|
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central coastal part of the country, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima Metropolitan Area. With a population of almost 10 million, Lima is the most populous metropolitan area of Peru, and the third largest city in the Americas (as defined by "city proper"), just behind São Paulo and Mexico City. Lima was founded by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro on January 18, 1535, as ''Ciudad de los Reyes''. It became the capital and most important city in the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru. Following the Peruvian War of Independence, it became the capital of the Republic of Peru. Today, around one-third of the Peruvian population lives in the metropolitan area. Lima is home to one of the oldest higher learning institutions in the New World. The National University of San Marcos, founded on May 12 of 1551, during Spanish colonial regime, is the oldest continuously functioning university in the Americas. In October 2013, Lima was chosen in a ceremony in Toronto to host the 2019 Pan American Games. It also hosted the 2014 United Nations Climate Change Conference in December of that year and the Miss Universe 1982 pageant. ==Etymology== According to early Spanish chronicles the Lima area was once called ''Itchyma'', after its original inhabitants. However, even before the Inca occupation of the area in the 15th century, a famous oracle in the Rímac valley had come to be known by visitors as ''Limaq'' (Limaq, pronounced (:ˈli.mɑq), which means "talker" in coastal Quechua). This oracle was eventually destroyed by the Spanish and replaced with a church, but the name persisted in the local language, and so the chronicles show "Límac" replacing "Ychma" as the common name for the area. Modern scholars speculate that the word "Lima" originated as the Spanish pronunciation of the native name Limaq. Linguistic evidence seems to support this theory as spoken Spanish consistently rejects stop consonants in word-final position. The city was founded in 1535 under the name City of the Kings ((スペイン語:Ciudad de los Reyes)) because its foundation was decided on January 6, date of the feast of the Epiphany. Nevertheless, this name quickly fell into disuse and ''Lima'' became the city's name of choice; on the oldest Spanish maps of Peru, both ''Lima'' and ''Ciudad de los Reyes'' can be seen together as names for the city. The river that feeds Lima is called ''Rímac'', and many people erroneously assume that this is because its original Inca name is "Talking River" (the Incas spoke a highland variety of Quechua where the word for "talker" was pronounced (:ˈRimɑq)).〔http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Perú-The-Incas-Country-226473.html〕 However, the original inhabitants of the valley were not the Incas, and this name is actually an innovation arising from an effort by the Cuzco nobility in colonial times to standardize the toponym so that it would conform to the phonology of Cuzco Quechua. Later, as the original inhabitants of the valley died out and the local Quechua became extinct, the Cuzco pronunciation prevailed. In modern times, Spanish-speaking locals do not see the connection between the name of their city and the name of the river that runs through it. They often assume that the valley is named after the river; however, Spanish documents from the colonial period show the opposite to be true.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lima」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|