Viceroyalty of Peru

Kingdom of Peru Reino del Perú
1542–1824
Coat of arms of Lima[a]
Motto: Plus Ultra (Latin) "Further Beyond"
Anthem: Marcha Real "Royal March"
Flags of Spain[b] (left) and the Cross of Burgundy[c] (right)
Location of the Viceroyalty of Peru: initial de jure territory 1542–1718 (light green) and final territory 1776–1824 (dark green)
Status	Viceroyalty of the Spanish Empire
Capital	Lima (1535–1821) Cuzco (1821–1824)
Common languages	Spanish (official, administrative) Quechua Kichwa Aymara Puquina Mapudungun
Religion	Catholic Church
King
• 1544–46 (first)	Charles I
• 1816–24 (last)	Ferdinand VII
Viceroy
• 1544–46 (first)	Blasco Núñez Vela
• 1821–24 (last)	José de la Serna
Historical era	Spanish Empire
• Established	20 November 1542
• Vilcabamba	May 1572
• New Granada	27 May 1717
• Río de la Plata	1 August 1776
• Independence declared	28 July 1821
• Battle of Ayacucho	9 December 1824
• Dissolved	30 December 1824
• Fall of Callao	23 January 1826
Area
• Total	1,340,000 km2 (520,000 sq mi)
Currency	Spanish dollar
Preceded by Succeeded by Neo-Inca State Governorate of New Castile Governorate of New Toledo Province of Tierra Firme Governorate of New Andalusia Kingdom of Chile Free Province of Guayaquil Protectorate of San Martín Viceroyalty of New Granada Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata

The Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish: Virreinato del Perú), officially known as the Kingdom of Peru (Spanish: Reino del Perú), was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed from the capital of Lima. Along with the Viceroyalty of New Spain, Peru was one of two Spanish viceroyalties in the Americas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.

The Spanish did not resist the Portuguese expansion of Brazil across the meridian established by the Treaty of Tordesillas. The treaty was rendered meaningless between 1580 and 1640 while Spain controlled Portugal. The creation during the 18th century of the Viceroyalties of New Granada and Río de la Plata (at the expense of Peru's territory) reduced the importance of Lima and shifted the lucrative Andean trade to Buenos Aires, while the fall of the mining and textile production accelerated the progressive decay of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Eventually, the viceroyalty would dissolve, as with much of the Spanish Empire, when challenged by national independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century. These movements led to the formation of the modern-day country of Peru, as well as Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina, the territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru.

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