European Fascination with Peru and Expeditions to the South Seas in the Seventeenth Century

Abstract

By studying the journals of the various expeditions and the declarations made by crew members to officials in Peru, we can interpret the different components of the enticing fascination that attracted French, Dutch and English maritime enterprises to the coasts of the Peruvian viceroyalty in the seventeenth century, building on experience originally gained in the age of Drake. The repercussions must be considered not purely in terms of damage and booty, but in the longer term, in their significance for the economy of the viceroyalty and in their consolidation of an exploitative European attitude with regard to the region and its resources.