History of Peru
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The Guano Era refers to a period of stability and prosperity in Peru during the mid-19th century. It was sustained on the substantial revenues generated by the export of guano and the strong leadership of president Ramón Castilla. The starting date for the guano era is commonly considered to be 1845, the year in which Castilla started his first administration. It ended shortly after the victorious war between Spain and Peru in 1866.

Invasion of Bolivia[link]

Agustín Gamarra, named president by Congress, was anxious to once again attempt to unite Peru with Bolivia, however this time under Peruvian governorship rather than by confederation. He invaded Bolivia in 1841 with the Battle of Ingavi commencing a war between the two countries. In the process he died during the Battle of Ingavi. At his death, a state of discord ran through Peru, with various military caudillos claiming themselves president.

Time of peace and prosperity[link]

April 20, 1845, Ramon Castilla assumed the presidency. His government represented one of the greatest events in the republican history of the nation, for the reason that Peru entered a stage of internal and external peace, progress, power, and international prestige. From 1845 to 1862, Castilla exercised influence over the daily life of his citizens. His first government ended on 20 April 1851 allowing the general Jose Rufino Echenique assume power. Echenique a prestigious military officer, had been one of the top advisors of Castilla's government. Using his extensive military influence, Echenique continued on the progress of Castilla's government to further advance the social and economic aspirations of Peru. Echenique's government, although emphasizing a policy of progress, was made up of mainly political conservatives, and suffered much opposition from liberals who eventually rebelled against his government. Ramon Castilla eventually became involved in the rebellion, soon becoming its leader. In the battle of La Palma, in the outskirts of Lima, Echenqiue was defeated and Ramon Castilla assumed the presidency for a second time. The reinstating of Castilla as president brought institutional stability; management of the national economy by establishing fixed budgets; economic prestige abroad by the repayment of foreign debt; internal security; international position on the continent; intellectual and material progress; as well as the initiation of the development of the Amazonia.

Economy[link]

The economic aspect of the era was expressed by the management of state finances through the implementation of budgets. During this time the economy was experiencing a boom due to guano being sold to European markets. This allowed the government to repay its external debt, earning it international economic prestige. Before Castilla, state expenses were calculated in a disorderly fashion: Castilla impled the budget system as well as organized the sale of guano by the system of appropriations. Using the guano money, he was able to settle international debt with various nations which had existed since the time of independence.

Communications to the interior began to improve with the construction of new highways and the implementation of railroads. The first railroad that was constructed was during Castilla's first term between Lima and Callao. During Echenique's government, the Tacna-Arica railroad was constructed and in Castilla's second term, the Lima-Chorrillos railroad was implemented.

Social and demographic issues[link]

Under the governship of Castilla, Peru entered one of its most prosperous times

Two important provisions were made during the liberal revolution against the government of General Echenique, with the aim of making all Peruvians equal before the law. One of these such provisions was the abolition of the tribute which the indigenous population was forced to pay only for the reason of their ethnicity. Another, was the abolition of the slavery of the small population of blacks in Peru. To compensate for the lack of workers on the haciendas of the coast, the government of Castilla in 1849 authorized the import of Chinese people to devote to agricultural work. It thus opened the door to Chinese immigration that more diversified the races of the nation. During this time, European immigration was also encouraged, and thousands of Europeans sailed from Europe to the ports of Trujillo, Huacho, Callao, Ilo, and Arica. Most of them settled along the coast or slightly inland. Not many settled into the interior. An exception to this would be a German population which arrived at the port of Huacho and traveled inland to colonize the Pozuzo and Oxapampa regions.

Education[link]

Castilla in his first government was concerned about bettering the education of the nation. He created the First Regulation of Public Education. During his second government, he created a second regulation defining the levels of Primary, Middle, and superior education.

Judicial[link]

The task of replacing Spanish legislation laws for another, appropriate to modern republican times, had been almost forgotten. The country was governed by laws which were established by the King of Spain as they were old laws, functioning since before independence. Castilla took the first step in reforming the Judicial System. Partly finished, the first of these laws, named the "Civil Codes" were put into place in 1852 and lasted until 1936. During this time period, they were accompanied by the "Prosecution Codes" and the "Commerce Codes".

Foreign relations[link]

The Chincha Islands where from much of the guano originated

At this time, Peru was viewed from the exterior as a non-aggressive country. Its international policy was based on the ideas of Continentalism and solidarity between countries of the Western Hemisphere. With this objective, in 1848 the First American Congress met in Lima with the goal of to ensure the bases of future peace and security for the nations of South America. During the government of Echenique, Peru began to fix its international borders with neighboring countries. The first treaty convienied in this time period was that with Brazil, signed in 1851, establishing borders between the two nations.

National defense[link]

Ramon Castilla clearly realized the deficiencies of the Armed Forces and sought to fix them. Because Peru was geographically situated in the central part of western South America, with an immense coast (at that time extending from Machala to the Loa River) and with borders with four nations (currently with five), there was a necessity for self-defense.

Castilla sought to expand and well-equip the Peruvian Navy. His naval policy was that if Chile constructed one ship, he should construct two, and he went on to turn the Peruvian Navy into to the most powerful of South America. He acquired the frigates "Mercedes", "Guisse", "Gamarra", "Amazonas", and "Apurimac" as well as the Schooners "Tumbes" and "Loa". He also built the naval ports of Paita and Bellavista. Hew also acquired the first steam-powered warship of any South American country and named it the "Rimac". To better educate the officers of these new ships, he sent them to study with the various navies of European nations. For the defense of the Amazonia, Castilla began to develop an Amazonian fleet with the purchase of the ships "Morona", "Pastaza", "Napo", and "Putumayo", which were based in the port of Iquitos.

Also during this time was the invasion of Ecuador which caused the Ecuadorian-Peruvian War of 1858-1860 in which Peru emerged victorious.

War with Spain[link]

see Chincha Islands War

Sources[link]

• Muzzo, Gustavo P. Historia del Perú. Lima: Editorial Universo S.A., 1961. 7-275

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An era is a commonly used word for long period of time. When used in science, for example geology, eras denote clearly defined periods of time of arbitrary but well defined length, such as for example the Mesozoic Era from 252 Ma–66 Ma, delimited by a start event and an end event. When used in social history, eras may for example denote a period of some monarch's reign. In colloquial language, eras denote longer spans of time, before and after which the practices or fashions change to a significant degree. When era is extended to a calendar system, it is known as a calendar era. In Sanskrit or Indian culture eras are known as Yugas.

Uses[link]

In chronology, an era is the highest level for the organization of the measurement of time. A calendar era indicates a span of many years which are numbered beginning at a specific reference date (epoch), which often marks the origin of a political state or cosmology, dynasty, ruler, the birth of a leader, or another significant historical or mythological event; it is generally called after its focus accordingly as in Victorian era.

Geological era[link]

In natural science, there is need for another time perspective, independent from human activity, and indeed spanning a far longer period (mainly prehistoric), where geologic era refers to well-defined time spans. The next-larger division of geologic time is the eon. The Phanerozoic eon, is subdivided into eras.^[1] There are currently three eras defined in the Phanerozoic; the following table lists them from youngest to oldest (BP is an abbreviation for "before present").

Cosmological era[link]

In astronomy the periods are even longer, to cover the entire existence of the universe (in the order of 13.7 billion years), but usually just denoted in numerical units, as there is no significant link to any earthly reality, our planet being astronomically insignificant (except as the only known observation point).

Calendar eras[link]

Calendar eras count the years since a particular date (epoch), often one with religious significance. Anno mundi ("year of the world") refers to a group of calendar eras based on a calculation of the age of the world, assuming it was created as described in the Book of Genesis. In Jewish religious contexts one of the versions is still used, and many Eastern Orthodox religious calendars used another version until 1728. Hebrew year 5772 AM began at sunset on 28 September 2011 and will end on 16 September 2012. In the Western church Anno Domini (=AD = CE), counting the years since the birth of Jesus on traditional calculations, was always dominant.

The Islamic calendar, which also has variants, counts years from the Hijra or emigration of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina, which occurred in 622 CE. The Islamic year is some days shorter than 365; January 2012 fell in 1433 AH ("After Hijra").

Many Buddhist calendars count from the death of the Buddha, which according to the most commonly used calculations was in 545-543 BCE or 483 BCE. Dates are given as "BE" for "Buddhist Era"; 2000 CE was 2543 BE in the Thai solar calendar.

Other calendar eras of the past counted from political events, such as the Seleucid era and the Ancient Roman ab urbe condita ("AUC"), counting from the foundation of the city.

Regnal eras[link]

The word era also denotes the units used under a different, more arbitrary system where time is not represented as an endless continuum with a single reference year, but each unit starts counting from one again, as if time starts again. The use of regnal years is a rather impractical system, and a challenge for historians if a single piece of the historical chronology is missing, and often reflects the preponderance in public life of an absolute ruler in many ancient cultures. Such traditions sometimes outlive the political power of the throne, and may even be based on mythological events or rulers who may not have existed (for example Rome numbering from the rule of Romulus and Regulus). In a manner of speaking the use of the supposed date of the birth of Christ as a base year is a form of a Regnal era.

In East Asia, each emperor's reign may be subdivided into several reign periods, each being treated as a new era. The name of each was a motto or slogan chosen by the emperor. Different East Asian countries utilized slightly different systems, notably:

• Chinese eras
• Japanese eras
• Korean eras
• Vietnamese eras

A similar practice survived in the United Kingdom until quite recently, but only for formal official writings: in daily life the ordinary year A.D. has been used for a long time, but Acts of Parliament were dated according to the years of the reign of the current Monarch, so that "61 & 62 Vict c. 37" refers to the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 passed in the session of Parliament in the 61st/62nd year of the reign of Queen Victoria.

Colloquial "eras"[link]

In common speech and various contexts, the term era is also used, by extension, for any (as a rule relatively long) period in history with a name, often relating to common characteristic(s), even if this is not the normal way to organize time. The most relevant type are politic periods, for example: the Roman era, the Elizabethan era, the Victorian era (dynastic criteria, only formally correct within the British realm/empire/Commonwealth) and the Soviet era, or comparable literary notions like the Biblical era.

The word era is also popularly used to denote the passing of – often shorter – periods that are only defined in terms of a specific discipline of sphere of life, such as the prominence of an artistic style, or more specifically in music, see musical eras, described in History of music, such as the Big Band era, Disco era. An event such as the death of Frank Sinatra is poetically called the end of an era.

Etymology[link]

The word has been in use in English since 1615, and is derived from Late Latin aera "an era or epoch from which time is reckoned," probably identical to Latin æra "counters used for calculation," plural of æs "brass, money".

The Latin word use in chronology seems to have begun in 5th century Visigothic Spain, where it appears in the History of Isidore of Seville, and in later texts. The Spanish era is calculated from 38 BC, perhaps because of a tax (cfr. indiction) levied in that year, or due to a miscalculation of the Battle of Actium, which occurred in 31 BC.

Like epoch, "era" in English originally meant "the starting point of an age"; the meaning "system of chronological notation" is c.1646; that of "historical period" is 1741.

Notes[link]

1. ^ Short, N.M. (2009). "Geologic Time" in Remote Sensing Tutorial. NASA.
2. ^ Lide, D. R. (1990). Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton: CRC Press. p. 14-6.

See also[link]

Look up era in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• List of time periods

v t e Chronology Main articles Time · Astronomy · Geology · Paleontology · Archaeology · History Eras and epochs Calendar eras Human Era · Ab urbe condita · Anno Domini (Common Era) · Anno Mundi · Byzantine era · Spanish era · Before Present · Hijri · Egyptian · Sothic cycle · Hindu units of measurement · Hindu Yugas Regnal year Canon of Kings · Lists of kings · Limmu · Seleucid era Era names Chinese · Japanese · Korean · Vietnamese Calendars (Pre-)Julian Pre-Julian Roman · Original Julian · Proleptic Julian · Revised Julian Gregorian Gregorian · Proleptic Gregorian · Old Style and New Style dates Astronomical Lunisolar · Solar · Lunar · Astronomical year numbering Others Iranian · Islamic · Chinese sexagenary cycle · ISO week date Astronomic time   Chronology Portal Cosmic Calendar · Ephemeris · Galactic year · Metonic cycle · Milankovitch cycles Geologic time Concepts Deep time · Geological history of Earth · Geological time units Standards Global Standard Stratigraphic Age (GSSA) · Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) Methods Chronostratigraphy · Geochronology · Isotope geochemistry · Law of superposition · Optical dating · Samarium-neodymium dating Archaeological methods Absolute dating Incremental dating · Archaeomagnetic dating · Dendrochronology · Glottochronology · Ice core · Lichenometry · Paleomagnetism · Radiocarbon dating · Radiometric dating · Tephrochronology · Thermoluminescence dating · Uranium-lead dating Relative dating Seriation · Stratification · Fluorine absorption dating Genetic methods Amino acid dating · Molecular clock Related topics Chronicle · New Chronology · Periodization · Synchronoptic view · Timeline · Year zero · Circa · Floruit · ASPRO chronology

Henry Meiggs

Henry Meiggs (July 7, 1811 - September 30, 1877), was a promoter/entrepreneur and railroad builder. He was born in Catskill, New York.^[1] He came to New York City in 1835 and began a lumber business, but was ruined by the Panic of 1837. He restarted his business, this time in Brooklyn, but again met with failure. Finding success in sending lumber to the Pacific Coast, he finally relocated to San Francisco after the discovery of gold by taking a cargo of lumber there in the Albany, a cargo which he sold for twenty times its cost.

When Meiggs arrived in San Francisco in 1849, he, like many others, got into real estate speculation. In Meiggs' case, he promoted the possibility of piers along the north shore area, on the grounds that it was closer to the Golden Gate than the usual harbor, located just south of Broadway Street on the shore of what is today downtown San Francisco. Today, the site of Meiggs' Wharf, in its day a marvel extending two thousand feet into the Bay, is occupied by part of Fisherman's Wharf, Pier 39, and Pier 45.^[2] To that end, he built warehouses, streets and piers in the area, and constructed sawmills and schooners.

Meiggs became extended financially in trying to do this. In order to make ends meet, he illicitly obtained a book full of warrants on the Street Fund (which had little money in it), which the city's controller and mayor had fallen into the habit of signing by the book in advance. Meiggs forged the remaining information and raised money. He left San Francisco before the fraud was discovered, on October 6, 1854, in the brig American, heading for South America. According to his own statement, he landed with only $8,000 (his fraud raised, by some accounts, half a million), lost it immediately, and had to pawn his watch.^[3]

Meiggs

Meiggs became a successful railroad builder, building the second railroad in Chile, between Santiago and Valparaiso. He also built many railroads in Peru, and died in 1877 in Lima, Peru while constructing a railroad in Costa Rica which was completed by his nephew, Minor C. Keith. He is said to have been the virtual dictator of Peru by that time, known as "Don Enrique", with interests ranging from silver mines to cleaning up the city of Lima by building a seven-mile-long park.^{[4][dead link]}

While his Peruvian contracts were wildly profitable, by 1876, his financial situation had begun to disintegrate. He found it more difficult to obtain credit. His 1877 death only worsened the economic chaos in Peru. He was buried at Presbítero Maestro cemetery in downtown Lima.

He is said to have paid back every cent he obtained by the warrant fraud, and his other debts, amounting to as much as a million dollars, refusing only to pay back speculators who obtained the warrants at deep discounts. In preparation for his never-to-occur return to San Francisco, he got the State Legislature to pass a bill making it illegal to try him for offenses occurring before 1855. The bill was vetoed by the governor.

In 1977, one hundred years after Meiggs' death, Judge Harry W. Low of the California Superior Court, in San Francisco, granted a motion to quash the indictment against Meiggs stemming from the fraud, on the grounds that Meiggs had rehabilitated himself, and had gone to a Higher Court. This marked the conclusion of a lengthy campaign by Meiggs' supporters to clear him.

Meiggs is credited with founding the town of Meiggsville, later renamed Mendocino.

Notes and references[link]

• Elisabeth P Myers, South America's Yankee Genius, Henry Meiggs. New York, Messner, 1969.
• Watt Stewart, Henry Meiggs, Yankee Pizarro, Durham, N.C., Duke University Press, 1946.