Peruvian historiography during the second half of the XIX century. An initial presentation using the work of Jose Toribio Polo

Using the analysis of Jose Torihio Polo's work as a base, we seek to show that the influence of the positivism was relative and partial in the Peru's historiography of the second half of the nineteenth century. For that, we will try to approach to the main characteristics of the way history work was made at that time. In that measure, we will present a general view of what was published in the four main academic magazines of the moment. Besides, we will study the most important historiographical polemics, emphasizing the critic that Polo made to the Manuel Mendiburu's Dictionary. Also, we will give the notion of Polo about history as a discipline, which is a sign that he belonged to a transitional generation of historians, between an amateur history and a more scientific one.