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Peru

Lima

Lima, Perú's capital, is located along the nation's central coast. The center is by the Rimac River but the city extends to two other river valleys. The metropolitan area extends inland to include the archaeological site of Cajarmarquilla and northwestward to include the port of Callao. The metropolitan population is 8.5 million1 with 8.166 million in the city proper.2 As of early 2014 the tallest building was the 26 story HSBC office tower.3 The city is famed for the cathedral said to contain Pizarro's tomb, and for the urn containing the remains of Santa Rosa4 of Lima, America's first Christian saint.

UNESCO honors the city center as a World Heritage Site, recognizing the many Baroque buildings from the colonial era (Torre Tagle Palace, San Francisco Convent) as well as the 19th century Art Nouveau Casa Courret.5

The Jorge Chávez International Airport is one of South America's busiest.6

There have been settlements in the city and its metropolitan area since the first millenium. The Cajamarquilla site was abandoned long before the Spanish arrived to found the colonial city.

YearPopulation1Political entity
1400 CE40,0007Ichma culture8
1700 CE37,0007Reino de España (Spanish Empire)
1800 CE54,0009Reino de España (Spanish Empire)
1900 CE122,0009Perú
2000 CE8,500,0001Perú

foreground: succulents; midground: step pyrammid; background: modern urban skyscrapers
Huaca Pucllana pyramid (Lima Culture), Miraflores District of Lima, Perú

Historical maps

map showing Cajamarquilla site in the Ichma culture area, 1400 CE

map showing part of Reino de España, 1700 to 1800 CE

map showing part of Perú, 1900 CE

map showing part of Perú, 2000 CE

Footnotes

1. 2007 figure from the side bar of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lima, accessed 3/17/2014.
2. 2012 estimate from world-gazetteer.com, accessed 2/6/2013.
3. Emporis.com, accessed 3/17/2014.
4. Holy or Saint Rose in English.
5. UNESCO, World Heritage Sites (Firefly Books, 2010).
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_busiest_airports_in_South_America, accessed 2/25/2014.
7. Estimate for Cajamarquilla in 1400 and Lima in 1700 in Tables of the 'Cities of the Americas,' in Tertius Chandler, Four Thousand Years of Urban Growth, 2nd ed. (The Edwin Mellen Press, 1987). In 1400 Cajamarquilla (by whatever name it went by) was the largest city in what is now the Spanish-speaking part of Perú.
8. The political entity and its name is unknown.
9. ibid., "Tables of the World's Largest Cities." Lima was the largest city in the area from 1700 on.