The Viceroyalty of Peru was a Spanish colonial administrative district that existed from 1542 to 1824, with Lima serving as its capital until 1821 and Cuzco serving as its capital from 1821 to 1824. The region was conquered by Francisco Pizzaro and his Spanish soldiers during the mid-16th century, and it was exploited for its gold and other natural resources. However, the establishment of the Viceroyalty of New Granada and the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata led to the center of South American trade shifting to Buenos Aires (now the capital of Argentina); the fall of the mining and textile trade also contributed to Peru's decline. In 1824, the viceroyalty was dismantled as a result of the South American Wars of Liberation when the Peruvian independence cause defeated the Spanish royalists.
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