Editing Peru (section)

===19th century===
Once independence was proclaimed, San Martín assumed military-political command of the free departments of Peru, under the title of Protector, according to a decree given on August 3, 1821. The works of the Protectorate contributed to the creation of the National Library (in favor of knowledge), the approval of the National Anthem, and the abolition of the mita (in favor of the indigenous people). On December 27, 1821, San Martín created three ministries: Ministry of State and Foreign Affairs, committing Juan García del Río; [[Peruvian Armed Forces|Ministry of War and Navy]], to Bernardo de Monteagudo; and Ministry of Finance, to Hipólito Unanue.

From the 1840s to the 1860s Peru enjoyed [[Guano Era|a period of stability]] under the presidency of [[Ramón Castilla]], through increased state revenues from [[guano]] exports.<ref>Gootenberg (1993) pp. 5–6.</ref> In 1864, a Spanish expedition occupied the Chincha Islands (guano producers) and unleashed an international incident with great consequences in Peruvian internal politics, which led to a coup d'état against President [[Juan Antonio Pezet]], Mariano's government. Peru, with the help of [[Bolivia]], [[Chile]] and [[Ecuador]], sent a declaration of war on Spain. After the battle of Callao on May 2, 1866, the Spanish Navy withdrew from Peru. The government of José Balta was lavish in infrastructure works (construction of the Central Railway) although the first signs of excess government spending were already perceived. By the 1870s the guano resources had been depleted, the country was heavily indebted, and political in-fighting was again on the rise.<ref>Gootenberg (1993) p. 9.</ref>
[[File:Angamos2.jpg|alt=|thumb|The [[Battle of Angamos]], during the [[War of the Pacific]]]]
By 1859, some 41,000 Peruvians had died in the constant civil wars that shook the country since 1829. Thanks to the money from the sale of guano, Peru began to modernize with different public works such as railways; the civil and military bureaucracy grew; The indigenous people stopped paying tribute and the slaves achieved their freedom; The migration policy of Germans, Austrians, Irish and Italians began.

On April 5, 1879, Chile declared war on Peru, unleashing the Pacific War. The casus belli was the confrontation between Bolivia and Chile over a tax problem in which Peru was compromised by the Treaty of Defensive Alliance signed with Bolivia in 1873. However, Peruvian historiography is unanimous in maintaining that the deep cause of ''this'' war was Chile's ambition to take over the nitrate and guano territories of southern Peru. In the first stage of the war, the naval campaign, the Peruvian navy repelled the Chilean attack until October 8, 1879, the day in which the naval combat of Angamos was fought, where the Chilean navy with its ships Cochrane, Blanco Encalada, Loa and Covadonga cornered the monitor [[Huáscar (ironclad)|Huáscar]], the main ship of the Peruvian navy commanded by Admiral AP Miguel Grau, who died in the fray and since then became Peru's greatest hero.

In 1879 Peru entered the [[War of the Pacific]], which lasted until 1884. [[Bolivia]] invoked its alliance with Peru against Chile. The [[Politics of Peru|Peruvian Government]] tried to mediate the dispute by sending a diplomatic team to negotiate with the Chilean government, but the committee concluded that war was inevitable. Peruvian historiography is unanimous in maintaining that the deep cause of this war was Chile's ambition to take over the nitrate and guano territories of southern Peru and Bolivia.
[[File:Batalla de Arica.jpg|thumb|[[Battle of Arica]], painted by [[Juan Lepiani]]]]

Almost five years of war ended with the loss of the [[Tarapacá Department (Peru)|department of Tarapacá]] and the provinces of [[Tacna Province|Tacna]] and [[Arica Province (Peru)|Arica]], in the Atacama region. [[Francisco Bolognesi]] and [[Miguel Grau Seminario|Miguel Grau]] are both renowned heros of the war. Originally Chile committed to a referendum for the cities of Arica and Tacna to be held years later, to self determine their national affiliation. However, Chile refused to apply the Treaty, and neither of the countries could determine the statutory framework. The War of the Pacific was the bloodiest war Peru has fought in. After the War of the Pacific, an extraordinary effort of rebuilding began. The government started to initiate a number of social and economic reforms to recover from the damage of the war. Political stability was achieved only in the early 1900s.