History of Chimbote

In 1871, an agreement was made with Henry Meiggs to build a railroad towards the interior of the country. Chimbote was classified as a port, even though its population remained around 1,000. The opening of the Pan-American Highway created easy access to Lima in the 1930s.

In 1940, Chimbote was still a small fishing port, with only 2,400 inhabitants in an urbanized area of 80 hectares (0.80 km; 0.31 sq mi)