The Maritime Department of Callao and the independence of Guayaquil

Abstract

The reorganization of the Peruvian Navy at the end of the 18th century included the creation of the Callao Maritime Department in 1799. Thanks to this effort, Peru maintained an almost exclusive control of the South Pacific, but the growing presence of British, North American and Buenos Aires ships, together with the struggle for control of the sea that the Chileans undertook after their independence, meant a strong attack on the royalist forces. In spite of the unsuccessful requests for reinforcements to Spain, with the loss of the port of Guayaquil, the main shipyard of the Peruvian viceroyalty, the royalist power was weakened, which was definitive for the outcome of the Liberating Expedition.