Viceroyalty of Peru

The viceroyalty encompassed modern-day Peru as well as much of the rest of South America, the Portuguese controlled what is today Brazil.

1534–1820 C.E.

Beginner's Guide

What is the Viceroyalty of Peru?

videos + essays

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<em>The Virgin of Pomata</em>: images of Andean faith
The Virgin of Pomata: images of Andean faith

Combining Indigenous and European conventions, the Virgin of Pomata was one of the most popular images in the colonial Andes.

A colonial Andean portrait of Fermín Francisco de Ustaríz
A colonial Andean portrait of Fermín Francisco de Ustaríz

Only 28 years old, the sitter in this lavish portrait governed Chile under colonial Spain.

Painting the 1650 Cuzco earthquake
Painting the 1650 Cuzco earthquake

The destructive earthquake of 1650 is remembered in this colonial-era painting of Cuzco.

<em>Union of the Inka Royal Family with the Houses of Loyola and Borgia</em>
Union of the Inka Royal Family with the Houses of Loyola and Borgia

This painting is a fascinating window into the power relations between the Inka, the Jesuits, and the Spanish colonial authorities.

Africans in Guaman Poma’s <em>Nueva Corónica</em>
Africans in Guaman Poma’s Nueva Corónica

Nueva Corónica provides us with a revealing glimpse at interactions between Africans and Indigenous Andeans in the Viceroyalty of Peru.

The colonial Andes and the Viceroyalty of Peru
The colonial Andes and the Viceroyalty of Peru

Despite violent European invasion and colonization, Indigenous people living in the Andes continued, adapted, resisted, and shaped Peru.

<em>Portrait of Don Marcos Chiguan Topa</em>
Portrait of Don Marcos Chiguan Topa

An Indigenous nobleman in colonial Peru, Don Marcos is strategically portrayed with emblems of both Inka and Spanish elite status.

Official Portrait of Bishop Luis Francisco Romero
Official Portrait of Bishop Luis Francisco Romero

Never underestimate the power of a well-chosen accessory!

Portraits of Francisca Ramírez de Laredo and Antonio de Ulloa
Portraits of Francisca Ramírez de Laredo and Antonio de Ulloa

These portraits of a couple show us what the sitters want us to see about them, and conceal the less glamorous details of their lives.

<i>The Child Mary Spinning</i>
The Child Mary Spinning

This luxuriously dressed Virgin Mary as a child spinning cloth may have spoken to the rich textile traditions of Indigenous cultures in Peru

<em>The Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity</em>
The Coronation of the Virgin by the Holy Trinity

The Trinity visualized as triplets was a common subject in 18th-century Peru—and beyond

Churches of Chiloé
Churches of Chiloé

The Churches of Chiloé represent a unique example in Latin America of an outstanding form of ecclesiastical wooden architecture.

Selected Contributors