Lima Department

Lima, sometimes called Lima Provincias or Lima region, is one of the twenty-four departments that, together with the constitutional province of Callao, make up the Republic of Peru. It is located on the central coast of the country, with the headquarters of the Regional Government of Lima located in Huacho. It is the only department with an autonomous province with a special regime: the province of Lima, administered by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima, which covers almost the entire city of Lima, the country's capital.

It borders on the north with the department of Áncash, on the northeast with the department of Huánuco and the department of Pasco, on the east with the department of Junín, on the southeast with the department of Huancavelica, on the south with the department of Ica and to the west with the constitutional province of Callao and the Pacific Ocean. It is the most populated department in the country. The department was created on November 4, 1823. Currently, in the department of Lima, there live two indigenous or native peoples: the Quechua and Jaqaru peoples, distributed in eleven peasant communities.

History

On the northern coast of the region, the first known civilization of America, Caral, emerged around the 4th millennium BC. C., with some characteristics that the later cultures of Ancient Peru maintained: the use of the quipu, regional trade and monumental religious architecture. The origin of the Aymara and Quechua linguistic families would also be located in this region. It was one of the first territories free from the Spanish Crown at independence.

Different civilizations settled in the department of Lima during the pre-Inca era, such as the Canta and the Ichma. Currently, you can see a large number of archaeological remains (geoglyphs, populated centers, pyramids) throughout its geography and among them are the archaeological sites of Caral and Bandurria which, according to recent research, are considered the oldest populated centers in all of America.

For the Inca era the entire territory of the department of Lima was included in the province or wamani of Pachacámac. This Inca province was divided between three to four Hunus (Maranga, Carabayllo, Sulco and Pachacámac-Ychsma), each of which was divided into different curacazgos.

The immediate colonial antecedent of the department of Lima is the old Municipality of Lima, which occupied, in addition to the current department, except Cajatambo and Oyón, the territories of the department of Ica and the coast of current Áncash.

General José de San Martín, on February 12, 1821, issued a Provisional Regulation, dividing the entire territory free of Spanish domination into four departments: Trujillo, Tarma, Huaylas and La Coast. The latter included Santa, Chancay and Canta. Then, according to a decree of August 4, 1821, the Department of the Capital was created, which included the districts of Cercado de la Capital, Yauyos, Cañete, Ica, and the Government of Huarochirí. Subsequently, a decree of November 4, 1823 added the Department of the Coast to the Department of the Capital, thus creating the department of Lima.

In 1835, President Salaverry split the province of Santa to create the department of Huaylas. This act was continued by Andrés de Santa Cruz the following year, and after the War of the Confederation by Agustín Gamarra, calling it Áncash. Also in 1836, the coastal province of Callao was created, henceforth separated from the Lima department. In 1855, the then president Ramón Castilla split the province of Ica and converted it into a coastal province. Eleven years later, Mariano Ignacio Prado converted it into the current department of Ica. In 1916, the province of Cajatambo, which then included the current province of Oyón, was transferred to the department of Lima. In 1985 the province of Oyón was created and separated from the province of Cajatambo.

Geography

The Lima region represents about 3% of the Peruvian territory with its territory of 35,892.49 km². It is located on the central coast of the country. It borders with the Department of Áncash to the north, with the Department of Huánuco to the northeast, with the Department of Ica to the south, with the Departments of Junín and Pasco to the east, with the Department of Huancavelica to the southeast and with the Province Constitutional Court of Callao to the west.

Its coordinates are 10° 16' 18" south latitude and extends between the meridians 76° 54' 16" and 77° 53' 2" west longitude. It houses 10 provinces and 171 districts.

Topography

Lima boasts the most Andean geography of the coast, with a violent unevenness between its beaches and its highest peaks; while other coastal departments are made up of plains or a series of high stepped plateaus. In Lima, the Andes reach the seashore, where they form large cliffs. For example, the Pasamayo hill reaches almost 1000 meters above sea level. n. m., almost vertically over the Pacific Ocean; The Andes rise gigantically less than 20 or 30 km from the sea, and their valleys (in the form of triangular inclined planes), with the summit embedded in the Andean mountain chain, barely extend 40 km in very few places.

Valleys

In the department there are or are about six valleys which are the following: the valleys of Fortaleza, Pativilca and Supe in the province of Barranca, the valley of Huaura in the province of Huaura, the valley of Chancay in the Province of Huaral and in the Cañete valley in the Province of Cañete.

Andean zone

Lima has a great variety of minerals in its Andean zone. The mines from Casapalca to San Mateo—among others—contain silver and copper, while the coal zone of the central basin reaches Oyón, 100 km away from the sea. Among the non-metallic minerals, calcium and salt stand out.

Climate

The climate of the department of Lima is subtropical, desert and humid; a microclimate with temperatures that fluctuate between temperate and warm. The average temperature is 18°C. The coast has cloudy skies from June to November, with sporadic appearances of the sun in those months, although the areas and places far from the sea in the climatic region called yunga, above 500 m above sea level. n. m. and where Chosica, Cieneguilla, La Molina and Canto Grande are located in San Juan de Lurigancho (Border with the province of Lima), they have sunny afternoons and higher average temperatures (especially if we are above 1310 meters above sea level). On the coastal coast, the mass of clouds is due to the cold waters of the Humboldt Current that run through the South Pacific Ocean, which reduces the ambient temperature between 6 and 9 °C, and therefore evaporation from the sea is lower. The garúa or drizzle is the typical rain of the region. The humidity level has a permanent average of 80%. The usual average annual temperature is 14°C during winter and 25.5°C during all summers.

Hydrography

Among the Andean heights of the region, the torrential mountain rivers must make their way, on narrow paths, to descend to the valleys. The Pativilca River, with a length of just over 120 km, flows down narrow channels and only at its mouth do they offer, as in alluvial trays, the possibility of flat lands for agriculture. The Huaura River, one of the largest, originates in the snow-capped mountains of the province of Cajatambo and flows into Huacho; Near its sources is the Oyón Pass and in its middle valley the thermomedicinal waters of Churín. The Chancay River rises in the Western Andes, in the Raura snow-capped mountain, northwest of the province of Canta, in the Verdococha, Acoscocha, and Lichicocha lagoons, located at the foot of the Alcoy glacier. The Cañete River basin is part of the provinces of Cañete and Yauyos, it rises in the Ticllacocha lagoon, located at the foot of the Ticlla and Pichahuarco mountain ranges, on the watershed divide with the Mala River.

Sea

Also called "Mar de Grau". The Lima Sea has a notable ichthyological wealth, which is different from that of the northern and southern seas. In addition, the Lima coastline has other interesting conditions; The Andes define gigantic depths, such as the underwater trenches of Chancay.

The Lima sea also has an appreciable number of islands, islets and reefs, such as the Chiquitina islands, Brava, Mazorca, Islote Pelado (between Huacho and Chancay), Asia, El Frontón, the Tarallones group (in front of Lurín), Pachacamac, etc.; most of which constitute appreciable deposits of guano.

The seaports are Supe in the province of Barranca, Huacho and Vegueta in the province of Huaura and Chancay in the province of Huaral.

Irrigation

The irrigation system with the Cañete River was the oldest and one of the most economical carried out in the XX century in Peru; at the initiative of the then Associated Electrical Companies and Hidrandina (today Edegel). Subsequently, other high-performance projects, such as those in the northern provinces such as: La Esperanza, Huaura and Chancay. They have completed the great work of rectification of Lima's geography by conquering the desert.

Administrative division

The department of Lima is made up of the following provinces:

Politics

The department of Lima is the jurisdiction of the Regional Government of Lima, with the exception of the province of Lima, which has a special regime, so the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima assumes the work of a Regional Government. All of the nine provinces that are under the jurisdiction of the Regional Government are based in the city of Huacho.

Regional authorities

• 2019-2022
  • Regional Governor: Ricardo Chavarría Oría, of Regional Force.
  • Regional Deputy Governor: Francisco Rubén Ruiz Gonzáles, of Regional Force.
  • Counsellors:
  1. Cajatambo:
     • Abel Narcissus Caquipoma Reyes (Patria Joven)
     • Vicente Sabino Rivera Loarte (Alliance for Progress)
  2. Song: Amador Seras Reinoso (Patria Joven)
  3. Cañete:
     • Alcibiades Roy Beltrán Gutiérrez (Alianza para el Progreso)
     • Carlos Alberto Faustino Calderón (Patria Joven)
  4. Huaura:
     • Eugenio Huaranga Cano (Concerting for Regional Development - Lima)
     • Víctor Fernando Terrones Mayta (Movimiento Regional Unidad Cívica Lima)
  5. Huarochirí: Hernando Pascual Livia Bartolo (Patria Joven)
  6. Yauyos:
     • Jesus Antonio Quispe Galván (Popular Force)
     • Juan Rosalino Reyes Ysla (Movimiento Regional Unidad Cívica Lima)
  7. Huaral: Jorge Hernán Arrieta Camacho (Fuerza Regional)
  8. Barranca: Teófilo Garay Sánchez (Fuerza Regional)
  9. Oyón: Wilder José Velarde Campos (Alianza para el Progreso)

Economy

It is the main center of economic-financial, services and manufacturing activity in the country. In agriculture, its tangüis cotton crops, its sugar crops, fruit trees and take-out bread products stand out. In livestock farming, the raising of cattle, sheep and pigs. In poultry farming, there are countless poultry farms; In artisanal fishing, fish and mollusks are extracted for immediate human consumption. 70% of the country's industries are concentrated in the region, from those that process fish oil and meal (in Chancay, Supe and Huacho), to others that refine oil (in La Pampilla and Conchán) and zinc (in Cajamarquilla)., or who are dedicated to metal-mechanics, textiles, manufacturing and food processing. In terms of energy, there are the Moyopampa, Huampani, Matucana, Huinco, Sheque and Cahua hydroelectric plants. In addition, there is the Santa Rosa thermal power plant. Because it is the first economy in the country, it is the most developed in areas that other departments do not consolidate and it is the most prone to suffer problems from abroad due to the importance of international trade for Peru, it controls the greatest development and at the moment the country may double its size in 2014.

Tourist places

The mountain range, crossed by streams and other tributaries of the rivers that the Rímac and Chillón rivers cross, we find the population centers of San Mateo, Matucana, Canta and Santa Rosa de Quives respectively, all of them very visited by the inhabitants of the great city of Lima especially for its proximity and sunny climate during the cloudy and gray winters of the capital.

On its wide coastline, we find beaches from Huacho in the north to Cañete in the south. The Chancay castle and the ruins of the pre-Inca fortress of Paramonga (to the north) receive many tourists. The archaeological city of Bandurria, along with the nearby one of Caral, is the oldest on the continent.

In Lunahuaná (Cañete) adventure sports are practiced, such as canoeing or paragliding. It is an area that produces fruit trees, especially grapes, and has a fairly developed wine and pisco industry.

The Lima researcher Daniel López Mazzotti describes Antioquía and the Inca trail from Nieve Nieve to Sisicaya, Tupicocha and its Lagoons, Huancaya and Vilca and its magnificent waterfalls and lagoons, the snow-capped mountains of Raura in Oyón, Ticlla in Miraflores-Yauyos, Pariacaca in Tanta, Huayhuash (Limeño sector) in Oyón and Cajatambo, the waterfalls of the middle valley of the Rímac (San Jerónimo de Surco and Matucana). In his book "A backpack in Peru" he also describes the archaeological zones of Canchaje in Lahuaytambo, Cinco Cerros and Nieve-Nieve in Antioquía, Llacsatambo in San Damián, Vichama in Vegueta, Bandurria and Caral in Barranca. *

We must not forget the wetlands of the Lima coast, a refuge for wild birds, such as the Villa swamps in Chorrillos, Paraíso and Laguna Encantada in Huacho, Medio Mundo and Vegueta in Vegueta, Chilca and Puerto Viejo, among others. Likewise, the Marcahuasi plateau, a stone forest with archaeological areas and considered a mystical center.