Lima
Visitors who go to Peru usually arrive in Lima, the country's capital and largest city. Most people only spend a short time here before heading to Cuzco, the Nazca Lines, Machu Picchu, or other more interesting sites. Lima was founded in 1535 by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro near where the Rímac River empties into the Pacific Ocean. He called his settlement Ciudad de los Reyes, or City of the Kings. However, the local Indian name, Lima, persisted and the city was eventually renamed. (Lima may come from the Aymara word lima-limaq meaning "yellow flower," or the Quechua word rímac meaning "talking").Lima soon became the most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. In the seventeenth century, the city flourished as the center of a Spanish trade network that extended to Europe and the Philippines. In 1821, Peru gained its independence from Spain, and Lima became the new...
