Lima

The valleys of the Rímac, Chillón and Lurín rivers were settled long before the Spanish arrived. The Lima culture raised adobe pyramids such as Huaca Pucllana, the Wari later dominated the area, and in the centuries before the Inca the valley belonged to the Lordship of Ichma, whose great oracle at Pachacamac drew pilgrims from far along the coast. Francisco Pizarro founded the Spanish city in January 1535 on the lands of the chief Taulichusco, naming it the City of the Kings after the Epiphany.

Lima became the capital and most important city of the Viceroyalty of Peru, with Callao as its port. Violent earthquakes destroyed much of it between 1586 and 1687, and the 1687 earthquake coincided with a trade recession as Buenos Aires and other cities competed for commerce. In 1746 a strong earthquake severely damaged Lima and destroyed Callao, and the viceroy José Antonio Manso de Velasco led the rebuilding. During the War of the Pacific the Chilean army occupied the city after the battles of San Juan and Miraflores.

In the 20th century mass migration from the interior transformed the capital: its population, estimated at 600,000 in 1940, reached 1.9 million by 1960 and 4.8 million by 1980, as new settlements spread over farmland and up the desert hills. The Metropolitano bus system opened in 2007, a new airport terminal in June 2025, and the city was chosen in 2024 to host the Pan American Games for the second time, in 2027.

In 1991 UNESCO extended its 1988 World Heritage listing of the convent of San Francisco to Lima's historic centre, for its many viceregal-era monuments, and its churches remain centres of devotion. Among the largest religious processions in the world is that of the Señor de los Milagros each October, when a colonial-era image of Christ is carried through the streets by crowds dressed in purple. The Lord of Miracles was named patron of the city by the town council in 1715 and patron of the Peruvian Catholic Church in 2010.

The city's culture mixes criollo traditions with those of Andean migrants, Afro-Peruvians, and Chinese and Japanese families. Barranco is regarded as Lima's bohemian and artistic centre, home to many of the country's leading artists, musicians and photographers. In 1960 Chabuca Granda dedicated her waltz El puente de los suspiros to the district's wooden footbridge.

Food is central to the city's modern identity. Lima's restaurants are counted among the best in the world, and in 2025 Maido was named the Best Restaurant in the World. The surf beaches below the cliffs of the Costa Verde, the clifftop parks of Miraflores and the Kennedy Park cats are as much a part of local life as the museums.

About 10 million people lived in the Lima Metropolitan Area in 2023, forming one continuous urban area with Callao, and around a third of all Peruvians live in the capital. The contrast between districts is sharp: San Juan de Lurigancho, San Martín de Porres, Ate, Comas, Villa El Salvador and Villa María del Triunfo each hold more than 400,000 people, while Barranco and San Isidro have fewer than 60,000. Most of the population lives in the districts that spread north, east and south across the desert, which grew from the shanty towns, or pueblos jóvenes, that migrants founded on invaded land.

Economic, political and financial power are concentrated in Lima to a degree that dominates the whole country. San Isidro has become the main financial quarter as banks and companies moved out of the old centre, and the Gamarra district in La Victoria is the centre of the city's textile trade. The daily commute across the city can take hours, despite the Metropolitano and the metro lines.

Crime and extortion dominate public debate, and a state of emergency was declared for Lima and Callao in October 2025. The chronic shortage of water in a desert city of this size is a constant concern.

Lima is the capital of Peruvian cooking. Ceviche, raw fish cured in lime juice with onion and chilli, is served in cebicherías, and many serve a small glass of the marinade, leche de tigre, as an appetiser. The criollo kitchen adds causa limeña, chilled layers of seasoned yellow potato with a filling of chicken or tuna, and ají de gallina, chicken in a creamy yellow-chilli sauce. Anticuchos, skewers of beef heart, are grilled on street corners, and chicharrón, pork deep-fried in its own fat, is eaten at any time of day, breakfast included.

Chinese immigrants gave the city chifa, and chifas, counted in the hundreds or thousands, are mostly down-to-earth neighbourhood places; the Barrio Chino around Calle Capón is the historic home of the cuisine. Nikkei cooking, from the Japanese-Peruvian community, gave tiradito, a cousin of ceviche with the fish cut in thin slices. The Central Market stands beside Chinatown in Barrios Altos.

For something sweet there are picarones, rings of squash and sweet-potato dough fried and served with syrup, and suspiro a la limeña, a caramel custard under meringue. The usual drinks are the pisco sour, chicha morada made from purple corn, and the bright yellow Inca Kola.