Callao, the chief seaport of Peru, and one of the most important on the Pacific coast, possesses an especial historical as well as commercial interest. As the City of the Kings was the centre of political and social authority under the viceroyalty, Callao was the headquarters of its trade, the counting-house in which business operations connected with the colonial service were carried on. All ships that traded between Spain and its vast Peruvian provinces were obliged to load and discharge their cargo in this port, where every article was registered and the king’s duties were collected. The first buildings of the port were erected in 1537, two years after Pizarro founded Lima; but it was not until a hundred and thirty-four years later, in 1671, that Callao was dignified with the title of city. In the intervening period, the increasing wealth and prosperity of the viceroyalty and the importance of its trade attracted pirates to the coast, the harbor of Callao being made the chief point of attack, as in the case of Drake and Cavendish, elsewhere referred to, and of the Dutch pirates who came later. These invasions, though they wrought great damage to the city, were forgotten in the flourishing period that followed, when Callao grew to be the richest port of the Pacific and its harbor was constantly thronged with vessels bringing in merchandise of all kinds, or loading precious cargoes of gold and silver for the metropolis. [Illustration: THE DOCKS AT CALLAO.] A greater catastrophe than invasion of pirates befell the seaport in the height of its prosperity, when, on the 28th of October, 1746, a terrible earthquake, accompanied by a tidal wave of tremendous volume, completely destroyed the city, about six thousand people perishing in the sea that swept over the falling buildings in a deluge. The task of rebuilding began at once, though not on the same site, which has ever since remained under the sea. The location of the submerged city is indicated between the points of Independencia and Camotal, south of the present site, and in that part of the bay called the _Mar Brava_ (rough sea.) For many years after this calamity, a sentry was stationed on the beach to take charge of any treasure that might be washed ashore, and this post was not dispensed with until after the inauguration of the republic. When the new city was built, the port was fortified and placed in charge of a strong military garrison. The part played by this garrison in the last days of the viceroyalty is well known. Its surrender was the signal of defeat to the royalist cause in Peru.