Viceroyalty of Peru: Did you mean...?

The apparatus of colonial government in the Spanish Empire consisted of multiple levels, starting with the monarchy and Council of the Indies at the top and moving down to the viceroy, audiencias, mayors, and local councils. The system was...

A map depicting the Viceroyalty of New Spain (the first of four viceroyalties that the Spanish Crown established to govern its conquests) which, at its height, comprised five royal audiencias and over twelve Catholic dioceses covering vast...

Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) was a conquistador who led the Spanish conquest of the Inca civilization from 1532. With only a small group of men, Pizarro took advantage of his superior weapons and the fact that the Incas were weakened...

Proclamation of the Independence of Peru, oil on canvas by Juan Lepiani, 1904. Lepiani depicts José San Martín (1778-1850) declaring Peruvian independence on 28 July 1821 in Lima, Peru. National Museum of Archeology, Anthropology and History...

The Spanish Main refers, in its widest sense, to the Spanish Empire in the Americas from Florida in the north to the northern coast of Brazil in the south, including the Caribbean. The term was initially more limited and referred only to...

An 1846 painting by John Everett Millais titled "Pizarro Seizing the Inca of Peru". The scene shows the conquistador Francisco Pizarro (c. 1478-1541) capturing the Inca ruler Atahualpa at the battle of Cajamarca in 1533. (Victoria and Albert...

This is a Pre-Columbian Wari kero (drinking cup) is painted and made from clay. It comes from what is present-day Peru, and it dates from c. 600-900 CE. Painted in shades of purple, orange, white, and black, this cup has a highly stylized...

The Inca site of Machu Picchu built by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-71 CE). Fortress, sanctuary, and once home to around 1,000 residents, the site is perched in the high Andes above the river Urubamba.

How did a mere 167 Spaniards conquer an empire of 10 million people? The Spanish were outnumbered 200-to-1 yet they were able to seize the Inca capital, Cuzco, and dispose of the Inca ruler within only a year. Kim MacQuarrie's The Last Days...

European explorers began to probe the Western Hemisphere in the early 1500s, and they found to their utter amazement not only a huge landmass but also a world filled with several diverse and populous indigenous cultures. Among their most...