18 January: Lima, Peru

On this date in 1535, Francisco Pizarro founded Lima, Peru. 10 things you might not know about Peru’s capital city:

1. Lima is the fifth largest city in South America. It covers a total area of 2,672 square km (1,032 square miles) and has a population of around 10 million people.

2. The name comes from the Quecha word Limaq, which means "talker" or "speaker". There was once a famous oracle based in the area. The oracle was destroyed by the Spanish and replaced with a church, but the name persisted.

3. Pizzaro named his new city “The City of Kings” or “La Ciudad de Los Reyes”. This might have been because it was founded around the time of the Epiphany holiday (in the Julian Calendar) also known as Three Kings Day. Others claim that he actually named the city in honour of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and his mother, Joanna of Castile.

4. It is situated on a desert strip squeezed between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes Mountains. This means it is the second largest desert city in the world after Cairo in Egypt. 80% of the Water supply comes from the Rimac River, which runs across Lima, although without canals built by ancient civilizations water supply would potentially be even more of an issue. As it is, 8% of the population has no access to drinking water.

5. Lima never actually experiences heavy Rain – only drizzle.

6. It’s the only South American capital to be built overlooking the sea.

7. A huge wall was erected around the entire city in 1658 to defend Lima from pirates.

8. One of the world’s smallest churches can be found here. The 17^th century Chapel Our Lady of the Rosary – Nuestra Señora del Rosario is located in Rimac in downtown Lima and measures 4.8 metres (16 ft) wide, 11.8 metres (39 ft long) and 9.7 metres (32 ft) tall.

9. There is a museum in the city dedicated to the Spanish Inquisition. (Bet you weren’t expecting that!)

10. Black Vultures, or gallinazos as the locals call them, are very common here. The city authorities make use of the birds by fitting cameras to them in order to catch people who fly tip or dump illegally.