy days, although in the capital a particular ordinance exists which requires that stores be closed on Sundays and Holy Days. Processions and other public acts of worship may be held without interference from the Government. The administration of the different branches of the Church in Peru, in so far as the national patronage is concerned, is entrusted to the Minister of Justice, Worship, and Public Instruction. The fiscal budget assigns the sum of $100,000 for the maintenance of the Church, including the salaries of prelates, rectors, etc.
WILLS AND TESTAMENTS
The procedure that obtains in Peru is similar to that in force in Spain, being based upon the Roman law. According to the Civil Code, wills may be either open or closed. An open will (testamento abierto) may be executed in a public instrument, i.e. before a notary public, in a private document, or verbally (Arts. 651-656). There are, besides, special forms of wills, such as the military, the maritime, and others, in which on account of the unusual circumstances attending upon each particular case, the ordinary formalities of law are dispensed with, and others of a less restrictive nature prescribed instead. (Arts. 674-681). A closed will (testamento cerrado) must be duly sealed by the testator himself. A foreigner owning property in Peru must testate according to the provisions of the Civil Code (Art. 692); and if he have an estate abroad he may dispose of it by will executed in accordance with the laws of the country wherein such estate may be located, or with those of his native land (Art. 693), provided he have no rightful heir or heirs in Peru (Art. 695). The substantive law governing wills and testaments, succession, etc. is contained in Arts. 651 to 954 of the Civil Code.
Cemeteries are under the authority of charitable associations and the parish priests. Under the Resolutions of 20 November, 1868 and 19 January, 1869, the Municipal Councils of the republic are instructed to establish and maintain laic cemeteries for the burial of persons not belonging to the Catholic Church.
Marriage and Divorce
The Peruvian Civil Code expressly prescribes that marriages in the republic must be performed with the formalities established by the Council of Trent; but in order to enable non-Catholics to marry in the country a law was enacted on 23 Dec., 1897, empowering the Alcaldes (mayors) of the Provincial Councils to solemnize marriages. Divorce in Peru, as established by Arts. 191 seq. Of the Civil Code is not absolute, i.e., does not terminate the bond of union. Marriage can only be nullified through the regular ecclesiastical procedure, if by reason of canonical disabilities, or through the ordinary courts of justice, if on account of civil impediments. Sec. III of the Civil Code (Arts. 120-217) is devoted to the subject of matrimony, including divorce.
Schools
Education in Peru is a national institution under the Department of Justice, Public Instruction, and Worship, but is also given by private establishments, of which there are several maintained by religious orders. It is divided into primary, secondary, and academic. Primary instruction was, until 1905, when the new public education law went into effect, in the hands of the municipalities, but in view of their limited resources the national Government found it necessary to take charge of it. It is free and compulsory and is given in about 2500 public schools, with 3105 teachers, and an attendance of 162,298 pupils (1909). Secondary education is furnished by thirty government colleges and several private institutions. Academic instruction is afforded by the universities of the republic. Foremost among them is the University of St. Mark, founded at Lima in 1574, which has faculties of theology, law, medicine, letters, sciences, and political economy. There are also the Universities of Saint Thomas of Cuzco, Saint Thomas of Trujillo, and Saint Augustine of Arequipa. Normal, agricultural, and manual training schools are largely attended.
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LORENTE, Historia del Peru (Lima, 1863-76); PRESCOTT, History of the Conquest of Peru (Boston 1859); RAIMONDI, El Peru (Lima, 1890-1902); BERMUDEZ, Anales de la Catedral de Lima (Lima, 1903); ENOCK, The Andes and the Amazon (London, 1908); IDEM, Peru (New York, 1908); WRIGHT, The Old and New Peru (Philadelphia, 1908); GARLAND, Peru in 1906 (Lima, 1907); SEEBEE, Notes on Peru (London, 1901); Bulletin of the Pan-American Union (August, 1910).
J. MOREN-LACALLE Transcribed by John Looby
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Peru
an important maritime republic of South America, bounded on the north by Ecuador, on the west by the Pacific, on the south and south-east by Bolivia, and on the east by Brazil, in lat. 3 25′-21 30′ S., and in long. 68-81 20′ W., has an area estimated at upwards of 500,000 square miles, and a population of 2,630,000. The coast-line is about 1660 miles in length. The shores are in general rocky and steep, and, owing to the comparative unfrequency of bays and inlets along the coast, the harbors are few and unimportant. Those of Callao (the port of Lima) and Payta afford the most secure anchorage. The country is highly interesting from a historical and antiquarian point of view.
I. Islands. The islands on the Peruvian coast, although valuable, are extremely few in number and small in extent. In the north are the Lobos (i.e. Seal) Islands, forming a group of three, and so called from the seals which frequent them. On their eastern and more Sheltered sides they are covered with guano, and the quantity on the whole group is stated at 4,000,000 tons. The Chincha Islands, famous as the source of Peruvian guano, also form a group of three. Each island presents, on the eastern side, a wall of precipitous rock, with rocky pinnacles in the center, and with a general slope towards the western shore. The cavities and inequalities of the surface are filled with guano, and this material covers the western slopes of the islands to within a few feet of the water’s edge. There is no vegetation. At the present rate of consumption, the guano will last until the year 1883. The island of San Lorenzo forms the harbor of Callao. The grand physical feature of Peru, and the source of all its mineral wealth, is the great mountain system of the Andes.
II. Surface, Soil, and Climute. The surface of Peru is divided into three distinct and well-defined tracts or belts, the climates of which are of every variety from torrid heat to arctic cold, and the productions of which range from the stunted herbage of the high mountainslopes to the oranges and citrons, the sugar-canes and cottons, of the luxuriant tropical valleys.
a. The Coast is a narrow strip of sandy desert between the base of the Western Cordillera and the sea, and extending along the whole length of the country. This tract, varying in breadth from thirty to sixty miles, slopes to the shore with an uneven surface, marked by and ridges from the Cordillera, and with a rapid descent. It is for the most part a barren waste of sand, traversed, however, by numerous valleys of astonishing fertility, most of which are watered by streams that have their sources high on the slopes of the Cordillera. Many of the streams are dry during the greater part of the year.
b. The Sierra embraces all the mountainous region between the western base of the maritime Cordillera and the eastern base of the Andes, or the Eastern Cordillera. These ranges are, in this country, about 100 miles apart on an average, and have been estimated to cover an area of 200,000 square miles. Transverse branches connect the one range with the other, and high plateaus, fertile plains, and deep tropical valleys lie between the lofty outer barriers. The following are the most striking and distinctive physical features of the Sierra, beginning from the south:
1. The plain of Titicaca, partly in Peru and partly in Bolivia, is enclosed between the two main ridges of the Andes, and is said to have an area of 30,000 miles greater than that of Ireland. In its center is the great Lake Titicaca, 115 miles long, from 30 to 60 miles broad, from 70 to 180 feet deep, and 400 miles in circumference.
2. The mountain-chains which girdle the plain of Titicaca trend towards the north-west, and form what is called the Knot of Cuzco. The Knot comprises six minor mountain-chains, and has an area thrice larger than that of Switzerland. Here the valleys enjoy an Indian climate, and are rich in tropical productions; to the north and east of the Knot extend luxuriant tropical forests, while the numberless mountain-slopes are covered with waving crops of wheat, barley, and other cereals, and with potatoes; and higher up extend pasture-lands, where the vicuina and alpaca feed.
3. The valley of the Apurimac, 30 miles in average breadth, and extending north-west for about 300 miles. This valley is the most populous region of Peru.
4. From Cuzco proceed two chains towards the north-west; they unite again in the Knot of Pasco. This Knot contains the table-land of Bombon, 12,800 feet above sea-level; as well as other tablelands at a height of 14,000 feet, the highest in the Andes; otherwise, however, the physical features of the country resemble those of the vicinity of Cuzco.
5. The vale of the river Maranfon, which is upwards of 300 miles in length, is narrow, deep, and nearer the equator than any other valley of the Sierra, and consequently it is the hottest portion of this region; and its vegetation is thoroughly tropical in character. The conformation of the surface of the Sierra is of the most wonderful description. The soil of the Sierra is of great variety; but wherever it is cultivated it is productive.
c. The Montana, forming two thirds of the entire area of the country, stretches away for hundreds of leagues eastward from the Andes to the confines of Brazil. On the north it is bounded by the Amazon, on the south by Bolivia. It consists of vast impenetrable forests and alluvial plains. is rich in all the productions of tropical latitudes, is of inexhaustible fertility, and teems with animal and vegetable life. Among the products which are yielded here in spontaneous abundance are the inestimable Peruvian bark, India-rubber, gum-copal, vanilla, indigo, copaiba, balsam, cinnamon, sarsaparilla, ipecacuanha, vegetable wax, etc. On the western fringe of the Montafia, where there are still a few settlements, tobacco, sugar, coffee, cotton, and chocolate are cultivated with complete success.
The hydrography of Peru may be said to be divided into three systems- those of Lake Titicaca, the Pacific, and the Amazon. All the great rivers of Peru are tributaries of the Amazon.
III. Productions, Exports and Imports, Revenue, etc. The wealth and resources of Peru consist, not in manufactures, but entirely in mineral, vegetable, and animal products. As no statistics are taken in the country, it is impossible to give the quantity and value of the productions, and of the exports and imports, even approximately. Of the precious metals, in which Peru abounds, the production has greatly fallen off; and this country, which once stood in the same relation to Spain that Australia does to Great Britain, now contributes little to the metallic wealth of the world. The immense stores of gold and silver found here by the Spanish invaders represented the accumulation of centuries, and that among a people who used the precious metals only for the purposes of ornamentation. The Andes mines have gold, silver, copper, lead, bismuth, etc., and in the Montana gold is said to exist in abundance in veins and in pools on the margins of rivers. Although so rich in the precious metals, Peru produces comparatively little specie, which is to be accounted fortchiefly by the unscientific and improvident manner in which the mining operations are carried on. It can hardly be said that Peruvian coinage exists, inasmuch as that in circulation is from the mint of Bolivia. In addition to the precious metals and guano, another important article of national wealth is nitrate of soda, which is found in immense quantities in the province of Tarapaca. This substance, which is a powerful fertilizer, is calculated to cover, in this province alone, an area of fifty square leagues, and the quantity has been estimated at sixty-three million tons. Great quantities of borax are also found. The working of this valuable substance, however, is interdicted by government, which has made a monopoly of it, as it has of the guano.
The vegetable productions are of every variety, embracing all the products both of temperate and tropical climes. The European cereals and vegetables are grown with perfect success, together with maize, rice, pumpkins, tobacco, coffee, sugar-cane, cotton, etc. Fruits of the most delicious flavor are grown in endless variety. Cotton, for which the soil and climate are admirably adapted, is now produced here in gradually increasing quantity. The land suited to the cultivation of this plant is of immense extent, and the quality of the cotton grown is excellent. The animals comprise those of Europe, together with the hama and its allied species; but although Peru produces much excellent wool, almost the whole of the woolen fabrics used as clothing by the Indians is imported.
IV. Ancient Civilization and History. Peru, the origin of whose name is unknown, is now passing through its third historical nera, and is manifesting its third phase of civilization. The present sera may be said to date from the conquest of the country by the Spaniards in the early part of the 16th century; the middle aera embraces the rule of the Incas; and the earliest sera, about which exceedingly little is known, is that prencarial period, of unknown duration during which a nation or nations living in large cities flourished in the country, and had a civilization, a language, and a religion different, and perhaps in some cases even more advanced than those of the Incas who succeeded them, and overran their territories. Whence these pre-Incarial nations came, and to what branch of the human family they belonged, still remain unanswered questions. Their existence, however, is clearly attested by the architectural remains, sculptures, carvings, etc., which they have left behind them. Ruins of edifices constructed both before the advent of the Incas and contemporary with and independently of them, are found everywhere throughout the country. For further information regarding pre-incarial times and races, see Bollaert, Antiquities, Ethnology, etc., of South America (Lond. 1860), p. 111 sq.; Hutchinson, Two Years in Peru, with Explorations of its Antiquities (ibid. 1874, 2 vols. 8vo); Brinton, Myths of the New World (N. Y. 1877, revised ed.).
Regarding the origin of the Incas, nothing definite can be said. We have no authorities on the subject save the traditions of the Indians, and these, besides being outrageously fabulous in character, are also conflicting. It appears, however, from all the traditions, that Manco, the first Inca, first appeared on the shores of Lake Titicaca, with his wife Mama Oello. He announced that he and his wife were children of the Sun, and were sent by the glorious Inti (the Sun) to instruct the simple tribes. He is said to have carried with him a golden wedge, or, as it is sometimes called, a wand. Wherever this wedge, on being struck upon the ground, should sink into the earth, and disappear forever, there it was decreed Manco should build his capital. Marching northward, he came to the plain of Cuzco, where the wedge disappeared. Here he founded the city of Cuzco, became the first Inca (a name said to be derived from the Peruvian word for the Sun), and founded the Peruvian race, properly so called. Mannco, or Manco Capac (i.e. Manco the Ruler), instructed the men in agriculture and the arts, gave them a comparatively pure religion, an and a social and national organization; while his wife, Mama Oello, who is also represented as being his sister, taught the women to sew, to spin, and to weave. Thus the Inca was not only ruler of his people, but also the father and the high-priest. The territory held by Manco Capac was small, extending about ninety miles from east to west, and about eighty miles from north to south. After introducing laws among his people, and bringing them into regularly organized communities, he ascended to his father, the Sun. The year generally assigned as that of his. death, after a reign of forty years, is 1062. The progress of the Peruvians was at first so slow as to be almost imperceptible. Gradually, however, by their wise and temperate policy, they won over the neighboring tribes, who readily appreciated the benefits of a powerful and fostering government.
Little is clearly ascertained regarding the early history of the Peruvian kingdom, and the lists given of its early sovereigns are by no means to be trusted. They invented no alphabet, and therefore could keep no written record of their affairs, so that almost all we know of their early history is derived from the traditions of the people, collected by the early Spaniards. Memoranda were indeed kept by the Peruvians, and, it is said, even full historical records, by means of the quipu, a twisted woolen cord, upon which other smaller cords of different colors were tied. Of these cross threads, the color, the length, the number of knots upon them, and the distance of one from another, all had their significance; but after the invasion of the Spaniards, when the whole Peruvian system of government and civilization underwent dislocation, the art of reading the quipus seems either to have been lost or was effectually concealed. Thus it is that we have no exact knowledge of Peruvian history farther back man abruot on century before the coming of the Spaniards. In 1453 Tutpac Inca Yupanqui, the eleventh Inca, according to the list given by Garcilasso de la Vega, greatly enlarged his already widespread dominions. He led his armies southward, crossed into Chili, marched over the terrible desert of Atacama, and penetrating as far south as the river Maule (lat. 36 S.), fixed there the southern boundary of Peru. Returning, he crossed the Chilian Andes by a pass of unequaled danger and difficulty, and at length regained his capital, which he entered in triumph. While thus engaged, his son, the young Huayna Capac, heir to the fame as well as the throne of his father, had marched northward to the Amazon, crossed that barrier, and conquered the kingdom of Quito. In 1475 Huayna Capac ascended the throne, and under him the empire of the Incas attained to its greatest extent and the height of its glory. His sway extended from the equatorial valleys of the Amazon to the temperate plains of Chili, and from the sandy shores of the Pacific to the marshy sources of the Paraguay. Order and civilization accompanied conquest among the Peruvians, and each tribe that was vanquished found itself under a careful paternal government, which provided for it, and fostered it in every way.
The early government of Peru was a pure but a mild despotism. The Inca, as the representative of the Sun, was the head of the priesthood, and presided at the great religious festivals. He imposed taxes, made laws, and was the source of all dignity and power. He wore a peculiar head-dress, of which the tasseled fringe, with two feathers placed upright in it, was the proper insignia of royalty. Of the nobility, all those descended by the male line from the founder of the monarchy shared, in common with the ruling monarch, the sacred name of Inca. They wore a peculiar dress, enjoyed special privileges, and lived at court; but none of them could enter the presence of the Inca except with bare feet, and bearing a burden on the shoulders, in token of allegiance and homage. They formed, however, the real strength of the empire, and, being superior to the other races in intellectual power, they were the fountain whence flowed that civilization and social organization which gave Peru a position above every other state of South America. Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards Peru contained a population of 30,000,000 twelve times greater than it is at the present day. Money was unknown among the Peruvians. They were ma nation of workers, but they wrought as the members of one family, labor being enforced on all for the benefit of all.
The national policy of the Peruvians had its imperfections and drawbacks, and though capable of unlimited extension, it was not capable of advancement. It was in the last degree conservative, and was of such a nature that the introduction of reform in any vital particular must have overturned the whole constitution. Nevertheless the wants of the people were few, and these were satisfied. Their labor was not more than they could easily perform, and it was pleasantly diversified with frequent holidays and festivals. They lived contentedly and securely under a government strong enough to protect them; and a sufficiency of the necessaries of life was obtained by every individual. Still in the valleys of the Cordilleras and on the plain of Cuzco maybe heard numberless songs, in which the Peruvian mourns the happy days of peace, security, and comfort enjoyed by his ancestors. Further, they revered and loved their monarch, and considered it r pleasure to serve him. With subjects of such a temper and inclination, the Incas might direct the entire energies of the nation as they chose; and it is thus that they were able to construct those gigantic public works which would have been wonderful even had they been performed with the assistance of European machinery and appliances.
The Peruvian system of agriculture was brought to its highest perfection only by the prodigious labor of several centuries. Not only was the fertile soil cultivated with the utmost care, but the sandy wastes of the coasts, unvisited by any rains, and but scantily watered by brooks, were rendered productive by means of an artificial system of irrigation, the most stupendous, perhaps, that the world has ever seen. Where the mountain- slopes were too steep to admit of cultivation, terraces were cut, soil was accumulated on them, and the level surfaces converted into a species of hanging gardens. Large flocks of lamas were grazed on the plateaus: while the more hardy vicunias and alpacas roamed the tipper heights in freedom, to be driven together, however, at stated periods, to be shorn or killed. The wool yielded by these animals, and the cotton grown in the plains and valleys, were woven into fabrics equally remarkable for fineness of texture and brilliancy of color.
The character of the architecture of the Peruvians has already been referred to. The edifices of Incarial times are oblong in shape and cyclopean in construction. The materials used were granite, porphyry, and other varieties of stone; but in the more rainless regions sun-dried bricks were also much used. The walls were most frequently built of stones of irregular size, but cut with such accuracy, and fitting into each other so closely at the sides, that neither knife nor needle can be inserted in the seams. Though the buildings were not, as a rule, more than from twelve to fourteen feet high, they were characterized by simplicity, symmetry, and solidity. The Peruvian architects did not indulge much in external decoration, but the interior of all the great edifices was extremely rich in ornament. In the royal palaces and temples the most ordinary utensils were of silver and gold; the walls were thickly studded with plates and bosses of the same metals: and exquisite imitations of human and other figures, and also of plants, fashioned with perfect accuracy in gold and silver, were always seen in the houses of the great. Hidden among the metallic foliage, or creeping among the roots, were many brilliantly colored birds, serpents, lizards, etc., made chiefly of precious stones; while in the gardens, interspersed among the natural plants and flowers, were imitations of them, in gold and silver, of such truth and beauty as to rival nature. The temple of the Sun at Cuzco, called Coricancha, or Place of Gold, was the most magnificent edifice in the empire. On the western wall, and opposite the eastern portal, was a splendid representation of the Sun, the god of the nation. It consisted of a human face in gold, with innumerable golden rays emanating from it in every direction; and when the early beams of the morning sun fell upon this brilliant golden disk, they were reflected from it as from a mirror, and again reflected throughout the whole temple by the numberless plates, cornices, bands, and images of gold, until the temple seemed to glow with a sunshine more intense than that of nature.
The religion of the Peruvians, in the later ages of the empire, was far in advance of that of most abarbarous nations. They believed in a Great Spirit, the Creator of the universe, who, being a spirit, could not be represented by any image or symbol, nor be made to dwell in a temple made with hands. They also believed in the existence of the soul hereafter, and in the resurrection of the body. The after-life they considered to be a condition of ease and tranquillity for the good, and of continual wearisome labor, extending over ages, for the wicked. But while they believed in the Creator of the world, they also believed in other deities, who were of subordinate rank to the Great Spirit. Of these secondary gods the Sun was the chief. They reverenced the Sun as the source of their royal dynasty, and everywhere throughout the land altars smoked with offerings burned in his worship.
V. Modern History and Characteristics. About the year 1516, and ten years before the death of Huayna Capac, the first white man had landed on the western shoes of South America; but it was not till the year 1532 that Pizarro, at the head of a small band of Spanish adventurers, actually invaded Peru. On his death-bed the great Inca expressed a wish that the kingdom of Quito should pass to Atahualpa, one of his sons by a princess of Quito whom lie had received among his concubines, and that all his other territories should fall to his son Huascar, the heir to the crown, and who, according to the custom of the fncas, should have inherited all its dependencies. Between these two princes quarrels, resulting in war, arose; and when Pizarro entered Peru he found the country occupied by two rival factions, a circumstance of which he took full advantage. Atahualpa had completely defeated the forces of his brother, had taken Huascar prisoner, and was now stationed at Caxamalca, on the eastern side of the Andes, whither, with a force of 177 men, of whom 27 were cavalry, the dauntless Spanish leader, in September, 1532, set out to meet him. Atahualpa was captured by the Spaniards, and subsequently put to death. Shortly after the execution of the Inca at Caxamalca, the adventurers set out for Cuzco. Their strength had recently been increased by reinforcements, and they now numbered nearly 500 men, of whom about a third were cavalry. They entered the Peruvian capital Nov. 15, 1533, having in the course of their progress towards the city of the Incas had many sharp and sometimes serious encounters with the Indians, in all of which, however, their armor, artillery, and cavalry gave them the advantage. At Cuzco they obtained a vast amount of gold, the one object for which the conquest of Peru was undertaken. As at Caxamalca, the articles of gold were for the most part melted down into ingots, and divided among the band.
Their sudden wealth, however, did many of them little good, as it afforded them the means of gambling, and many of them, rich at night, found themselves again pennils adventurers in the morning. One cavalier having obtained the splendid golden image of the Sun as his share of the booty, lost it in play in a single night. After stripping the palaces and temples of their treasures, Pizarro placed Manco, a son of the great Huayna Capac, on the throne of the Incas. Leaving a garrison in the capital, he then marched west to the sea-coast, with the intention of building a town, from which he could the more easily repel invasion from without, and which should be the future capital of the kingdom. Choosing the banks of the river Rimac, he founded, about six miles from its mouth, the Cinda de los Reyes, City of the Kings. Subsequently its name was changed into Lima, the modified form of the name of the river on which it was placed. But the progress of a higher civilization thus begun was interrupted by an event which overturned the plans of the general, and entailed the severest sufferings on many of his followers. The Inca Manco, insulted on every hand, and in the most contemptuous manner, by the proud Castilian soldiers effected his escape, and headed a formidable rising of the natives. Gathering round Cuzco in immense numbers, the natives laid siege to the city, and set it on fire. An Indian force also invested Xauxa, and another detachment threatened Lima. The siege of Cuzco was maintained for five months, after which time the Peruvians were commanded by their Inca to retire to their farms, and cultivate the soil, that the country might be saved from famine. The advantages, many though unimportant, which the Inca gained in the course of this siege were his last triumphs. He afterwards retired to the mountains, where he was massacred by a party of Spaniards. More formidable, however, to Pizarro than any rising of the natives was the quarrel between himself and Almagro, a soldier of generous disposition, but of fiery temper, who, after Pizarro, held the highest rank among the conquerors. The condition of the country was now in every sense deplorable. The natives, astonished not more by the appearance of cavalry than by the flash, the sound, and the deadly execution of artillery, had succumbed to forces which they had no means of successfully encountering.
Meantime the Almagro faction had not died out with the death of its leader, and they still cherished schemes of vengeance against the Pizarros. It was resolved to assassinate the general as he returned from mass on Sunday, June 26, 1541. Hearing of the conspiracy, but attaching little importance to the information, Pizarro nevertheless deemed it prudent not to go to mass that day. His house was assaulted by the conspirators, who, murdering his servants, broke in upon the great leader, overwhelmed him by numbers, and killed him. The son of Almagro then proclaimed himself governor, but was soon defeated in battle, and put to death. In 1542 a council was called at Valladolid, at the instigation of the ecclesiastic Las Casas, who felt shocked and humiliated at the excesses committed on the natives. The result of this council was that a code of laws was framed for Peru, according to one clause of which the Indians who had been enslaved by the Spaniards were virtually declared free men. It was also enacted that the Indians were not to be forced to labor in unhealthy localities, and that in whatever cases they were desired to work they were to be fairly paid. These and similar clauses enraged the adventurers. Biasco Nufiez Vela, sent from Spain to enforce the new laws, rendered himself unpopular, and was seized and thrown into prison. He had come from Spain accompanied by an audience of four, who now undertook the government. Gonzalo Pizarro (the last in Peru of the family of that name), who had been elected captain-general, now marched threateningly upon Lima. He was too powerful to withstand, and the audience received him in a friendly manner, and, after the administration of oaths, elected him governor as well as captain-general of the country. The career of this adventurer was cut short by Pedro de la Gasca, who, invested with the powers of the sovereign, arrived from Spain, collected a large army, and pursued Pizarro, who was eventually taken and executed.
A series of petty quarrels, and the tiresome story of the substitution of one ruling functionary for another, make up a great part of the subsequent history. The country became one of the four vice-royalties of Spanish America, and the Spanish authority was fully established and administered by successive viceroys. The province of Quito was separated from Peru in 1718; and in 1788 considerable territories in the south were detached, and formed into the government of Buenos Ayres. At the outbreak of the War of Independence in South America, the Spanish government, besides having much declined in internal strength, was distracted with the dissensions of a regency, and torn by civil war; nevertheless in 1820 the Spanish viceroy had an army of 23,000 men in Peru, and all the large towns were completely in the hands of Spanish officials. Peru was the last of the Spanish South American possessions to set up the standard of independence. In August, 1820, a rebel army, under general San Martin, one of the liberators of Chili, sailed for Peru, and after a number of successes both on sea and land, in which the patriots were most effectively assisted by English volunteers, the independence of the country was proclaimed, July 28,1821, and San Martin, assumed the protectorate of the young republic. From this date to the year 1860. twenty-one rulers, under various titles, held sway. For the first twenty-four years of its existence as an independent Republic the country was distracted and devastated by wars and revolutions. In 1845 Don Ramon Castilla was elected president; and under his firm and sagacious guidance the country enjoyed an unwonted measure of peace, and became regularly organized. Commerce began to be developed, and important public works were undertaken. The term of his presidency ended in 1851, in which year general Rufino Jose Echenique was elected president. The country, however, was discontented with his government, and Castilla, after raising an insurrection in the south, again found himself in 1855 at the head of affairs. Slavery, which, although abolished by the charter of independence, still existed, was put an end to by a decree dated October, 1854. In August, 1863, a quarrel had taken place at the estate of Talambo, in the north, between some Basque emigrants and the natives, in which several of the disputants were killed or wounded. Taking advantage of this occurrence, the Spanish government sent out a special commissioner in the spring of 1864, who delivered a memorandum to the Peruvian minister, complaining of injuries sustained by the Spaniards, and accompanied by a letter threatening prompt and energetic reprisals should Spain be insulted or her flag disgraced. The commissioner left Lima on April 12, the day on which his memorandum and letter were delivered; and on the 14th a Spanish squadron, under admiral Pinzon, who had been joined by the commissioner, took forcible possession of the Chincha Islands, the principal source of the revenue of Peru. This complication provoked disturbances, not only in Peru, but in all the ancient Spanish states of South America. In January, 1865, peace was concluded by the payment of sixty million seals to Spain as war indemnity; but the Peruvians rebelled against this concession of their president, Pezet, and in November he was retired, a provisional government established, and war measures inaugurated against Spain by forcible seizure of the Chincha Islands. An alliance was agreed upon between Peru and Chili, Ecuador, and Bolivia, and war declared by these allies in January, 1866; but only a month later all hostilities ceased. In 1867 the Peruvians adopted a new and mire liberal constitution. Yet frequent revolutionary measures have thus far failed to give perfect quiet to the country. Thus as late as 1872 an attempt was made, to take the life of the head of the government by a powder-plot.
The government of Peru is republican, and elects its president for a term of six years. He is assisted by a Senate, consisting of two members from each province, and a House of Representatives, of whom there is one member for every 20,000 inhabitants. The ministers, together with senators chosen by the congress, form the cabinet. The country is divided into 11 departments, and two provinces with the constitution of departments; and the departments are subdivided into provinces, the provinces into districts, and the districts into parishes. The army consists of 13,000 men, and the navy of 22 vessels, carving 88 guns. Of the whole population, 240,000 are whites, 300,000 Mestizos, 40,000 Negroes, and 1,620,000 Indians.
The general religion of Peru is that of the conquerors of the country, the Spaniards the Roman Catholic, which is besides especially favored and protected by the constitution. Roman Catholic missionaries labored among the early settlers from Spain as well as among the natives, especially among the Antes, but towards the close of the 17th century the Indians turned against the missionaries and destroyed the missions. The republic is divided into the archbishopric of Lima. founded in 1541, and the seven episcopal sees of Chachapoyas, Truxillo, Ayacucho, Cuzco, Arequipa, Huanuco, and Puno (the last two were founded in 1861). The clergy are numerous, but uneducated and badly supported. The number of convents, once astonishingly large, was reduced in 1863 to 130. Public instruction is principally in the hands of the clergy. The people’s schools are in a very inferior condition. Of the higher institutions, the first are the five universities at Lima, Truxillo, Ayacucho, Cuzco, and Puno, but they have only a nominal existence. Of more importance are the colegios, or technical schools, of which, in 1860, there were 30 public and 38 private ones. Of all these, 17 are for females. The clergy are educated in seminaries. There are a few Jews and some Protestants, but their number is not definitely known. See Hill, Travels in Peru and Mexico (Lond. 1860); Grandidier, Voyage dans l’Amerique du Sad (Paris, 1861); Soldan, Geografia del Peru (ibid. 1862); Tschudi, Reisen in Sudmerika (Leips. 1861); Wappaeus, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili (ibid. 1871); Fuentes, Lima, Esquisses historiques, statistiques, administratives, commerciales; Hutchinson, Two Years in Peru ( Lond. 1874, 2 vols. 8vo ); Prescott, Hist. of the Conquest of Peru; Harper’s Monthly, vol. 7.