Peru: Brief Historical Background

The rich Inca Empire came to an end when Spainard Francisco Pizarro reached Cajamarca in November 1532. He captured the Inca Atahualpa and that brought about the decline of the Inca Empire. Pizarro founded the coastal city of Lima in 1535. He was assassinated in 1541. The Inca continued to resist Spanish rule but all attempts to overthrow them proved futile. For 200 years the Spaniards ruled fairly peacefully but their exploitation of the Indians led to an uprising in 1780. The Spaniards squashed the Inca Tupac Amaru II. Resentment against the Spanish colonists grew a great deal by the 1800. Revolts became inevitable. Chile and Peru fought over the nitrate rich areas of the Northern Atacama Desert. Most of the coastal areas of southern Peru went to Chile though the area around Tacna was given back to Peru in 1929. Peru waged a war against Ecuador in 1941, the issue being some border dispute. The treaty of Rio de Janerio got Peru the area north of the Rio Maranon. However Ecuador and Peru have been fighting over this border periodically. A peace treaty was signed in 1998 and it is expected to finally bring peace between the two countries.