to 1551 that recognize a university or institution of higher education prior to the University of San Marcos. The University of Santo Tomás de Aquino, which has an unofficial priority among the universities of America based on the bull in Apostolatus Culmine of Paul III, dated October 28, 1538. However, it did not have the royal pass of the King Charles I of Spain, that is, did not have the required royal approval until February 23, 1558. On August 2, 1758, King Ferdinand VI of Spain would issue a royal decree prohibiting the University of Santo Tomás from calling itself the primacy of America, as such historical attribution did not correspond to it above the universities of San Marcos in Lima, Mexico and others in the Americas. Centuries later, the University of Santo Tomás de Aquino would be closed at the beginning of the 19th century due to internal wars in the Dominican Republic. It is important to mention that both the University of San Marcos and the University of Santo Tomás de Aquino —and by extension the Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico— began to function as general studies and to deliver degrees on undetermined dates before becoming official as universities, the reason for which it is necessary for historians to establish starting points for the origin of the first universities in America, these being the documents with which the foundation of each university was authorized. The legal and real validity of each document remains in debate, as well as the results of future historical-legal research on the emergence of the university and higher education in America. University symbols Since its foundation in 1551, the University of San Marcos has had various institutional symbols, among which the following stand out: Emblem: Since its foundation until 1574, the first official shield showed an image of the Virgen del Rosario, considered the patron saint of the Dominican friars; on the right, a representation of the Pacific Ocean and below a lime —fruit, referring to the city of Lima—. The coat of arms was approved by King Carlos I of Spain in 1551. By the end of 1570, after the papal bull of Pius V, the coat of arms was modified, replacing the image of the Virgen del Rosario with that of the new patron of the university, the apostle Saint Mark and the Lion. The colors that were used in that