Pio de Tristan (11 July 1773-24 August 1859) was President of South Peru from 12 October 1838 to 23 February 1839, succeeding Ramon Herrera y Rodado.
Biography[]
Juan Pio Camilo de Tristan y Moscoso was born in Arequipa, Viceroyalty of Peru in 1773. He served in the Spanish Army during the War of the Pyrenees before returning to Peru and serving as Mayor of Arequipa in 1808 and as a general in the Royalist army. He fought at the Battle of Guaqui in 1811 before invading Argentina, where he was defeated at the Battle of Tucuman and the Battle of Salta by his former comrade Manuel Belgrano. Aftewrards, Tristan signed a 40-day truce and returned to Peru. He was forced to face patriotic revolts in Upper Peru, but he defeated an Argentine invasion of Upper Peru at the Battle of Vilcapugio and the Battle of Ayohuma in November 1813. After the Battle of Ayacucho in December 1824, Tristan assumed the office of provisional viceroy, but he exercised no power. Tristan remained in Peru after its independence and became prefect and commander in Arequipa before serving as Minister of War and the Navy and, in 1836, as Finance Minister. Tristan became Foreign Minister of the Peru-Bolivian Confederation, and he served as President of South Peru from 1838 to 1839. He died in Lima in 1859.