General Information Lima is a big city situated at the mouth of the river Rimac in the Pacific Ocean, and extends for many miles along the coast.
Although it is located in the desert, has a rather mild climate, characterized however from moisture and mists. The city life is very active and fervent, enriched by cultural initiatives and new premises. Lima has a role of primary importance in the cultural field: there have seat in fact various universities, including the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos de Lima (the oldest of South America, founded in 1551) that comprises the humanistic faculties and scientific high level, and is associated with a foundation that is applied in the field of social studies and development aid. The historic center of Lima was included by UNESCO in 1988 on the list of world heritage. Just a few kilometers from the city is the famous archeological center of Pachacamac.
Town planning The first urban center was founded in the hinterland of the coastline, on the left bank of the river, but the city developed as both toward W both toward S, incorporating the existing centers, for which today is practically linked to Callao (10 km W), its natural outlet on the Pacific and major port of the country. The population, which exceeded 50,000 inhabitants already in 1775, has grown rather slowly in the XIX century (up to 120,000 ab.), and then explode in the twentieth century, and particularly in the second half of it: from 540,000 inhabitants in 1940 to 1,700,000 in 1960 and to 4 million in 1980, still doubled in the next twenty years. The process of urbanization that has characterized the growth of the city has not happened without environmental imbalances and social: on the one hand, in fact, the peripheries include agglomerations precarious (barriadas), occupied by immigrants without often essential services; on the other, the construction, more or less unfair, have involved the old agricultural areas, on a surface of over 2000 km². Also the production locations, although mainly concentrated in the direction of Callao were carried untidily, sometimes in full of residential areas. From everything they have resulted in serious problems of congestion of urban traffic, only partially resolved by the opening of some of the major roads with radial development (including the Paseo de la Republica, toward S) and by the existence of railways intraurbane: among these, the line for Callao, built in 1850, is the oldest of South America.
History The city was founded on 18 January 1535 by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, that the Baptized Ciudad de los Reyes in honor of the Spanish monarchs. The name of Lima seems to be due to a corruption of Rimac, river on the Riva is placed the city. Lima was the richest and most beautiful capital of the Spanish colonies. Its decline began after the independence of Peru (1821). In the XX century, instead, especially after the opening of the Channel of Panama, the city was again developed. Art The city retains the road system at regular chessboard, with large squares, porticos and fountains, tracks that intersect regularly and flanked by low houses. On the Royal square overlooking the cathedral of the Assumption (first phase 1540-64; second 1582-98, on a project by Francisco Becerra), in colonial style, seriously damaged and rebuilt after the earthquake of 1606, 1609, 1687, 1746; inside keeps the tomb of Pizarro. The Church and the convent of San Domenico (consecrated in 1547) are the oldest religious monument of Lima, in part still in late gothic style. The church of San Francesco (1656-74), the architect Galician Constantino de Vasconcelos, presents inside a vaulted ceiling, dome, arches and decorations of Moorish type, and is part of a grandiose complex that also includes a convent. Notable examples of architecture churrigueresca are the church and the convent of the Mercede and the facade of the church of San Agostino. The civil architecture is mostly back to the earthquake of 1746 (Only the House of Pilate, of the XVI century, reflects the first Spanish style), of baroque style Andalusian (Palazzo dei Marchesi di Torre Tagle; Villa de grip). Very characteristic are the wooden balconies. The Museo de Arte conserves archaeological material (testimonies of sixteen pre-Columbian cultures) and works of art of the colonial and union from the sixteenth century to XX.
The Gold Museum of Peru collects especially precious jewels of pre-Columbian era, collected in collections which highlight the historic and symbolic value and; there is also take temporary exhibitions of modern artists. Economy Lima is the most important industrial center, seat of complex foods, textiles (wool, cotton), chemical (nitrogenous fertilizers, synthetic fibers), pharmaceutical, locksmith, tanning, petrochemical, footwear, cement, tobacco and furniture. A certain importance has the tourism, also favored by approximately 130 kilometers of beach and from the city are within easy reach. Important financial center, the city is the maximum commercial emporium of Peru, served by the international airport Jorge Chavez and located on the carretera panamericana, to convergence of road and railway line of large traffic, as the coastal line that joins to Huacho and those of the Andes from Cerro de Pasco and from Huancayo (initially the railway network was primarily intended to transport of mining products). Add and sm. [by the name of Quechua]. Amerindia language, also called quichua or Norse rune-simi, even today spoken, that boasts a prestigious past having been before the official language of the Incas, then the lingua franca of which served the Spanish missionaries, after the conquest, in their work of evangelization (was considerably enlarged the area of diffusion of the Quechua). In Bolivia the Quechua is official language together with Spanish and aymará, while from 1975 is also the official language of Peru to the equal of Spanish.
The Lexicon (Lett. spagnuòlo), add and sm. (f. - a). The concerning the Spain: art, history, civilization Spanish; inhabitant or native of Spain; the language spoken in Spain and in the whole of Latin America with the exception of Brazil. In particular: spanish fever (or spanish only as sf.), one of the great flu pandemics. Linguistics The Spaniard has as its basis the Castilian dialect, which is imposed by the edict of Toledo (1253) and went gradually extending, also by virtue of its cultural supremacy and politics with the Reconquista. Remain in Spain three important linguistic minorities: Catalan, Basque and Galician. The first direct claims of spanish are Glosses of the X century (formed not only by simple words, but also by sentences) which are read in Latin manuscripts: the most famous are the Glosas Emilianenses and the Glosas Silenses. After various and considerable literary productions, the language was for the first time coded and fixed by Elio Antonio de Nebrija in its fundamental Gramática en lengua castellana which was published precisely in 1492 when the spanish was about to become the language of the New World, enriched so new vocabulary, derived from languages American Indians, who often from Spanish spread also to other European languages. As this event, so also other historical events left their traces in the lexicon Spanish: Iberian substrate preromano emerges above all in the toponymy; the presence of the Visigoths, the Vandals and the Swabians shines not only from the onomastics, but also by a certain number of terms certainly of Germanic origin (for example ganso, duck); the arab domination for its duration and for its prestige gave, naturally, to Spanish the greatest number of loans lexical and partly passed then also to other European languages. Especially in the XV and XVI penetrated in spanish also lexical items (Italian bank, carroza, Centinela); in different periods, but especially in the XVIII and XIX, you did feel also the French influence (jardín). The main characteristics of the spanish are: In phonetics, dittongazione of ĕ ŏ, tonics also in closed syllable (tierra, Puerta), the passage of f--h- before voice and the reduction of li in j (hijo, Latin filius), the palatalizzazione of ct in ch (ocho, Latin Octo) and cl and pl in ll (llave, Latin clavis; lleno, Latin plenus); in the morphology, the conservation of -s (meses, menses Latin), Comparative with más (Latin magis); in the syntax, the animated object governed by the preposition to (the mother loves to hijo, the mother loves the Son). In the complex spanish appears more conservative Catalan, but less of the Portuguese. The main varieties spanish dialect are the leonese and the Aragonese. Characteristic of the ispanoamericano are the phonetic phenomena of seseo (i.e. the pronunciation of c next to and, i, and z as s) and the yeísmo (i.e. the pronunciation of ll as y, and Argentina also as ǧ, ž), and morphology of the so-called voseo (i.e. the use of the pronoun vos instead of tu). The Jews expelled from Spain in 1492, and refugees mostly in Turkey and in the Balkan Peninsula, have preserved until today their language, the Judeo-spanish, albeit more or less influenced by languages with which it is in contact. (República de Colombia). The state of South America (1.141.748 km²). Capital city: Bogotá.
Administrative division: provinces (33). Population: 44.450.260 ab. (estimate 2008). Language: Spanish (official), the Indians of the plateau use the chibcha language, those of Selva idioms of the Amazon. Religion: Catholic 92.5%, Protestants 2.8%, Muslims 0.2%, other 4.5%. Monetary unit: Colombian weight (100 cents). Index of human development: 0.787 (80 th place). Borders: Mar of the Antilles (N), Venezuela and Brazil (E), Peru and Ecuador (S), Pacific Ocean (W), Panama (NW). Member of: OAS, the UN and the WTO, associated with MERCOSUR. General Information His name, literally "Land of Colón", recalls the Spanish name of the discoverer of America. Crossed by the Equator is located in full dominion inter-tropical territorially and corresponds to the section furthest north of the andean region; faces toward the Pacific Ocean to the W and toward the Mar of the Netherlands Antilles to N, and from this derive its main geographical character. A and incorporates a vast territorial section that is part of the Amazon basin and the Orinoco. A S conventional boundaries separate him from Peru (Convention of 1927) and from Ecuador . The Country extends over a large part of the territory already colonized by chibcha, but the harsh Spanish occupation was radically changed the way of living of the population. The colonization also determined that profound ethnic mixing that has reduced the Indians in the minority in respect of mestizos and creoles. Famous, at the time of the Spanish Conquest, for the richness of the indigenous, Colombia has become known in recent decades of the twentieth century, especially for the internal turbulence for the succession of bloody civil wars, for the production and the international drug trade. The guerrillas has played an important role from the 1940's; then, in the Sixties, the movement was further fragmented to represent the various programs of Marxism. Status Independent since 1819, the country has made part of the Federation of the Great Colombia until 1830, assuming the present structure and designation in 1886. On the basis of the Constitution of 1991, Colombia is a presidential republic. The Head of State is elected by universal suffrage, lasts 4 years and he may be re-elected, according to reform the fundamental text of 2004, for a second mandate. As Head of Government, guide the executive consists of ministers from himself appointed. The legislative activity is carried out by the Congress that is composed of the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate, both of which are elected every four years by universal suffrage. The judicial system in use is based on the Spanish law, flanked between 2004 and 2008 by a new Code of Criminal Procedure, modeled on that of the US. The country do not transpose the international emanations. Justice is administered, to its maximum extent from the Supreme Court; other members present are the Council of State, the Constitutional Court and the Superior Council of the judiciary. At the municipal level, provincial and district also operate minor courts. The defense system of the State provides for recourse to the three traditional forces: Army, aviation, marina, which adds a coastguard. The military service, lasting 18 months for the compulsory lever, can also be carried out on a voluntary basis. The minimum age in both cases is 18 years. Education is free and compulsory for the entire cycle of the primary school, which lasts five years and has beginning at 6 years of age. Secondary education lasts six years and is divided into two classes, respectively of a duration of four and two years, after which it is possible to gain access to the university. Higher education is imparted in public and private universities; between public ones, the most important are the university of Antioquia (Medellin, 1803), Colombia (Bogota, 1867), Atlantic (Barranquilla, 1941), of the valley (Cali, 1945), of Santander (1947).
Between private ones there are the Pontifical University of Bolivia (Medellin, 1936) and the Pontifical University Javeriana (Bogotá, 1937). The fight against illiteracy, carried out in a capillary manner starting from a constitutional reform in 1945, has led to the progressive reduction of illiteracy, in sharp decline in recent years of the twentieth century (7,3% in 2007). Territory: Morphology The Colombian territory can be structurally divided into two essential sections; a western, mountainous, an oriental, flat (for Colombians is the East). The western section, Andean countries, is formed by a triple mountainous alignment: the Cordillera Oriental, the Cordillera Central and the Cordillera Occidental, which are tied in the plateau of meal, in the southern part of the country near the border with Ecuador. Between the cordigliere, oriented in the direction of Meridiana submeridiana or opens the big and long valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena, which leads to N in a wide plain facing the Mar of the Antilles. The Cordillera Oriental is the most complex from an orographic point of view, of the three mountainous alignments. In its central portion it widens considerably and is formed by a series of plateaus placed at an average of 2500 m of height, as that of Cundinamarca where is located the capital; toward N, after vigorous relief of the Sierra Nevada of Cocuy (5493 m) bifurcates into two chains that enclose the tectonic depression occupied by Lake Maracaibo: the Cordillera de Merida, that unfolds in Venezuelan territory, and the Sierra de Perija (whose protrusions form the peninsula of Guajira), to which is fastened the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, giant granite Horst that reaches 5800 m of height, overlying from near the coast caribica. The Cordillera Central has a relief more vigorous than Oriental, species in the median section where you elevate some high volcanic cones, between which the Nevado del Huila (5750 m) and the Nevado del Tolima (5215 m); toward N the Cordillera widens into a series of plateaus sloping down to the plain of the Magdalena, where the chain pushes some long hilly appendages, as the Serranía de San Jerónimo. The Cordillera Occidental is more compact, uniform, but is on the whole less high of other (rarely reaches 4000 m). Its external side descends toward the coastal plain of the Pacific, alluvial band crossed by rivers Andean and whose contour is fragmented into a series of islands and deltizie formations. In the most northern part the plain is bordered by a low alignment mountainous, the Serranía de Baudó, which continues the western corrugations of the Isthmus of Panama.
The Colombian relief is generally the result of corrugations cenozoici, who raised formations mainly mesozoiche and paleozoiche; these latter, very metamorphosed, predominate in the Cordillera Central, in which appear even mighty masses of intrusive rocks and extensive volcanic coverings in correspondence of the great volcanoes that surmount the chain (particularly vigorous was the vulcanesimo in the area of meal). The formations cenozoiche cover some sections of the valleys of the Magdalena and the Cauca, over which the coastal plains, although they are often obliterate floods recent. In the complex of the andean region of Colombia is one of the most bitter of the entire system for the deep valleys that divide the steepness of the slopes, the variety of morphologies. The East is instead a zone from the structure very little disturbed. Territory: hydrography Idrograficamente the Colombian territory belongs to both the pacific basin is especially that of the atlantic (including caribico).
The Andean section has its hydrographic axs in the Magdalena River and its tributary Cauca, that meander parallel in long valleys between the cordigliere, gradually expanding their valley floors toward the coastal plain caribica, where converge. The Magdalena is one of the most important rivers in South America (the greater among those Andean entirely): already in Puerto Berrío, i.e. at approx. 800 km from the mouth deltizia (at Barranquilla), begins to be navigable; the Cauca is instead for over 600 km. Other minor tributaries of caribico basin are the Sinú and the Atrato, flowing between the Cordillera Occidental and Serranía de Baudó, ushering in a deep cove of Darien, depressionaria area that represents the structural limit of the Central American isthmus. The pacific basin belong the numerous but small rivers that descend from the external side of the Cordillera Occidental. On the eastern slopes of the Andes, which belongs to the pelvis Atlantic, the Hydrographic division main is between the tributaries of the Orinoco and those of the Amazon. The first converge toward two major rivers, the goal and the Guaviare, that arise in the middle section of the Cordillera Oriental and slide toward the lowlands of the Orinoco incising the penepiano interposed with fast courses, often broken by waterfalls (as subsequent saltos Angostura on river Guaviare). The rivers of the amazon are essentially represented by the Apaporis and from Caquetá, beyond that from the Putumayo, which marks the border with Peru. All these eastern rivers have the lower course navigable and represent the axs of penetration of the region: their regime is scarcely subject to seasonal variations, given that develop precisely in the equatorial band.
The Colombian relief is generally the result of corrugations cenozoici, who raised formations mainly mesozoiche and paleozoiche; these latter, very metamorphosed, predominate in the Cordillera Central, in which appear even mighty masses of intrusive rocks and extensive volcanic coverings in correspondence of the great volcanoes that surmount the chain (particularly vigorous was the vulcanesimo in the area of meal). The formations cenozoiche cover some sections of the valleys of the Magdalena and the Cauca, over which the coastal plains, although they are often obliterate floods recent. In the complex of the andean region of Colombia is one of the most bitter of the entire system for the deep valleys that divide the steepness of the slopes, the variety of morphologies. The East is instead a zone from the structure very little disturbed. Territory: hydrography Idrograficamente the Colombian territory belongs to both the pacific basin is especially that of the atlantic (including caribico).