The land upon which the district was built was originally known as Curayacu–Poza de Santa María, originally an archeological site with remains dating back to the era of the
Incan Empire and before. The site was visited by archeologists , from
Switzerland, and Bernardino Ojeda, from Peru, in the 1960s. The remains unearthed in the area were estimated to date back to 4,500 years ago and belonging to
hunter-gatherer cultures who fished in the area and dried their food in the desert in order to take it to the
Sierra for thousands of years. Also found in the area were
ceramics, now in possession of the
Centro de Investigaciones de Zonas Áridas (CIZA), and the remains of a rustic temple in the south. These newer findings are alleged to have belonged to the
Yschma people, which later merged with the Incas. Supporting these claims was the discovery of a cemetery belonging to said culture during construction work in Embajadores beach. A protected area by the
Ministry of Culture now exists known as
Sector A. After the success of the
Chilean land campaign in
Tacna and
Arica during the
War of the Pacific, the
Chilean Army launched
another land campaign in December 1880 in order to take
Lima. Once the Chilean troops reached
Pisco, General
Manuel Baquedano split his troops into two groups: one part headed for
Lurín Valley, and the other would continue north toward Lima. The latter reached Curayacu on December 24 of the same year, establishing a campsite in the Santa María area the day after and later leaving for Lurín. This was accomplished due to the Peruvians' lack of knowledge of the area, which the Chileans took advantage of. As a result, over 19,000 soldiers disembarked on Embajadores beach. In the decades following the war, the area of Santa María—then part of
Chilca—became known as the
caletita used by the Chileans to reach Lima, being described as such in 1922
Geographic Dictionary of Peru. The name given to the
caleta by local fishermen as a result of the association to the 1880 landing, "
Caleta de los chilenos" (
Caleta of the Chileans), was
bastardised into "
Caleta de los chilcanos" (
Caleta of the Chilca locals). both concessions were transferred to Elías and Eugelio Fernandini Clotet on October 18, 1945, with one being reworked to include the development of a
yacht club and the use of the beaches to promote fishing and
maritime sports. 8 years later,
Walter Weberhofer, a Peruvian architect of Austrian descent won a contest to begin the development of a yacht club, which later came to be known as
Club Esmeralda. Weberhofer's work was later called by the
American National Association of Home Builders as the "
Capri of South America". The area soon became the birthplace of the local
jet set culture, with locals from Lima visiting or establishing themselves in the district. International visitors were also attracted, with visitors that included then
Prince of Spain,
Juan Carlos I. The district's first mayor was Aurelio Yrigoyen Rodrigo, whose tenure started in 1962. He was succeeded by 5 other mayors up until 2011, and 3 more since then.
Recent history In 2020, a bust of
Miguel Grau and the
nautical chart of Santa María was unveiled in the district. == See also ==