Lima

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Lima Capital and largest city of Peru, on the River Rímac at the foot of the Cerro San Cristóbal. Francisco Pizarro founded Lima in 1535. It functioned as the capital of Spain's New World colonies until the 19th century. Chilean forces occupied Lima during the War of the Pacific (1881–83). It is the commercial and cultural centre of Peru. With the oil-refining port of Callao, the Lima metropolitan area forms the third-largest city of South America, and handles more than 75% of all Peru's manufacturing. Lima has the oldest university (1551) in the Western Hemisphere. Pop. (2000) 7,497,000.

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