Item: i88060

Authentic Coin of:

Peru
1794 IJ Silver 2 Reales 28mm (6.45 grams) .896 Silver (0.1949 oz. ASW) Mint: Lima
Reference: KM# 95
CAROLUS. IIII. DEI. GRATIA .., Portrait of Charles IV facing right.
.HISPAN. ET IND. REX. MAE. 2 R. I. J., Coat of arms between two pillars.

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Charles IV (Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno José Januario Serafín Diego; 11 November 1748 – 20 January 1819) was King of Spain from 14 December 1788, until his abdication on 19 March 1808.

Charles was the second son of Charles III and his wife, Maria Amalia of Saxony. He was born in Naples (11 November 1748), while his father was King of Naples and Sicily. His elder brother, Don Felipe, was passed over for both thrones, due to his learning disabilities and epilepsy. In Naples and Sicily, Charles was referred to as the Prince of Taranto. He was called El Cazador (meaning “the Hunter”), due to his preference for sport and hunting, rather than dealing with affairs of the state. Charles was considered by many to have been amiable, but simple-minded.

In 1788, Charles III died and Charles IV succeeded to the throne. He intended to maintain the policies of his father, and retained his prime minister, the Count of Floridablanca, in office. Even though he had a profound belief in the sanctity of his office, and kept up the appearance of an absolute, powerful monarch, Charles never took more than a passive part in his own government. The affairs of government were left to his wife, Maria Luisa, and his prime minister, while he occupied himself with hunting. In 1792, political and personal enemies ousted Floridablanca from office, replacing him with Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea, Count of Aranda. However, in the wake of the war against Republican France, the liberal-leaning Count of Aranda was himself replaced by Manuel de Godoy, a favourite of the Queen and widely believed to be her lover, who enjoyed the lasting favor of the King.

In 1799, he authorized Prussian aristocrat and scientist Alexander von Humboldt to travel freely in Spanish America, with royal officials encouraged to aid him in his investigation of key areas of Spain’s empire. Humboldt’s Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain was a key publication from his five-year travels.

Godoy continued Abarca de Bolea’s policy of neutrality towards France, but after Spain protested the execution of Louis XVI of France, the deposed king, in 1793, France declared war on Spain. After the declaration, Portugal and Spain signed a treaty of mutual protection against France. In 1796 France forced Godoy to enter into an alliance, and declare war on the Kingdom of Great Britain. As a consequence, Spain became one of the maritime empires to have been allied with Republican France in the French Revolutionary War, and for a considerable duration.

Spain remained an ally of France and supported the Continental Blockade until the British naval victory at Trafalgar, when Spain became allied with Britain. However, after Napoleon’s victory over Prussia in 1807, Godoy again steered Spain back onto the French side. This switching of alliances devalued Charles’ position as a trustworthy ally, increasing Godoy’s unpopularity, and strengthening the fernandistas (supporters of Crown Prince Ferdinand), who favoured an alliance with the United Kingdom.

Economic troubles, rumours about a sexual relationship between the Queen and Godoy, and the King’s ineptitude, caused the monarchy to decline in prestige among the population. Anxious to take over from his father, and jealous of the prime minister, Crown Prince Ferdinand attempted to overthrow the King in an aborted coup in 1807.

Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the west by the Pacific Ocean. Peru is an extremely biodiverse country with habitats ranging from the arid plains of the Pacific coastal region in the west to the peaks of the Andes mountains vertically extending from the north to the southeast of the country to the tropical Amazon Basin rainforest in the east with the Amazon river.

Peruvian territory was home to several ancient cultures, ranging from the Norte Chico civilization in the 32nd century BC, the oldest civilization in the Americas, to the Inca Empire, the largest and most sophisticated state in pre-Columbian America. The Spanish Empire conquered the region in the 16th century and established a Viceroyalty that encompassed most of its South American colonies, with its capital in Lima. Peru formally proclaimed independence in 1821, and following the military campaigns of José de San Martín and Simón Bolívar, and the decisive battle of Ayacucho, Peru secured independence in 1824. In the ensuing years, the country enjoyed relative economic and political stability, which ended shortly before the War of the Pacific with Chile. Throughout the 20th century, Peru endured armed territorial disputes, coups, social unrest, and internal conflicts, as well as periods of stability and economic upswing. Alberto Fujimori was elected to the presidency in 1990; his government was credited with economically stabilizing Peru and successfully ending the Shining Path insurgency, though he was widely accused of human rights violations and suppression of political dissent. Fujimori left the presidency in 2000 and was charged with human rights violations and imprisoned until his pardon by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2017.

Peru is a representative democratic republic divided into 25 regions. It is classified as an emerging market^[9] with a high level of human development and an upper middle income level with a poverty rate around 19 percent. It is one of the region’s most prosperous economies with an average growth rate of 5.9% and it has one of the world’s fastest industrial growth rates at an average of 9.6%. Its main economic activities include mining, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing; along with other growing sectors such as telecommunications and biotechnology. The country forms part of The Pacific Pumas, a political and economic grouping of countries along Latin America’s Pacific coast that share common trends of positive growth, stable macroeconomic foundations, improved governance and an openness to global integration. Peru ranks high in social freedom and it has the third lowest homicide rate in South America; it is an active member of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Pacific Alliance, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the World Trade Organization; and is considered as a middle power.

Peru has a multiethnic population of over 31 million, which includes Amerindians, Europeans, Africans and Asians. The main spoken language is Spanish, although a significant number of Peruvians speak Quechua, Aymara or other native languages. This mixture of cultural traditions has resulted in a wide diversity of expressions in fields such as art, cuisine, literature, and music.