The conquest of Peru is the historic process of the assimilation of the to the Spanish Empire; it represented a profound social, economic and cultural transformation. These two distinctive cultures first encountered each other five hundred years ago and have progressively assimilated.
With the conquest started the spread of Christianity in South America, most people were forcefully converted to Catholicism taking only a generation to convert the population. They built churches in every city and replaced some of the Inca temples into churches such as the . The church employed …

During the fifteenth century the Portuguese, and later the Spanish, sailed the seas searching for alternative routes to the Mediterranean. In 1492 the Spanish arrived to America under the command of Christopher Columbus. His voyages were financed by the Spanish crown and other private investors looking to profit from the natural resources in these new lands. The Catholic Church also participated as they were interested in converting the local population to Christianity.
The conquistadores first set ashore in the islands of Cuba and Haiti, the former was called Juana and the …

During their long journey to , it became visible that the conquerors presence was not welcome by all the inhabitants. An act of resistance was headed by Atahualpa’s generals; however, as the Spaniards had the support of local ethnic groups and the Huascar party, the resistance was easily defeated. Successive rebellions were heavily repressed; the guns and horses brought by the conquerors inspired terror among the locals and as a consequence it …

The Habsburg dynasty ruled Spain during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Golden Age, when Spain was the most powerful country in the Europe. King Charles I who inherited the throne went on a spending spree financing wars of power across Europe, trying to undermine the power of France, defending Catholicism in Europe and defending Europe against the Ottoman Empire. He financed his interests with public debt and with resources from the American colonies.
In order to finance its debt and Charles political ambitions Spain had to exploit natural resources from …

Conflicts of power and disagreements over jurisdictional rights broke out among two groups of conquistadores led by Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. In 1541 Pizarro was assassinated by Almagro’s followers. The government of Spain considered the necessity to consolidate authority and reduce the abuse of power and in 1542 created the Real Audiencia or Royal Audience to administer civil and criminal justice. Subsequently, in 1543 the Viceroyalty of Peru was established and Blasco Nuñez de Vela was named as Peru’s first viceroy. The Real Audiencia was formed of “oidores” …