Historical Background

The city of Lima is a rich mixture of races and cultures. This has supplied a mosaic of interesting details to discover, from the ancient pre-Columbian temples to the colonial palaces, from neighborhoods with a veneer of times gone-by to the wild discotheques and dark taverns and also deserted beaches and idyllic scenery.

Lima now stands on an area where vast civilizations once thrived before the arrival of the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro. These great empires left numerous constructions as testimony of their existence. The Templo de Pachacamac was built to honour the Hacedor del Mundo (The Creator of the World) of the ancient Wari civilisation and is situated on the outskirts of Lima in the Lurín district.

Some of the other architectural remains called huacas found within the city are Pucllana and Huallamarca and museums filled with beautiful works of art created by these civilizations in honor of their deities. Relics from many other pre-Hispanic cultures can be found in the Museo Nacional de Antropología, Arqueología e Historia (Anthropology, Archaeology and History Museum), as well as the Museo de Oro del Perú which houses exquisite ornaments made from precious metals.

On the January 18th, 1535 Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, which was to become the capital of the Spanish Empire's most extensive Viceroyalty. The city's layout was patterned after Roman settlements, with 117 blocks built surrounding the nucleus of a main square, around which the colony's backbone institutions were erected. The Catedral, the Cabildo (town council), the governor´s house and Pizarro's own residence, which was restored in the beginning of the 20th century and is currently used as the seat of the executive branch known as the Palacio del Gobierno are all found here.

The city's colonial Cabildo was refurbished after independence from Spain, to eventually house the Palacio Municipal (seat of the Municipal authorities), its largest treasure being a library that has hardly changed since its founding. Other well known constructions from that period include the elegant mansions situated on the estates that Pizarro bestowed on the city's conquistador founders, like the Casa de Jerónimo de Aliaga, still intact after 18 generations.

Lima's many churches are the result of fervent devotion to the Catholic faith of the colony. The architectural styles run the gamut, from the Renaissance Catedral, the colonial baroque such as the Iglesia de San Francisco and exuberant Rococo of the Templo de Las Nazarenas. Thus, on virtually every street there is a church to admire for the façade as well as the works of art inside.

During the colonial era there was a succession of viceroys sent from the Hapsburg Court in Spain, among these, Francisco de Toledo is remembered. He propelled mining in the Viceroyalty on a grand scale, therefore helping to turn the Spanish Empire into a world power. Although most of the precious metals (mainly silver) were shipped to Spain, enough were retained for the creation of the local churches' beautiful altars and ornaments.

Not all was power and religion in the colony since the division of Spaniards and Native Americans into dominant and subjugated castes strictly determined social standing. However, before long a third group would appear, the Criollo (Creole)—American-born Spaniards. The term implied a cultural syncretism of old and new worlds. The Creoles were to constitute an important segment of society, one that would eventually instigate the rebellion for independence from Spain.

Peru finally gained its independence in 1824 with the support of multinational armed forces from neighboring countries making Lima a city of Creoles, Native and Afro Americans. The War of Independence was succeeded by numerous power skirmishes within the country that were to last for decades, producing a succession of different governments. The country then entered the golden age of "Guano," a highly prosperous period financed by the export, mainly to Europe, of the coveted fertilizer, found in huge amounts on the Pacific coast. Because of the boom, Lima, was embellished with parks, boulevards, monuments, museums and works of art.

During this prosperous time there was a significant influx of immigrants, both from around Europe as well as China, the so-called "Coolies," who replaced African slaves on the sugar plantations, and were used as labour to extract the guano. Lima, was and still is, a huge cultural mosaic, a condition particularly reflected in the local cuisine, which offers an exquisite variety of tastes and dishes unlike anything else in this world.

After the war against Chile in 1879, the city was left sacked and devastated. A process of reconstruction ensued that modernized the capital with grand avenues, parks and gardens, as well as cafes and other bohemian hangouts. The peak of this period of restructuring was during the government of Augusto Leguía in the early part of the 20th Century. He commissioned the great public works that established the foundations of the modern city, like Avenida Arequipa with its important buildings, and the Escuela de Bellas Artes (School of Fine Arts).

The following decades witnessed a demographic explosion and migration from the country to the city, which forced Lima to grow in a chaotic, disorderly manner. However, the old city center and republican avenues still stand as testimony to the colonial origins of this beautiful city.

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