Reconstruction Process and Social Issues After the 1746 Earthquake and Tsunami in Peru: Past and Present Challenges After Tsunami Events - Post-Tsunami Hazard: Reconstruction and Restoration - page 97

7.2 Lima and Callao Before the Earthquake

7.2.1 The City of Lima

The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro founded Lima in 1535. In 1746, Peru
had been under Spanish colonial control for more than 200 years and had experi-
enced several earthquakes during that time (1555, 1586, 1609, 1630, 1655, 1678
and 1687), the largest of which, according to the manuscripts of Fray Antonio
Vasquez de Espinosa, 2 occurred on July 9, 1586. Despite these catastrophic events,
in the New World of the eighteenth century, Lima was described as a city that had
achieved perfection (Lozano 1748 ; Odriozola 1863 ).
Before the 1746 earthquake, Lima was a fortifi ed city with a small suburb out-
side the city walls. The city was located approximately 8 km from the coast. The
city plan shown in Fig. 7.1 displays a grid of narrow streets, 24 churches identifi ed

Fig. 7.1 Lima city prior to the earthquake and tsunami of 1746 (Source: Silgado 1978 ,
INGEMMET/CERESIS. http://www.ceresis.org/intensidades/hist/776.html )

2 N/A-1630, Spanish monk of the Discalced Carmelites who describes his journeys through Mexico
and Peru in manuscripts discovered at the Vatican Library in 1929.