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| 1919–30 |
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| He was succeeded (Aug. 24) by AUGUSTO LEGUÍA (1863–1932), president. Leguía's administration, known as the Oncenio, was noteworthy for great material changes and widespread corruption. American companies, which had been investing in northern agriculture and mining since the early 1900s, moved extensively into Peruvian agriculture at this time. Firms such as Cerro de Pasco combined mining interests with large landholdings to take over some of the country's best land. By the late 1920s, most of the principal sources of Peruvian wealth were in foreign hands. During this time, the Peruvian government secured large loans in the U.S. (1924, 1927, 1928) to develop the economy, build public works, and expand education. Leguía also revised Church-State relations. He initially courted the support of labor and leftist groups, designing his 1919 constitution on the nationalist-socialist model in Mexico. Once in power, however, he repressed worker, student, and peasant movements. | 1 |
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| 1919, Dec. 27 |
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| A new constitution (went into effect Jan. 18, 1920) introduced compulsory primary education, compulsory labor arbitration, income tax, etc. | 2 |
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| 1920, Jan. 10 |
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| Peru joined the League of Nations at the very outset. | 3 |
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| 1921–29 |
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| The long, drawn-out dispute with Chile over Tacna and Arica, when finally settled, assigned Tacna to Peru. | 4 |
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| 1924, May |
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| Peruvian VICTOR RAÚL HAYA DE LA TORRE (1895–1979) founded the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA) in Mexico City, where he was living in exile. Inspired by the socialist, anti-imperialist ideas of the Mexican Revolution, Haya de la Torre sought to unite all the proletarian elements of “Indo-America” in a mass revolutionary movement. A follower of Mexican education minister José Vasconcelos and Manuel González Prada (an anarchist teacher at the University of San Marcos in Lima), he believed that the only source of regeneration for Latin America would be its indigenous peoples. In practice his party called for selective nationalization, protection of human rights, state control of the economy, and protection of the middle and lower classes. | 5 |
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| June 21 |
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| Signing of a protocol with Ecuador, envisaging negotiations concerning the old boundary dispute, and providing for arbitration in the event of failure of direct discussion. | 6 |
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