What happened at the Battle of Ayacucho in Peru?

Ayacucho: the end of Spanish rule in South America

La batalla de Ayacucho

9 December 1824. On 9 December 1824, on the high plain of Quinua near Ayacucho, the United Liberating Army of Peru under Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar's most trusted general,…

Draft: not yet checked against its sources.

Where: Peru, Bolivia

What happened

On 9 December 1824, on the high plain of Quinua near Ayacucho, the United Liberating Army of Peru under Antonio José de Sucre, Bolívar's most trusted general, met the last royalist army on the continent, commanded by the viceroy José de La Serna. The patriots were outnumbered and the day began badly, but a counter-attack broke the royalist line, the viceroy was wounded and captured, and his second-in-command signed the Capitulation of Ayacucho that afternoon. Sucre's report two days later announced that Peru's independence was complete. In 1825 Upper Peru became a new republic named after Bolívar, Bolivia, with Sucre as its first president. Spain kept only Cuba and Puerto Rico in the Americas. Casualty figures vary widely between sources.

Say it

La batalla de Ayacucho, en 1824, terminó con el poder español en Sudamérica.

The battle of Ayacucho, in 1824, ended Spanish power in South America.

Why it matters

Ayacucho closed sixteen years of war and the three centuries of the viceroyalties. The Spanish-speaking mainland was now a set of republics, with borders, armies and anthems of their own, and Spanish as the language of each new state.

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Connected

Sources

  1. Biblioteca Nacional del Perú recuerda gesta histórica de la Batalla de Ayacucho — Biblioteca Nacional del Perú
  2. Especial por Fiestas Patrias: Proclamación de la Independencia del Perú — Municipalidad de Miraflores (gob.pe)
  3. Chronology — The World of 1898 — Library of Congress