Lima (Peru)

V

Economy

Almost all of Peru’s heavy industry is located in the Lima area. To satisfy national demand for consumer goods, Lima’s industries produce textiles, clothing, and processed foods, as well as some machinery and vehicles. Lima also dominates the nation’s service sectors, including trade, finance, and retail and wholesale business. The national government has traditionally been a major employer, but has cut jobs drastically in the 1990s.

The vast majority of the nation’s imports and exports move through the city’s port of Callao, possibly the best natural harbor on South America’s west coast. National and international air carriers provide daily passenger connections through the Jorge Chavez International Airport, on the northern end of the city. Both the Pan-American Highway, which runs along the Pacific coast, and the Central Highway into the Andes connect Lima with the rest of the country. One railroad serves Lima, running from the Desamparados train station in the downtown area to the cities of Huancayo and La Oroya in the central Andes.

VI

Government

The Lima area is composed of 33 municipal districts, each with an elected mayor and city council, a central plaza and municipal building, and a city government providing a range of services. The government of the province of Lima unites the municipal districts and coordinates some urban functions. Its mayor and provincial council are also elected and operate from the municipal building on Lima’s historic Plaza de Armas. The port of Callao is the country’s only constitutional province, permitting it some independence from Lima’s political dominance. It also is governed by locally elected officials.

VII

Contemporary Issues

Lima’s rapid population growth has brought severe problems to the metropolitan area. Basic public services, especially drinking water and sewer systems, are inadequate or absent in many areas, especially the sprawling squatter settlements. Many Lima residents find themselves in dire economic straits because of both unemployment, which may range as high as 10 percent, and underemployment, which has been estimated to affect more than 50 percent of the labor force.

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Much of the city has a grimy look, caused by pollutants from vehicle exhausts and a lack of rain to wash them away. Lima’s streets are often clogged with traffic. The city has no mass rapid-transit system and only one freeway, the Paseo de la Republica, which runs about 10 km (6 mi) from the city center south to Miraflores and Barranco. Nearby coastal waters are severely polluted by sewage piped into the ocean.

VIII

History

Lima was founded by Pizarro in January 1535 and named Ciudad de los Reyes (City of the Kings), for the Christian Feast of the Epiphany, which celebrates the biblical account of the Three Kings’ visit to the Christ child. After Pizarro’s conquest of the great empire of the Inca, Lima became the capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, an administrative region covering most of Spain’s territory in South America. During nearly three centuries of colonial rule, most of Spain’s trade with South America was funneled through Callao. Lima boomed as the commercial, cultural, and governmental center of Spanish-ruled South America, growing wealthy from the vast gold and silver resources of the Andes.

Lima’s importance declined somewhat during the end of the colonial period. During the wars for Latin American independence, it was a stronghold of royalist forces who opposed separation from Spain. General José de San Martín, one of the leaders of the independence movement, took over the city in 1821, and five years later it became the capital of the independent nation of Peru. Lima maintained its position of dominance nationally and as a major South American capital during the 19th century. From 1881 to 1883 it was occupied by Chilean troops during the War of the Pacific, which forced the Peruvian government to flee into the Andean highlands.

Dramatic population growth since the 1950s has made Lima ten times larger than Peru’s next largest city. Large slums have grown up around the city and house nearly one-third of its population. During the 1980s and early 1990s the city experienced bombings, assassinations, and other attacks by the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). In December 1996, another revolutionary group, the Tupac Amarú Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), took over the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima during a holiday party, taking nearly 500 people hostage. During a four-month-long siege, the rebels demanded release of imprisoned members of the group and improved prison conditions, while releasing all but 72 hostages. The incident ended in April 1997 when Peruvian soldiers stormed the residence, killing all the MRTA members and freeing the hostages, although one hostage died.

While Lima is still a major South American city, it has been eclipsed by Buenos Aires, São Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, and its luster has been tarnished by uncontrolled growth, pollution, crime, and social disorder.

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