Limas history doesn’t only start with the foundation of the colonial city by Francisco Pizarro in 1535. The area where we can find Lima City and Province today, was already inhabited many thousands years before that. The history of Lima before the Spanish colonization is full of rich and unique cultures, but also reflects a long process, where human kind develops its skills and makes the dessert stripe between Pacific Ocean and the Andes a habitable place and a green oasis.

The first inhabitants, who settled in the Lima area already around 10.000 years ago, were fishermen, hunter and gatherers who slowly began to discover and develop agriculture. From today’s Ancón in the north to Pucusana in the south and along the valleys of the three very important rivers (even for today’s Lima) Chillón, Rimac and Lurín small settlements with very simple huts arose during 8000 BC and 6000 BC. Archeological findings of stone instruments along the Chillón River can be associated with the ‘litico’ period (approx. 7500 BC) and are so far the oldest proofs of human existence in Peru.

Nevertheless, the first real communities were located in the Chilca - Pucusana - San Bartholo area in the south (around 5500 BC to 4500 BC) and in the Ancón area (north).

Due to the amount of pictures and text, this page has been split into individual segments for the different cultures.