History
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Main articles: History of Lima and Timeline of Lima
Precolonial[edit]
Pachacámac, built from 3rd century to 15th century, was one of the most important pre-Columbian centers of pilgrimage on the Peruvian Coast. In the image the Temple of the Moon.
Although the history of the city of Lima began with its Spanish foundation in 1535, the territory formed by the valleys of the Rímac, Chillón and Lurín rivers was occupied by pre-Inca settlements, which were grouped under the Lordship of Ichma. The Maranga culture and the Lima culture were the ones that established and forged an identity in these territories. During those times, the sanctuaries of Lati (current Puruchuco) and Pachacámac (the main pilgrimage sanctuary during the time of the Incas) were built, it was built from 3rd century to 15th century by several civilizations, and which was used even until the time the Spanish conquistadors arrived.
These cultures were conquered by the Wari Empire during the height of its imperial expansion. It is during this time that the ceremonial center of Cajamarquilla was built. As Wari importance declined, local cultures regained autonomy, highlighting the Chancay culture. Later, in the 15th century, these territories were incorporated into the Inca Empire. From this time we can find a great variety of huacas throughout the city, some of which are under investigation.
The most important or well-known huacas are those of Huallamarca, Pucllana, and Mateo Salado, all located in the middle of Lima districts with very high urban growth, so they are surrounded by business and residential buildings; however, that does not prevent its perfect state of conservation.
During the time of the Incas, the valley of Lima was highly populated and organized into an Inca province, or huamani (wamani), called Pachacamac. The colonial Spanish historian Bernabé Cobo mentions that the huamani of Pachacamac was subdivided into three hunu of tributary men, rather than the conventional four hunu. It has also been argued that a fourth hunu may have existed but was not recorded. The primary meaning of the word hunu in Quechua is 10,000, leading to the assumption that 30,000 families lived in the valley. This assumption has been criticized, including by the historian Åke Wedin, because hunu can also mean countless, and therefore could simply refer to a very large group of men. The scholar John Rowe suggested that the valley had a population of about 150,000 during Inca times.
Whatever the case, each recorded hunu of Pachacamac had a head town, corresponding to some of the most populated settlements in the valley: Caraguayllo (Carabayllo), Maranga, and Surco (or Sulco, also known as the archaeological site Armatambo).... this valley was divided, according to the government of the Inca kings, into three 'unos' or governorships of ten thousand families each; the town of Caraguayllo was the head of the first; that of Maranga, which is situated in the middle of the valley, of the second, and the third, that of Surco; this last town was the largest of all ...The inhabitants of the pre-Columbian town of Surco were relocated to the modern district of Santiago de Surco early in the colonial period. In addition to Aymara and Quechua, the inhabitants of the northern part of the valley, specifically in the hunu of Carabayllo, spoke an additional language believed to be Quingnam.
Regarding the pre-Hispanic settlement of Lima, it is recorded that this part of the valley, near the Rimac river, was administered by a curaca, or local lord, named Taulichusco. He was a former yana, or servant, of Mama Vilo, one of the wives of Emperor Huayna Capac. Lima was awarded to Taulichusco in recognition of his services to the Inca royalty. Some of Peru's most important buildings were erected on the sites of major constructions of the pre-Hispanic settlement. For example, the residential palace of Taulichusco was located where the modern Palacio de Gobierno of Peru stands today. A temple called Puma Inti once occupied the site where the Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima is now, and the Municipal Theater of Lima is situated where a pre-Columbian structure, referred to as Huaca El Cabildo by the Spaniards, once stood. These buildings were centered around a plaza, which was later expanded to become the Plaza Mayor. The Huaca de Aliaga and Huaca Riquelme were other major buildings near the plaza. Other nearby constructions included the temple-oracle of Rímac, one of the main places of worship in the valley, also known as the so-called "huaca grande" that once stood in Barrios Altos.
Founding[edit]
The founding of Lima, painting by José Effio (1845–1920) in the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru.
In 1532, the Spanish and their indigenous allies (from the ethnic groups subdued by the Incas) under the command of Francisco Pizarro took monarch Atahualpa prisoner in the city of Cajamarca. Although a ransom was paid, he was sentenced to death for political and strategic reasons. After some battles, the Spanish conquered their empire. The Spanish Crown named Francisco Pizarro governor of the lands he had conquered. Pizarro decided to found the capital in the Rímac river valley, after a failed attempt to establish it in Jauja.
He considered that Lima was strategically located, close to a favorable coast for the construction of a port but prudently far from it in order to prevent attacks by pirates and foreign powers, on fertile lands and with a suitable cool climate. Thus, on 6 January 1535, Lima was founded with the name "City of the Kings", named in this way in honor of the Epiphany, on territories that had been of the kuraka Taulichusco. The explanation of this name is due to the fact that "around the same time in January, the Spaniards were looking for the place to lay the foundation for the new city, [...] not far from the Pachacámac sanctuary, near the Rímac river.
On the oldest Spanish maps of Peru, both Lima and Ciudad de los Reyes can be seen together.[citation needed] However, as had happened with the region, initially called New Castile and later Peru, the City of the Kings soon lost its name in favor of "Lima". Pizarro, with the collaboration of Nicolás de Ribera, Diego de Agüero and Francisco Quintero personally traced the Plaza Mayor and the rest of the city grid, building the Viceroyalty Palace (today transformed into the Government Palace of Peru, which hence retains the traditional name of Casa de Pizarro) and the Cathedral, whose first stone Pizarro laid with his own hands. In August 1536, the flourishing city was besieged by the troops of the Inca general Quizu Yupanqui under orders from the monarch Manco Inca Yupanqui who was in Cusco, but the Spanish and their indigenous allies managed to defeat them. The Huaylas (Wayllas) army's assistance was of special importance to the Spanish. The army arrived personally led by Contarhuancho (Kuntur-Wanchu), a secondary wife of the deceased Emperor Wayna Qhapaq and now a respected kuraka of half the province of Huaylas, the Hanan Huaylas or Upper Huaylas moiety. Contarhuancho came to Lima after receiving a plea for help in a quipu message from her daughter, the Huaylas-Inca princess Doña Inés Huaylas Yupanqui.
In the following years, Lima gained prestige by being designated the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru and the seat of a Real Audiencia in 1543. Since the location of the coastal city was conditioned by the ease of communications with Spain, a close bond with the port of Callao was soon established.
Colonial period[edit]
Renaissance Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima, built between 1602 and 1797 in the Plaza Mayor
For the next century, it prospered as the center of an extensive trade network that integrated the viceroyalty with the Americas, Europe, and East Asia. But the city was not without its dangers; violent earthquakes destroyed a large part of it between 1586 and 1687, leading to a great deal of construction activity. It is then when aqueducts, starlings and retaining walls appear before the flooding of the rivers, the bridge over the Rímac is finished, the cathedral is built, and numerous hospitals, convents and monasteries are built. Then we can see that the city is articulated around its neighborhoods. Another threat was the presence of pirates and corsairs in the Pacific Ocean, which motivated the construction of the Walls of Lima between 1684 and 1687.
The 1687 earthquake marked a turning point in the history of Lima, since it coincided with a recession in trade due to economic competition with other cities such as Buenos Aires. With the creation of the Viceroyalty of New Granada in 1717, the political demarcations were reorganized, and Lima only lost some territories that actually already enjoyed their autonomy. In 1746 a strong earthquake severely damaged the city and destroyed Callao, forcing a massive reconstruction effort by Viceroy José Antonio Manso de Velasco.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Lima was considered one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the entire Spanish Empire, boasting a splendor that some observers considered worthy of a world power, attracting merchants from all over Europe, Asia and the rest of the Americas. The city was well known for being the residence of several members of the Spanish nobility, who resided in sumptuous manors and palaces located within the walls of Lima; the large number of religious orders within the city was also recognized.
"The City of the Kings of Lima, royal high court, principal city of the kingdom of the Indies, residence of the viceroy[...]", painting of 1615 by the Inca painter Guamán Poma. Royal Library, Denmark.
The unfinished cathedral in the Plaza Mayor, painting of 1680. Museo de América (Madrid).
View of Lima and the Tapada limeña (a colonial women fashion) in a painting of 1842 by d'Orbigny and Benoît. Museum of the Americas, Spain.
Lima as seem from the Rímac District, painting of 1850 by Batta Molinelli
Colonial Calle de los Judíos (Lima) in 1866 by Manuel A. Fuentes and Firmin Didot, Brothers, Sons & Co. University of Chicago Library.
Colonial Calles de la Oca and de Bodegones (Lima) in 1866 by Manuel A. Fuentes and Firmin Didot, Brothers, Sons & Co. University of Chicago Library.
Puente de Piedra Bridge, the former Arco del Puente Gate and the Walls of Lima in 1878 by El Viajero Ilustrado. Old Fund of the University of Seville.
Basilica of San Francisco, built between 1657 and 1672In the second half of the 18th century, Enlightenment ideas about public health and social control influenced the development of the city. During this period, the Peruvian capital was affected by the Bourbon reforms as it lost its monopoly on foreign trade and its control over the important mining region of Upper Peru. This economic weakening led the elite of the city to depend on the positions granted by the viceregal government and the Church, which contributed to keeping them more linked to the Crown than to the cause of independence.
The greatest political-economic impact that the city experienced at that time occurred with the creation of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776, which changed the course and orientations imposed by the new mercantile traffic. Among the buildings built during this period there is the Coliseo de Gallos, the Acho Bullring and the General Cemetery. The first two were erected to regulate these popular activities, centralizing them in one place, while the cemetery put an end to the practice of burying the dead in churches, considered unhealthy by public authorities.
Independence[edit]
Painting of José de San Martín during the Declaration of Independence of Peru in the Plaza Mayor, on July 28, 1821
A combined expedition of Argentine and Chilean independence fighters led by General Don José de San Martín landed in southern Lima in 1820, but did not attack the city. Faced with a naval blockade and guerrilla action on the mainland, Viceroy José de la Serna was forced to evacuate the city in July 1821 to save the Royalist army. Fearing a popular uprising and lacking the means to impose the order, the City Council invited San Martín to enter the city, signing a Declaration of Independence at his request.
Once General San Martín proclaimed the independence of Peru, Lima became the capital of the new republic. Thus, it was the seat of the government of the liberator and also the seat of the first Constituent Congress that the country had. The war lasted for two more years, during which the city changed hands many times and suffered abuses from both sides. By the time the war was decided, on 9 December 1824, at the Battle of Ayacucho, Lima had been considerably impoverished.
Republican era[edit]
Gate of the colonial wall of Lima, the "Arco del Puente" its partially wooden structures were consumed by a fire caused by street vendors in 1879. The colonial wall of Lima had ten gates, now demolished.
After the War of Independence, Lima became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Its development was stymied by the country's socioeconomic paralysis until the 1850s, when income from the export of guano allowed for rapid expansion. In the following twenty years, the State financed the construction of large public buildings to replace the old viceregal establishments, among these are the Central Market, the General Slaughterhouse, the Mental Asylum, the Penitentiary and the Hospital Dos de Mayo. There were also improvements in communications; in 1850 a railway line between Lima and Callao was completed from the Desamparados station and in 1870 an iron bridge was inaugurated over the Rímac River, baptized as Puente Balta.
In 1872 the colonial City Walls were demolished by the US engineer Henry Meiggs under contract with the Peruvian government, in anticipation of further urban growth in the future. However, this period of economic expansion also widened the gap between rich and poor, producing widespread social unrest. The famous, Arco del Puente, the gate of the colonial wall of Lima, was consumed by a fire caused by street vendors in 1879.
During the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), the Chilean army occupied Lima after defeating Peruvian troops and reserves in the battles of San Juan and Miraflores. The city suffered from the invaders, who looted museums, public libraries and educational institutions. At the same time, angry mobs attacked wealthy citizens and the Asian colony, looting their properties and businesses.
20th century[edit]
The Metropolitan Cathedral of Lima in Plaza Mayor in 1910.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the construction of avenues that would serve as a matrix for the development of the city began. The avenues Paseo de la República, Leguía (today called Avenida Arequipa), Avenida Brasil and the landscaping Salaverry that headed south and Venezuela and Colonial avenues to the west joining the port of Callao.
In the 1930s the great constructions began with the remodeling of the Government Palace of Peru and the Palacio Municipal. These constructions reached their peak in the 1950s, during the government of Manuel A. Odría, when the great buildings of the Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Education were built (Javier Alzamora Valdez Building, currently the seat of the Superior Court of Justice of Lima), the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Labour and the Hospitals of the Workers' Insurance and of the Employee as well as the National Stadium and several large housing units.
Also in those years a phenomenon began that changed the configuration of the city, which was the massive immigration of inhabitants from the interior of the country, producing the exponential growth of the capital's population and the consequent urban expansion. The new populations were settling on land near the center which was used as an agricultural area. The current districts of Lince, La Victoria to the south were populated; Breña and Pueblo Libre to the west; El Agustino, Ate and San Juan de Lurigancho to the east and San Martín de Porres and Comas to the north.
Plaza San Martín in 1970
As an emblematic point of this expansion, in 1973 the self-managed community of Villa El Salvador (current district of Villa El Salvador) was created, located 30 km south of the city center and currently integrated into the metropolitan area. In the 1940s, Lima started a period of rapid growth spurred by migration from the Andean region, as rural people sought opportunities for work and education. The population, estimated at 600,000 in 1940, reached 1.9 million by 1960 and 4.8 million by 1980. At the start of this period, the urban area was confined to a triangular area bounded by the city's historic center, Callao and Chorrillos; in the following decades settlements spread to the north, beyond the Rímac River, to the east, along the Central Highway and to the south. The new migrants, at first confined to slums in downtown Lima, led this expansion through large-scale land invasions, which evolved into shanty towns, known as pueblos jóvenes. In the 1980s, terrorist violence added to the disorderly growth of the city and the increase in the number of internally displaced people. Terrorist groups like the Shining Path and Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement were centered in Lima during this time. The historic center of the city suffered increasing deterioration and many areas of the city constantly lacked basic services. The city improved and terrorism decreased moving into the 21st century.
21st century[edit]
View of the Bajada Balta in the Miraflores District at night
The city began to recover from the violence from the 1980s and 90s. The Municipality of Lima began to reorganize the city, remodeling parks, streets, and buildings. The early 2000s and 2010s saw a growth in high rise buildings, especially in the economic center of the San Isidro District. The tallest building in Lima and all of Peru, the Torre Banco de la Nación, was completed in 2015. Construction of buildings grew 3.9% in 2024, following the countries economic growth. In 2007, the city established El Metropolitano, a rapid bus transport system operating from the north to the south of the city. The Lima and Callao Metro Line 1 was finally completed in 2010, after numerous halts in the 1970s and 90s. The second line of the metro began construction in the early 2020s.
The construction of the new terminal of the Jorge Chávez International Airport began in 2019, but was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and continued in 2021. The terminal was inaugurated on 1 June 2025, allowing transit for an estimated 40 million passengers per year by 2030. The Port of Chancay in the city of Chancay, was inaugurated on 14 November, 2024, in a joint construction performed by Peru and China. The port is the new main port of Lima and is one of the largest in South America.
Lima was selected to host the 2019 Pan American Games in 2013. The event was the largest sporting event hosted by the country. The city was selected to host the 2027 Pan American Games for the second time in 2024. The city was also selected to joint host the 2025 Bolivarian Games along with Ayacucho.
After the 2022 Peruvian self-coup attempt by then president Pedro Castillo, protests emerged around the city and the country between 2022 and 2023 demanding for the release of Castillo and for the removing of president Dina Boluarte. Thousands of protesters began on 12 January 2022, in what was known as the Toma de Lima, in which the city announced a 4-month state of emergency. The National Police of Peru and Armed Forces were stationed, responsible for the death of 58 people, 1 being from Lima, during the protests between 2022 and 2023. Protests died down towards the end of 2023.
