ABSTRACT
In 1747, Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa, two Spanish navy officers, traveled to the viceroyalty of Peru as members of an international scientific mission led by Charles Marie de la Condamine. Following the instructions of the marquis of the Ensenada, the Spanish Secretary of State at the time, they wrote a confidential report on the general situation of the viceroyalty. In it they referred to the viceroy of Peru in the following terms:
From the moment a viceroy is received in Peru and takes possession of his office, he begins to be mistaken with royalty. If one examines the ceremonies of his public entry into Lima ..., it shall be seen that every aspect of this function shall make him imagine it. Thus, the city magistrates serve as his equerries, one walking on each side holding the reins of [the viceroy's] horse, while he is paraded under a magnificent canopy carried by the regidores of the city. Leaving aside many other ceremonies and attentions, could the honor and majestic pomp with which the true prince would be received by his most loyal and beloved vassals be any greater? Consider, therefore, the position of a viceroy so filled with acclaim, obsequiousness, and veneration in a land so far removed from his sovereign. One shall be forced to agree with us that he is bound to consider himself as just another sovereign, the only difference being the dependency and limited duration of this majesty. 1
