Viceroyalty of Peru

Viceroyalty of Peru
Virreinato del Perú
Viceroyalty of Castile (Spanish Empire)
1542–1824
Cross of Burgundy (Flag of the Viceroyalty of Peru) Coat of arms
Motto Plus Ultra (Latin) "Further Beyond"
Anthem Marcha Real "Royal March"
Location of the Viceroyalty of Peru: Initial territory 1542–1718 (light green) and final de jure territory 1718–1824 (dark green)
Capital		Lima Cuzco (1821–24)
Languages		Official: Spanish (de facto); common: Quechua, Kichwa, Aymara, Puquina.
Religion		Roman Catholic
Government		Monarchy
King		Kings of Spain
Viceroy
•	1544–46	Blasco Núñez Vela
•	1821–24	José de la Serna e Hinojosa
Historical era		Spanish Empire
•	Established	1542
•	Vilcabamba	1572
•	New Granada	1717
•	Río de la Plata	1776
•	Peruvian Declaration of Independence	July 28, 1821
•	Battle of Ayacucho	December 9, 1824
Currency		Peso Spanish Real
Preceded by Succeeded by Vilcabamba, Peru Governorate of New Castile Governorate of New Toledo Province of Tierra Firme Governorate of New Andalusia Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata Viceroyalty of New Granada Peru Free Province of Guayaquil Chile United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves
Today part of		Argentina  Bolivia  Brazil  Chile  Colombia  Ecuador  Falkland Islands  French Guiana  Guyana  Panama  Paraguay  Peru  Suriname  Trinidad and Tobago  Uruguay  Venezuela

The Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish: Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish colonial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained most of Spanish-ruled South America, governed from the capital of Lima. The Viceroyalty of Peru was one of the 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 Viceroyalties of New Granada and Rio 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 countries of Peru, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago in the territories that at one point or another had constituted the Viceroyalty of Peru.