History of Lima Reforms. The population of Lima played an ambivalent role in the 1821–1824 Peruvian War of Independence; the city suffered exactions from Royalist and Patriot armies alike. After independence, Lima became the capital of the Republic of Peru. It enjoyed a short period of prosperity in the mid-19th century until the 1879–1883 War of the Pacific when it was occupied and looted by Chilean troops. After the war, the city went through a period of demographic expansion and urban renewal. Population growth accelerated in the 1940s spurred by immigration from the Andean regions of Peru. This gave rise to the proliferation
Lima Province territories of present-day Lima, Callao and Ica regions, and the provinces of Casma, Huarmey and Santa, which later would be part of the La Costa Department. The department was further subdivided as time passed but the Lima Province kept being part of it. Due to the massive migration from other areas of the country, the need to separate the province from the rest of the department was forecast by experts. In 2002, the new regionalization law passed by President Alejandro Toledo made the Lima Province a separate entity from the rest of the newly created Lima Region. The province is