A Century of Turmoil

In 1827 the Peruvians overthrew the government set up by Bolívar and established their own. During the next 100 years rival leaders resorted frequently to revolution and few presidents were permitted to serve out their terms. From 1835 to 1839 Peru and Bolivia were joined in a confederation under Bolivian dictator Andrés Santa Cruz. Thereafter Peruvian government passed from one “strongman" to another. There were frequent border conflicts with neighboring nations. National income, derived almost exclusively from the export of guano, slowly mounted as demand for the fertilizer increased.

The presidency of Ramón Castilla, 1845–51 and 1854–62, brought some economic and commercial improvements. Roads were constructed and a railway built from Lima to Callao. A new constitution was adopted in 1860, black slaves were freed, and the head tax on Indians was abolished. During 1861–75 about 85,000 Chinese were brought into the country as laborers.

In the 1860's Spain made a move to regain Peru as a colony, which led to war in 1866. A truce was declared in 1871 and in 1879 Spain recognized Peruvian independence. In the War of the Pacific, 1879–83, in which Peru and Bolivia fought Chile over the Atacama Desert nitrate deposits, Peru lost territory to victorious Chile.