12°06S 77°03W, pop (2000e) 7 721 000. Federal capital of Peru; on both sides of the R Rímac, at the foot of the Cerro San Cristóbal; founded by Pizarro, 1535; chief city of Spanish South America until independence; devastated by earthquake, 1746; airport; railway; 10 universities, including San Marcos (1551); vehicles, textiles, foodstuffs, paper; cathedral (1625), Palacio del Gobierno, archbishop's palace, Santo Domingo Church (1549), San Francisco Church (1674), many museums, including National Museum of Art, Museum of Peruvian Culture, Gold Museum; Parque de las Leyendas; carnival (pre-Lent), Pacific International Fair (Nov alternate years).
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Lima |
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|---|---|
| Location in Perú | Coat of Arms |
| City Flag | |
| City nickname |
La Ciudad de los Reyes
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| Founded | January 18, 1535 |
| Government: | |
| - Region | Lima Metropolitan |
| - Province | Lima |
| - Mayor | Luis Castañeda Lossio |
| Area: | |
| - Total | 804.3 km² |
| - Subdivisions | 30 districts |
| - Latitude/Longitude |
12°2.6'S 77°1.7'W |
| Population: | |
|
- Total -Metro Area -Density |
6,872,766 8,187,398 8,544km² |
| Demonym | limeño/a |
| City calling code | 1 |
| Time zone | UTC/GMT-5 |
| Official website | www.munlima.gob.pe |
Lima is the capital and largest city in Peru, as well as the capital of Lima Province.
Founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, Lima is also known as the City of Kings. For more than three centuries, Lima was the most important city and the greatest metropolis in South America. More than four centuries have passed since its founding as a Spanish city, and Lima has become an expression of Peru's heritage, with nearly one-third of the nation's population living in its metropolitan area.
While there is no formal administrative definition for the city of Lima, it is generally considered to be comprised of the central 30 out of the 43 districts of Lima province, corresponding roughly to the urban area centered on the historic Cercado de Lima district. The city serves as the core of the Lima Metropolitan Area, one of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the Americas.
The city was founded by conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, naming it Tres Veces Coronada Ciudad de los Reyes as the location was decided at Epiphany, the January 6. In the oldest Spanish maps of Peru, both Lima and Ciudad de los Reyes can be seen together as the names of the city.
Lima became the most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru, which encompassed nearly all of Spain's possessions in South America during the colonial era (mid 1500s to early 1800s).
In 1996, the Japanese embassy hostage crisis took place in Lima, an affair which received global media attention.
Demographics
The Lima Metropolis ranks among Latin America's largest and densest urban concentrations, with estimated populations (as of 2005) of 6.9 million for the urban area, 7.4 million for the entire province, and 8.2 million for the metropolitan area. However, political and economic instability of Peru during the latter half of the twentieth century created unprecedented poverty and violence in the towns of the countryside Andean or highlands, forcing hundreds of thousands of peasants of full-blooded Amerindian descendants to migrate to Lima, thus greatly augmenting the Lima's population. Unlike other ethnic groups that live in Lima and only speak Spanish, most of the peasant population that migrated to Lima speak primarily Quechua or Aymara before Spanish, rather than Spanish.
The racial demographics for the city of Lima are:
40% Mestizo (mixed European and Ameridian ancestry) 29% Amerindian 85% Quechua 15% Aymara 25% White 65% Spanish 35% Italian, German, or other european ancestry 3% Black 3% Asian (Mainly from Japanese and Chinese decent)Geography
Physical setting
The city of Lima (urban area) covers about 800 km².
Climate
Lima's climate can be said to be quite cold, as besides the aforementioned dryness, it surprises for its mildness: despite being located in the Tropics and at a near sea-level elevation, temperatures are far from torrid, with maxima ranging from 27°C in February to 18°C in August, with an all-time record high temperature of 32°C (90°F).
Districts and neighborhoods
Lima city proper is generally considered to be comprised of the densely-populated, thirty central districts of Lima Province. Each district is headed by a mayor, although the Metropolitan Lima Municipal Council (Municipalidad Metropolitana de Lima), led by the mayor of Lima, also has authority in these districts, including the thirteen outer districts of Lima province.
The historical downtown of the city is located in the Lima District, which is locally known as Cercado de Lima. This is where most vestiges of Lima's colonial heyday remain, as well as the Presidential Palace and the Metropolitan Lima Municipal Council.
The neighborhoods of Miraflores and San Isidro are among the wealthiest in the city with most of Lima's upscale hotels and other tourist destinations located in them.
The most populous districts of Lima lie in the north and south ends of the city.
Education
Universities
The city has the largest concentration of higher-education institutions in the country.
Other state owned universities also play key roles in teaching and research, such as the Universidad Nacional de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional Federico Villarreal and Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, but the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (National University for Engineering) is regarded as one of the most prestigious universities for science and engineering careers in the country and probably one of the hardest to be admitted to.
These universities are highly especialized for some careers, for instance, for humanities the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos, for Law studies the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru, for medicine, the Univesidad Nacional Cayetano Heredia, for Business and Economics, the Universidad del Pacifico and for Sciences and Engineering, the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria mostly known as UNI.
Libraries
Founded by José de San Martín, Peru's oldest and most important library, the National Library of Peru is located in downtown Lima.
Commerce and industry
Lima has substantial textile, paper, paint, and food products industries.
In recent decades, Lima has rapidly expanded and the city has seen much unregulated development.
The "Estadio Monumental "U"", located in Lima, is Peru's largest and most modern stadium;
Transport
Lima does not have a public bus system.
Numerous inter-urban bus companies offer transportation to other cities in Peru.
Nowadays Lima's mayor is working on a new bus system called Metropolitano where all buses will have exclusive lines;
To improve the quality of taxis running in Lima, a new law has been promulgated forbidding the importation of used cars; the city of Lima hopes that this law will promote the use of newer cars in the city, reducing vehicle emissions and smog.
An agreement signed by Mayor Luis Castañeda and President Alejandro Toledo on February 17, 2005, provided funding for finishing the Lima Metro, an above-ground mass-transit system which will link the downtown area with the financial district, San Isidro.
Lima's main passenger gateway for national and international air travelers is Jorge Chávez International Airport.
Tourist attractions
The Historic centre of Lima, located in downtown Lima and the Rímac District, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988 due to the large number of historical buildings dating from the Spanish colonial era, a small number of which have now been restored.
Several sections of the Lima City Walls can still be seen.
The city also has a number of fine museums, notably the National Museum of Anthropology, Archaeology, and History and the Rafael Larco Herrera Archaeological Museum, both in the Pueblo Libre district. The beaches in Lima itself are not suitable for swimming because the city's sewage is dumped raw into the ocean.
The suburban district of Cieneguilla and the town of Chosica (in the Lurigancho District) provide attractive green landscapes at a short distance from the city.
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