When did San Martín proclaim Peru's independence?

San Martín proclaims Peru's independence

La proclamación de la independencia del Perú

28 July 1821. Peru, the heart of Spanish power in South America, was the last great viceroyalty to fall.

Draft: not yet checked against its sources.

Where: Peru, Lima

What happened

Peru, the heart of Spanish power in South America, was the last great viceroyalty to fall. San Martín's expedition sailed from Chile in 1820 and entered Lima in July 1821 after the viceroy withdrew to the highlands. The city council signed an act of independence on 15 July, and on Saturday 28 July 1821 San Martín, holding the new red and white flag, proclaimed in the Plaza Mayor and three other squares that 'from this moment Peru is free and independent by the general will of the peoples'. Witnesses put the crowd at about 16,000. The proclamation did not end the war: royalist armies held the sierra for three more years, until Ayacucho in December 1824. 28 July is Peru's national day, and the bicentennial in 2021 was built around it.

Say it

El 28 de julio de 1821 San Martín proclamó la independencia del Perú en Lima.

On 28 July 1821 San Martín proclaimed Peru's independence in Lima.

Why it matters

28 July gave Peru its Fiestas Patrias and the words of its founding, still read out every year. The gap between the proclamation and the real end of the war, 1821 to 1824, is also why Peru's bicentennial lasted several years.

Read about it

Connected

Sources

  1. Especial por Fiestas Patrias: Proclamación de la Independencia del Perú — Municipalidad de Miraflores (gob.pe)
  2. Biblioteca Nacional del Perú recuerda gesta histórica de la Batalla de Ayacucho — Biblioteca Nacional del Perú