Last edited Tue Jun 13, 2023, 12:24 AM - Edit history (1)
Chan Chan was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America.[1] It is now an archaeological site in La Libertad Region 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of Trujillo, Peru.[2]
Chan Chan is located in the mouth of the Moche Valley[3] and was the capital of the historical empire of the Chimor from 900 to 1470,[4] when they were defeated and incorporated into the Inca Empire.[5] Chimor, a conquest state,[3] developed from the Chimú culture which established itself along the Peruvian coast around 900 AD.[6]
Chan Chan is in a particularly arid section of the coastal desert of northern Peru.[7] Due to the lack of rain in this area, the major source of nonsalted water for Chan Chan is in the form of rivers carrying surface runoff from the Andes.[4] This runoff allows for control of land and water through irrigation systems.
The city of Chan Chan spanned 20 km² and had a dense urban center of 6 km² which contained extravagant ciudadelas.[3] Ciudadelas were large architectural masterpieces which housed plazas, storerooms, and burial platforms for the royals.[8] The splendor of these ciudadelas suggests their association with the royal class.[8] Housing for the lower classes of Chan Chan's hierarchical society are known as small, irregular agglutinated rooms (SIARs).[8] Because the lower classes were often artisans whose role in the empire was to produce crafts, many of these SIARs were used as workshops.[8]
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History
Chan Chan is believed to have been constructed around 850 AD by the Chimú.[10] It was the Chimor empire capital city with an estimated population of 40,000–60,000 people.[8]
After the Inca conquered the Chimú around 1470 AD, Chan Chan fell into decline.[8] the Incas used a system called the "Mitma system of ethnic dispersion" which separated the chimú civilians into places already recently conquered by the Inca. A little over 60 years later in 1535 AD, Francisco Pizarro founded the Spanish city of Trujillo which pushed Chan Chan further into the shadows.[8] While no longer a teeming capital city, Chan Chan was still well known for its great riches and was consequently looted by the Spaniards.[8] An indication of the great Chimú wealth is seen in a sixteenth-century list of items looted from a burial tomb in Chan Chan; a treasure equivalent to 80,000 pesos of gold was recovered (nearly $5,000,000 US dollars in gold).[8]
In 1969, Michael Moseley and Carol J. Mackey began excavations of Chan Chan; today these excavations continue under the Peruvian Instituto Nacional de Cultura.[10]
More:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chan_Chan
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The Chan Chan complex, still being resurrected and studied:
You just may be amazed at the architecture of all the structures already uncovered at this site. It's astounding, I think, beyond belief! Here's the link to the thumbnails at google images:
https://tinyurl.com/3fhupnk2
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This is an artist's view of the way Chan Chan may have appeared when it was operational:
More information and video, interesting:
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