LIMA BEAN

any of a variety of legumes of the species Phaseolus limensis widely cultivated for their edible seeds. See bean. History Pre-Columbian and colonial periods The area around Lima has been inhabited for thousands of years. Urban communities of significant size date from the pre-Inca Early Intermediate Period (c. 200 BCAD 600), the most important being Pachacamac, which was an important religious site in both pre-Inca and Inca times. Much of the ransom demanded by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro for the Inca chief Atahuallpa (Atahualpa) was obtained from Pachacamac. The Spanish city of Lima was founded by Pizarro on Jan. 6, 1535, which, being Epiphany, prompted the name Ciudad de los Reyes (City of Kings). Although the name never stuck, Lima soon became the capital of the new viceroyalty of Peru, chosen over the old Inca capital of Cuzco to the southeast because the coastal location facilitated communication with Spain. Lima developed into the centre of wealth and power for the entire viceroyalty: as the seat of the audiencia (high court), it administered royal justice; and, being the headquarters in the viceroyalty of the Inquisition, it pronounced on religious and moral matters. From the late 17th to the mid-19th century, however, Lima grew extremely slowly in both area and population. The city was devastated by a powerful earthquake in 1746. Although the city was rebuilt in grandiose fashion, influenced heavily by the European Enlightenment, it remained politically conservative and socially stratified. Lima maintained its loyalty during the struggles for Latin-American independence in the early 19th century, with Peru becoming the last mainland colony to declare its independence from Spain (July 1821). The modern city Lima's development into a modern city began after the completion of the LimaCallao railroad in 1851. Interurban railway links to Miraflores, Ancn, and Chosica followed in the next 20 years and provided the opportunity for suburban growth. The small, compact, pedestrian city gradually lost its wealthier residents, who physically distanced themselves from the lower classes by building mansions in and around Miraflores. A new wave of urban expansion in the 1920s and '30s was set off by the automobile and the subsequent road-building program that improved transportation not only within the capital but also between Lima and other parts of the country. For the first time, migrants could reach Lima relatively easily, and this rich, powerful, and modernizing centre became a national magnet. The consequences for Lima were drastic. From 1940 to 1980 some 2,000,000 people moved to the city. Hundreds of thousands of shanties were constructed on the bare, unoccupied slopes that rose above the red-tiled roofs of the inner suburbs and on the flat desert benches that encircled Lima. Individual acts of occupying unused and unclaimed pieces of land gave way to well-planned invasions involving many hundreds of new city residents. So enormous became the numbers of the self-help housing units that the government finally yielded to the residents' initiatives, awarding titles to the land and trying to provide basic services. The problems of overcrowding, inadequate services, and poverty have become so severe, however, that the suggestion has been made to move the capital from Lima to Cuzco.