Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
50 free Lima trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Lima is a desert city that almost never sees rain, a colonial capital founded by Francisco Pizarro on the feast of the Epiphany, and now one of the largest Spanish-speaking cities on Earth. It was the seat of the Viceroyalty of Peru for nearly three centuries, was looted by the Chilean army in the War of the Pacific, and in the past two decades has turned into the restaurant capital of the Americas. These 50 questions cover the whole span: the Quechua oracle whose name became Limaq, the three rivers that water the valley, the 1746 earthquake that flattened Callao, the guano boom, the pueblos jóvenes and the Shining Path years. There is plenty on today's city too: the Big Three football clubs, Miraflores and Barranco, the Magic Water Circuit, the Chifa restaurants of Barrio chino, Central and Maido topping the World's 50 Best, and the new Port of Chancay built with China. Easy questions stick to the obvious (the country, the ocean, the national dish); the hard tier asks about curacas, viceroys and which US engineer knocked down the city walls. Every answer is cited to a page we checked and carries a one-line explanation. Play it solo or print it for a South America night next to our Peru quiz.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Lima is the capital of which country?
Peru
Around a third of the national population lives in the metropolitan area.
Q 02Which ocean does Lima overlook?
The Pacific
It sits in the desert zone of the central coast, on the valleys of three rivers.
Q 03Which river flows through the city centre?
Rímac
The centre sits 15 km inland on its banks; it supplies drinking water and feeds hydroelectric dams.
Q 04Which conquistador founded the city in 1535?
Francisco Pizarro
He had first tried to put the capital at Jauja before settling on the Rímac valley.
Q 05Under what name was Lima founded?
City of the Kings
The foundation was decided on 6 January, the feast of the Epiphany, hence the three crowns on the coat of arms.
Q 06In coastal Quechua, the name Limaq meant what?
Talker
It referred to a famous oracle in the valley, later destroyed by the Spanish and replaced with a church.
Q 07Which seaside city holds Lima's seaport and main airport?
Callao
It is a separate Constitutional Province that forms one urban area with the capital.
Q 08Lima's international airport is named after which person?
Jorge Chávez
A new terminal opened on 1 June 2025, built to handle 40 million passengers a year by 2030.
Q 09Which South American city is more populous than Lima within city limits?
São Paulo
Lima is the largest Spanish-speaking city in the world by city-proper population.
Q 10Lima is the world's third largest desert city after Cairo and which other?
Karachi
Despite the desert, the Pacific keeps temperatures between about 12 and 30 °C all year.
Q 11What do locals call the persistent winter morning drizzle?
Garúa
It coats the streets from June to September and usually dries by early afternoon.
Q 12Lima's colourful summer sunsets are nicknamed the sky of what?
Witches
The sky turns orange, pink and red around 7 pm in the December-to-April summer.
Q 13Which cold current helps keep rainfall in Lima so low?
Humboldt
Coastal upwelling and warm air aloft create the atmospheric stability that blocks heavy rain.
Q 14Which general's arrival in 1821 led Lima to sign a Declaration of Independence?
Q 21Which insurgent group, with Túpac Amaru, was centred on Lima in the 1980s?
Shining Path
The violence added to disorderly growth and a surge of internally displaced people.
Q 22What is the Government Palace of Peru also known as?
House of Pizarro
It stands where the residential palace of the pre-Hispanic lord Taulichusco once stood.
Q 23Which local lord held the Lima valley when the Spanish arrived?
Taulichusco
He had been a servant of one of Emperor Huayna Capac's wives and was granted the land for his services.
José de San Martín
The city council invited him in after the viceroy evacuated his army in July 1821.
Q 15Which 1824 battle decided Peru's War of Independence?
Ayacucho
By then the city had changed hands many times and been badly impoverished.
Q 16Export income from which commodity funded Lima's expansion in the 1850s?
Guano
The state built the Central Market, the Penitentiary and the Dos de Mayo hospital on the proceeds.
Q 17Which US engineer demolished the colonial city walls in 1872?
Henry Meiggs
The walls had been built in the 1680s against pirates; a gate survived until a 1879 street-vendor fire.
Q 18Which neighbouring country's army occupied Lima between 1879 and 1883?
Chile
The occupiers looted museums, libraries and schools after winning at San Juan and Miraflores.
Q 19Which 1746 disaster destroyed the port and forced a huge rebuild of Lima?
An earthquake
Viceroy José Antonio Manso de Velasco led the reconstruction.
Q 20What are Lima's self-built shanty settlements called?
Pueblos jóvenes
Andean migrants drove the population from 600,000 in 1940 to 4.8 million by 1980.
Q 24Which pre-Inca pilgrimage sanctuary lies in the Lima valley?
Pachacámac
It was built between the 3rd and 15th centuries and was still in use when the conquistadors came.
Q 25What is the Peruvian term for the ancient adobe pyramids scattered across the city?
Huacas
Huallamarca, Pucllana and Mateo Salado are the best known, hemmed in by offices and apartments.
Q 26In which year was Lima's Historic Centre made a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
1988
The listing covers the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, San Francisco and the Palacio de Torre Tagle.
Q 27Which October procession is Lima's biggest religious event?
Lord of Miracles
The image leaves the Nazarenas sanctuary each year and has been the city's patron since 1715.
Q 28Which Peruvian saint is also patron of the Philippines and the Americas?
Rose of Lima
Her fellow Limeño Martín de Porres was canonised from the same 17th-century monastic city.
Q 29What is the oldest continuously operating university in the New World?
San Marcos
It was founded in 1551, 85 years before Harvard.
Q 30Lima's Plaza de Acho is the oldest what in the Americas?
Bullring
It holds 14,000 and is the second oldest of its kind in the world; the season runs October to December.