n Lima

Lima is the political, economic, and cultural center of Peru. Its importance within the nation is so overwhelming that some scholars suggest there are two Perus: Lima and the rest of the country. 

Lima’s metropolitan area has a population of 6.4 million, accounting for close to one-third of the nation’s total and a similar proportion of the country’s workforce. The concentration of wealth and power in Lima is even more intense: The city accounts for more than two-thirds of the nation’s gross domestic product, tax collections, bank deposits, private investment, physicians, and university students. Despite recent efforts at decentralization, Lima is still the base for almost all government agencies.

Metropolitan Lima covers an immense area, about 1010 sq km (390 sq miles). It runs north-south along the Pacific coast for more than 50 km (31 miles), and extends nearly 40 km (25 miles) from east to west, following the Rímac River inland from the ocean.

 Most of the city is characterized by low-density construction, with one-, two-, and three-story buildings. In the city’s downtown core and in several upscale suburban areas, notably Miraflores and San Isidro, high-rise buildings dominate the skyline.

Commercial activity is spread throughout the city, but is most concentrated in the traditional urban core and in the wealthy suburbs. The city’s port, Callao, is connected to the downtown area by an industrial belt almost 10 km (6 mi) long. A second, newer industrial zone runs eastward up the Rímac River Valley into the Andes foothills.

Residential districts dominate much of the city’s area. Near the city core these range from tenements to high-density apartment complexes, some built as part of government housing programs in the 1960s. Middle- and upper-class Peruvians live in neighborhoods farther from the city core, especially in a string of suburbs stretching along the Avenida Arequipa nearly 15 km (9 miles) southeast to Miraflores.

On the city’s margins, however, vast squatter settlements have mushroomed, as large numbers of rural Peruvians have migrated to the city seeking a better life. More than one-third of Lima’s population is estimated to live in such settlements, known as pueblos jovenes (young towns) or barriadas (shantytowns). Often these squatter settlements have developed relatively close to wealthy suburbs, as poor residents have laid claim to a small patch of desert and erected makeshift structures from cardboard, reed mats, and scrap lumber and metal. As the residents could afford to, they have upgraded their homes and businesses with brick, mortar, steel reinforcement, and concrete, and the settlements have gradually taken on the appearance of a city.

This process has been repeated many times since the 1950s. San Martín de Porres, just north of the Rímac River, was established as a pueblo joven in the early 1950s, but today is a thriving working-class district that shows few signs of its origins as a squatter settlement. Since the 1970s vast areas of desert on the city’s southern edges, near Miraflores and San Isidro, have been occupied, evolving into the full-fledged municipal districts of Villa Maria del Triunfo and Villa El Salvador.

Most of Lima’s important historical and architectural landmarks are concentrated in the city’s colonial core, just south of the Rímac River. This area of streets measures about 1.5 km (.9 miles) on each side and is centered around the Plaza de Armas, site of the city’s most significant religious and political institutions.

Lima was founded on this site in 1535 by Spanish soldier Francisco Pizarro, and the fountain in the central square dates from 1651. An earthquake in 1746 destroyed all of the colonial structures on the plaza, which were rebuilt in subsequent decades. Lima’s cathedral (begun in 1746) faces the plaza and contains a glass coffin said to hold Pizarro’s remains. Adjoining the cathedral is the Archbishop’s Palace, which features elegant carved-wood balconies typical of Lima’s colonial architecture. The imposing city hall of Metropolitan Lima (the province of Lima) is situated across the plaza, and the Government Palace (1938), home to the country’s president, occupies the block between the cathedral and the city hall. The presidential palace was built on the site of Pizarro’s house.

A busy pedestrian street, Jirón de la Unión, connects the Plaza de Armas to the Plaza San Martín some six blocks to the south. The Plaza San Martín, surrounded by colonial-style buildings, represents the traditional commercial center of the city. Major hotels, airline offices, and businesses are located around the plaza, but the area’s appearance and commercial significance have declined in recent decades as businesses have increasingly relocated to suburban districts such as Miraflores and San Isidro.

In 1996, Lima was home to about 6.8 million people. It gained more than 2.5 million residents since 1981, when its population was 4.1 million. Lima’s residents are spread among 33 separate municipal districts and the adjoining port of Callao. More than 90 percent of Lima’s residents are mestizo (people of mixed European and Native American background), with small minorities of whites, blacks, and Asians, mostly of Japanese descent.

Lima is home to the country’s most prestigious public universities, including the National University of San Marcos (1551), the oldest in the western hemisphere, the National Engineering University (1896), and the La Molina National Agrarian University  (1902). Private universities are also located in Lima, notably the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (1917), the University of San Martín de Porres (1962), University of the Pacific (1962), Women’s University of the Sacred Heart (1962),the University of Lima (1962), and Ricardo Palma University (1969).

Cultural and recreational opportunities are varied in the metropolitan area. The municipal theater hosts theater, symphony, opera, and ballet performances. Lima is home to a wide range of museums, many focusing on Peru’s indigenous heritage. These include the National Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, the Gold Museum of Peru, the Museum of the Central Reserve Bank, and the Rafael Larco Herrera Museum, which specializes in pre-Hispanic ceramics. Art and history museums are also found in metropolitan Lima, including the National Museum of the Republic, the Museum of Peruvian Culture, and the Museum of the Inquisition, in the building where colonial Catholic officials questioned and tortured those suspected of heresy or witchcraft.

Two significant archaeological sites  are found in the area of Lima. Pachacamac, about 30 km (18.5 mi) to the south along the coast, was an important religious shrine site as early as AD 200. Initially established by people of the Lima culture, it was later occupied and modified by the Huari (also spelled Wari), Rímac, and Inca cultures. Cajamarquilla, about 15 km (9 mi) inland, was a large urban center from about 200 to 700, occupied by the Lima and Huari cultures.

Almost all of Peru’s heavy industry is located in the Lima area. To satisfy national demand for consumer goods, Lima’s industries produce textiles, clothing, and processed foods, as well as some machinery and vehicles. Lima also dominates the nation’s service sectors, including trade, finance, and retail and wholesale business. The national government has traditionally been a major employer, but has cut jobs drastically in the 1990s.

The vast majority of the nation’s imports and exports move through the city’s port of Callao, possibly the best natural harbor on South America’s west coast. National and international air carriers provide daily passenger connections through the Jorge Chavez International Airport, on the northern end of the city. Both the Pan-American Highway, which runs along the Pacific coast, and the Central Highway into the Andes connect Lima with the rest of the country. One railroad serves Lima, running from the Desamparados train station in the downtown area to the cities of Huancayo and La Oroya in the central Andes.

Lima was founded by Pizarro in January 1535 and named Ciudad de los Reyes (City of the Kings), for the Christian Feast of the Epiphany, which celebrates the biblical account of the Three Kings’ visit to the Christ child. After Pizarro’s conquest of the great empire of the Inca, Lima became the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, an administrative region covering most of Spain’s territory in South America. During nearly three centuries of colonial rule, most of Spain’s trade with South America was funneled through Callao. Lima boomed as the commercial, cultural, and governmental center of Spanish-ruled South America, growing wealthy from the vast gold and silver resources of the Andes.

Lima’s importance declined somewhat during the end of the colonial period. During the wars for Latin American independence, it was a stronghold of royalist forces who opposed separation from Spain. General José de San Martín, one of the leaders of the independence movement, took over the city in 1821, and five years later it became the capital of the independent nation of Peru. Lima maintained its position of dominance nationally and as a major South American capital during the 19th century. From 1881 to 1883 it was occupied by Chilean troops during the War of the Pacific, which forced the Peruvian government to flee into the Andean highlands.

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