PERU 343 latter, to whom their father Huayna Capac had bequeathed equal shares of his kingdom. Ata- nuallpa had recently gained a complete victory over his brother and taken him prisoner, and was now encamped with his army at Cajamar- ca, whither Pizarro marched to meet him, in September, 1532, at the head of 177 men. Re- ceived with apparent friendship, he managed treacherously to make the inca captive with- out losing one of his own men. The Peruvian army fled in dismay. Atahuallpa offered as the price of his liberty to fill the apartment in which he was confined with gold ; but after the precious ornaments of the temples and palaces had been contributed in amount equal when melted down to more than $17,500,000, Pizarro caused his royal captive to be put to death, Aug. 29, 1533. The Spaniards now marched toward Cuzco, the ancient capital, en- tered it on Nov. 15, and proclaimed as inca a half brother of Atahuallpa, named Manco Ca- pac. Meantime the captive Huascar had been slain by order of Atahuallpa a short time be- fore the latter's death. Pizarro now deter- mined to build a new capital near the coast, and the valley of the river Rimac was selected as its site. It was founded Jan. 6, 1535, and called Oiudad de los Reyes, or "city of the kings;" its present name has probably been de- rived from that of the river, corrupted by the Spaniards into Lima. Manco Capac, exaspera- ted at the treatment he received, escaped from Cuzco, placed himself at the head of an insur- rection, besieged and set fire to the city, and ordered the massacre of many of the Spaniards who resided on farms cultivated by the forced labor of the Indians. Reinforcements were cut off ; Jauja was also attacked, and Lima was threatened ; but the Peruvians, to avoid star- vation, were at last obliged to raise the siege in order to cultivate their fields. Shortly after- ward a dispute between Pizarro and Almagro led to open warfare, and a battle was fought April 26, 1538, resulting in the defeat and capture of Almagro by Pizarro's brother Her- nando, and his subsequent execution. The condition of the country was now deplorable. All the ancient institutions were overthrown, and the rights of Indians and Spaniards were equally disregarded. The conquerors had ap- portioned the land and inhabitants together as the spoils of victory ; the Peruvians were re- duced to the most abject servitude, and Manco Capac had little difficulty in raising them to arms whenever he saw fit. Pizarro prepared to establish military settlements in the country, strongly fortifying the houses, and giving to each settler a certain portion of land and a cer- tain number of serfs to cultivate it. Reports of these oppressions finally reached Spain, and in 1540 Vaca de Castro was sent out as judge royal to examine into and if possible put an end to them, or in case of Pizarro's death to produce his warrant as royal governor. But before he could reach Lima Pizarro had been assassinated (June 26, 1541) at the instigation of Almagro's son, who proclaimed himself governor, collect- ed a considerable force, and gave battle to Cas- tro near Jauja, Sept. 16, 1542. Defeated after an obstinate struggle, Almagro was made pris- oner and put to death, and Castro applied him- self with considerable success to improving the condition of the country. But he was soon superseded by Blasco Nufiez Vela, who came as viceroy, and charged with the execution of new laws, chiefly concerning the gradual or in- mediate liberation of the Indians, and the es- tablishment of a relatively equitable system of taxation upon them. These measures gave rise to a civil war. Gonzalo Pizarro, the last of that family now left in Peru, assumed the title of procurator general, and, favored by the rash- ness of the viceroy Vela, who was finally de- posed by the audiencia or supreme court, soon collected a formidable force, entered the capital, and assumed regal state. A new viceroy, Pedro de la Gasca, was now sent from Spain to rees- tablish order. Gonzalo, after an insignificant victory over the royalists at Huarina, was cap- tured in 1548, and executed by order of Gasca. The latter now turned his attention to establish- ing the government of the country upon a solid basis, and that accomplished he returned to Spain in 1550. With a few trifling exceptions, the colony remained quiet for many years, and the authority of the Spanish crown was completely established. The empire of the incas, with some slight alterations of boundaries, became one of the four viceroyalties of Spanish America. In 1718 the province of Quito was separated from it and annexed to the newly created viceroy- alty of New Granada. In 1776 the provinces of La Plata, Potosi, Charcas, Chiquitos, and Paraguay were separated from Peru to form the government of Buenos Ayres ; and Guate- mala, Venezuela, Caracas, Cumana, and Chili were formed into separate administrations. The Peruvians under Tupac Amaru, a pretended inca, rebelled in 1780, but were easily subdued. In the war of independence, Peru was the last of the Spanish American possessions to rebel. In 1820 Gen. San Martin, to whom Chili already owed her independence, entered the country at the head of an army of Chilians and Buenos Ayreans, took possession of the capital, and, after a succession of victories, compelled the Spaniards to retire to the interior. On July 28, 1821, San Martin declared Peru indepen- dent, and was unanimously proclaimed protec- tor. He afterward became unpopular, and was constrained to resign on Aug. 19, 1822; and in February, 1824, Bolivar was made dictator. The Spaniards, after an obstinate contest, were finally defeated by Gen. Sucre in the memora- ble battle of Ayacucho, Dec. 9, 1824. In Jan- uary, 1826, they were driven from Callao, their last stronghold in Peruvian territory. Bolivar resigned the dictatorship in 1825, after having matured his plans for separating the S. and S. E. provinces to form a new republic which adopted his name. A revolution took place in 1826 ; the constitution promulgated by Bolivar
