29/07/2022
🇵🇪 Close to celebrating the Independence of Peru, have you ever wondered, what is the origin of the name "Peru"?
According to the chronicles of San Bartolomé de las Casa, the settler Vasco Núñez de Balboa heard that there was an empire where there was a large amount of gold and silver located south of the Pacific Ocean. Later in 1522, Pascual de Andagoya tried to travel beyond the Gulf of San Miguel (southeast of Panama) which at that time received the name "Birú", however, it was changing to its variants such as "Virú, Berú or Pirú" . On the other hand, it is known that the Spanish captain Gaspar de Morales received reports about the existence of a great lord cacique named Birú, who lived in the eastern territory of the Pacific Ocean. 🤔
👉 Finally, when Francisco Pizarro sailed south to invade Inca land (1532), the territory had already been established with the word Peru. According to the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (Royal Comments of the Incas), when the Spaniards set foot on Inca lands they ran into a group of locals who were consulted with signs about the name of the place, without good communication the frightened indigenous responded with his own name saying "Berú", and added another saying Pelú. What I was trying to say is "if you ask me what my name is, I say Berú and if you ask me where I was, I say in the river 'Pelú'", refers to the stories of the Peruvian author.
For historians from the University of Oxford, the origin of the name of Peru comes from "Birú" which means "River". In addition, they indicate that, at the time of colonization, the locals referred to lands bordering the south and unexplored with the same name. 🇵🇪🎊