The National University of San Marcos was founded on 12 May 1551, in Lima (Peru), as the "Real Universidad de la Ciudad de los Reyes" (Real University of the City of the Kings), by the emperor Carlos I of Spain. It was the first university officially founded (by royal decree) in the Americas. Its first rector was Juan Bautista de la Roca. During its first years it was a monastic institution. Pedro Fernández Valenzuela was its first secular rector in 1571. On 17 September 1574, was elected the name of the evangelist "San Marcos" (Saint Mark) as the official name for the main university of the Viceroyalty of Peru.