Precolonial , 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).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 . 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. 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 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. 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. File:Lima_POMA1039v.jpg|"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. File:Plaza_Mayor_de_Lima.jpg|The unfinished
cathedral in the Plaza Mayor, painting of 1680.
Museo de América (Madrid). File:Bridge_of_Lima,_Ladies_of_Lima_1842_Boilly_and_Eyriès_(cropped).jpg|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. File:Rimac_en_1850.jpg|alt=Lima as seem from the Rímac District, painting of 1850 by Batta Molinelli.|Lima as seem from the Rímac District, painting of 1850 by Batta Molinelli File:Calle_de_los_Judíos_(Lima)_1866.jpg|Colonial Calle de los Judíos (Lima) in 1866 by
Manuel A. Fuentes and Firmin Didot, Brothers, Sons & Co.
University of Chicago Library. File:Calles_de_la_Coca_and_de_Badegones_(Lima)_1866.jpg|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. , 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 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 , 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, 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. 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. 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 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. == Geography ==