Viceroyalty of Peru Guayaquil and El Callao, but on 4 February he captured Valdivia, called at the time "The Key of the South Seas" and the "Gibraltar of the Pacific", due to its huge fortifications. However the viceroyalty managed to defend Chiloé Island until 1826. On September 8, 1820, the "Expedición Libertadora" of Peru, organized mainly by Argentinians and with some Peruvian and Chilean involvement, landed on the beach at Paracas Bay, near the city of Pisco, Peru. The army was under the command of José de San Martín. After fruitless negotiations with the viceroy, San Martín occupied the Peruvian capital of Lima
Constituent Congress of Peru, 1822 already underway to support the Northern Liberator, Simón Bolívar, head of Gran Colombia, who had helped Peru to defeat the Spanish who were left throughout southern Peru, including what is now Bolivia. During the Guayaquil conference, Bolívar, San Martín had offered military aid to Peru, which was founded in July 1822 with the dispatch of Colombian troops under the command of Juan Paz del Castillo. In September of that year, Bolívar returned to offer another 4,000 troops, but the brand new Governing Board accepted the reception of only 4,000 rifles. Relations between Peru and Gran Colombia entered its most critical