Chimú Culture
Encyclopedia
The Chimú were the residents of Chimor
, with its capital at the city of Chan Chan
, a large adobe city in the Moche Valley of present-day Trujillo, Peru
. The culture arose about 900 AD. The Inca ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui
led a campaign which conquered the Chimú around 1470 AD,.
This was just fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Consequently, Spanish chroniclers were able to record accounts of Chimú culture from individuals who had lived before the Inca conquest. Similarly, Archaeological evidence suggest Chimor grew out of the remnants of Moche
culture; early Chimú pottery had some resemblance to that of the Moche. Their ceramics are all black, and their work in precious metals is very detailed and intricate.
The Chimú resided on the north coast of Peru
: "It consists of a narrow strip of desert, 20 to 100 miles wide, between the Pacific and the western slopes of the Andes, crossed here and there by short rivers which start in the rainier mountains and provide a series of green and fertile oases." The valley plains are very flat and well-suited to irrigation, which is probably as old as agriculture here. Fishing was also very important and was almost considered as important as agriculture.
The Chimú were known to have worshipped the moon
, unlike the Inca, who worshiped the sun. The Chimu viewed the sun as a destroyer. This is likely due to the harshness of the sun in their desert environment. Offerings played an important role in religious rites. A common object for offerings, as well as one used by artisans, was the shell of the Spondylus
shellfish, which live only in the warm coastal waters off present-day Ecuador
. It was associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility. Spondylus
shells were also highly valued and traded by the Chimú.
The Chimú are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper
, gold
, silver
, bronze
, and tumbago (copper and gold). The pottery is often in the shape of a creature, or has a human figure sitting or standing on a cuboid
bottle. The shiny black finish of most Chimú pottery was achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln
, which prevented oxygen
from reacting with the clay
.
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language of the area that is believed to have disappeared before the beginning of the Inca Empire. Quingnam was spoken by ethnic Chimú, who lived in the former territories of the Mochicas: an area north of the Chicama Chao River Valley. At the height of Chimú conquests, the language was spoken extensively from the Jequetepeque River in the north, to the Carabayllo (near present-day Lima
) in the south. It was the language that prevailed in the Chimú culture.
Linguists have found that Quingnam was related to the language of the earlier Moches, Mochica or Muchik. The Chimú spoke Mochica or Muchik as the common language. Chimú fishermen had developed an occupational dialect referred to as "fisherwoman language" by the Spanish missionaries. A letter found during excavations at Magdalena de Cao Viejo in the El Brujo Archaeological Complex
may contain translations of numbers written in Quingnam using the decimal system.
The Quingnam language became extinct shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, primarily due to:
is Early Chimú. Early Chimú is also known as the Moche
or Mochica civilization. The start of this Early Chimú time period is not known (although it was BC), but it ends around 500 A.D. It was centered in the Chicama, Moche
, and Viru valleys. "Many large pyramids are attributed to the Early Chimú period." (37) These pyramids are built of adobe
in rectangular shapes made from molds.
"Early Chimú cemeteries are also found without pyramid associations. Burials are usually in extended positions, in prepared tombs. The rectangular, adobe-lined and covered tombs have niches in their walls in which bowls were placed." (39)
The Early pottery is also characterized by realistic modeling and painted scenes.
The mature Chimú culture developed in roughly the same territory where the Mochica had existed centuries before. The Chimú was also a coastal culture. It was developed in the Moche Valley south of present-day Lima, northeast of Huarmey
, and finishing in central present-day Trujillo
. Later it expanded to Arequipa
.
The Chimú appeared in the year 900 A.D: "The City of Chimor was at the great site now called Chanchan, between Trujilo and the sea, and we may assume that Taycanamo founded his kingdom there. His son, Guacri-caur, conquered the lower part of the valley and was succeeded by a son named Nancen-pinco who really laid the foundations of the Kingdom by conquering the head of the valley of Chimor
and the neighboring valleys of Sana, Pacasmayo, Chicama, Viru, Chao and Santa." (39)
The estimated founding date of the Chimú Kingdom
is in the first half of the 14th century. Nacen-pinco was believed to have ruled around 1370 CE and was followed by seven rulers whose names are not yet known. Minchancaman followed these rulers, and was ruling around the time of the Inca conquest (between 1462 and 1470). This great expansion is believed to have occurred during the late period of Chimú civilization, called: Late Chimú, but the development of the Chimú territory spanned a number of phases and more than a single generation. Nacen-pinco, "may have pushed the imperial frontiers to Jequetepeque and to Santa, but conquest of the entire region was an agglutinative process initiated by earlier rulers." (17)
The Chimú expanded to include a vast area and many different ethnic groups. At its peak, the Chimú advanced to the limits of the desert coast, to the Jequetepeque Valley in the north, and Carabayallo in the south. Their expansion southward was stopped by the military power of the great valley of Lima. Historians and archeologists contest how far south they managed to expand.
The Chimú society was a four-level hierarchical system, with a powerful elite rule over administrative centers. The hierarchy was centered at the walled cities, called ciudadelas, at Chan Chan
. The political power at Chan Chan is demonstrated by the organization of labor to construct the Chimú's canal
s and irrigated fields.
Chan Chan was the top of the Chimu hierarchy, with Farfán in the Jequetepeque Valley as a subordinate. This organization, which was quickly established during the conquest of the Jequetepeque Valley, suggests the Chimú established the hierarchy during the early stages of their expansion. The existing elite at peripheral locations, such as the Jequetepeque Valley and other centers of power, were incorporated into the Chimú government on lower levels of the hierarchy. These lower-order centers managed land, water, and labor, while the higher-order centers either moved the resources to Chan Chan or carried out other administrative decisions. Rural sites were used as engineering headquarters, while the canals were being built; later they operated as maintenance sites. The numerous broken bowls found at Quebrada del Oso support this theory, as the bowls were probably used to feed the large workforce that built and maintained that section of canal. The workers were probably fed and housed at state expense.
The state governed such social classes until imperial Sican
conquered the kingdom of Lambayeque
. The legends of war were said to have been told by the leaders Naylamp in the Sican language and Tacayanamo in Chimú. The people paid tribute to the rulers with products or labor. By 1470, the Incas from Cuzco defeated the Chimú. They moved Minchancaman to Cuzco, and redirected gold and silver there to adorn the Temple of the Sun.
due to the elite's controlled access to information. The economic and social system operated through the import of raw materials, where they were processed into prestige goods by artisans at Chan Chan. The elite at Chan Chan made the decisions on most other matters concerning organization, monopolizing production, storage of food and products, and distribution or consumption of goods.
The majority of the citizens in each ciudadela were artisans. In the late Chimú, about 12,000 artisans lived and worked in Chan Chan alone. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, craft work, and trade. Artisans were forbidden to change their profession, and were grouped in the ciudadela according to their area of specialization. Archeologists have noted a dramatic increase in Chimú craft production, and they believe that artisans may have been brought to Chan Chan from another area taken as a result of Chimú conquest. As there is evidence of both metalwork and weaving
in the same domestic unit, it is likely that both men and women were artisans. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, and metallurgy, and made ceramics and textiles (from cotton, llama
, alpaca
, and vicuna
s wool). People used reed fishing canoes, hunted, and traded using bronze coins.
Spinning is the practice of combining a small set of threads to achieve a long and continuous thread with the use of an instrument called a spindle
. The zone is an instrument made of a small wand that usually gets thinner at both ends; that was used alongside a tortera or piruro. The spindle is inserted into the bottom to make a counterweight. It starts spinning, taking the rueca (where the fiber was set to be spun). Fibers that are laid down in the zone are quickly turned between the thumb and index fingers and twisted to interlock the fibers, creating a long thread. After the desired lengths of threads are attained, the threads are intersected and woven in various combinations to make fabrics.
The Chimú embellished their fabrics with brocades, embroidery
, fabrics doubles, and painted fabrics. Sometimes textiles were adorned with feathers and gold or silver plates. Colored dyes were created from plants containing tannin
, mole
, or walnut
; and minerals, such as clay
, ferruginosa, or mordant aluminum; as well as animals, such as cochineal
. The garments were made of the wool of four animals: the guanaco, llama, alpaca, and vicuna. The people also used varieties of cotton, that grows naturally in seven different colors. The clothing consisted of the Chimú loincloth, sleeveless shirts with or without fringes, small ponchos, and tunics.
The majority of Chimú textiles were made from alpaca wool. Judging from he uniform spin direction, degree of the twist, and colors of the threads, all of the fibers were likely prespun and imported from a single location.
The main features of Chimú ceramics were small sculptures, and manufacturing molded and shaped pottery for ceremonial or daily use. Ceramics were usually stained black, although there are some variations. Lighter ceramics were also produced in smaller quantities. The characteristic brightness was obtained by rubbing with a rock that previously had been polished. Many animals, fruits, characters, and mystical entities have been represented pictorially on Chimú ceramics.
Although copper is found naturally on the coast, it was mostly attained from the highlands in an area about 3 days away. Since most of the copper was imported, it is likely that most of the metal objects that were made were likely very small. The pieces, such as wires, needles, digging stick points, tweezers, and personal ornaments, are consistently small, utilitarian objects of copper or copper bronze. The Tumi
is one well-known Chimú work. They also made beautiful ritual costumes of gold compounds with plume headdresses (also gold), earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and breastplates.
The Chimú developed mainly through intensive farming techniques and hydraulic work, which joined valleys to form complexes, such as the Chicama-Moche complex, which was a combination of two valleys in La Libertad. The Lambayeque linked the valleys of La Leche, Lambayeque, Reque, and Saña Jequetepeque. They developed an excellent agricultural techniques which expanded the strength of their cultivated areas. Huachaques were sunken farms where land was withdrawn to work the moist, sandy soil underneath, an example of which is Tschudi. The Chimú used walk-in wells, similar to those of the Nazca
, to draw water, and reservoirs to contain the water from rivers. This system increased the productivity of the land, which increased Chimú wealth, and likely contributed to the formation of a bureaucratic system.
The Chimú cultivated beans, sweet potato, papaya, and cotton with their reservoir and irrigation system. This focus on large-scale irrigation persisted until the Late Intermediate period. At this point, there was a shift to a more specialized system that focused on importing and redistributing resources from satellite communities. There appears to have been a complex network of sites that provided goods and services for Chimú subsistence. Many of these sites produced commodities that the Chimú could not.
Many sites relied on marine resources, but after the advent of agriculture, there were more sites further inland, where marine resources were harder to attain. Keeping llamas arose as a supplemental way of attaining meat, but by the Late Intermediate period and Late Horizon, inland sites used llamas as a main resource, although they maintained contact with coastal sites to use supplemental marine resources.
In Pacasmayo, the Moon
(Si) was the greatest divinity. It was believed to be more powerful than the Sun
, as it appeared by night and day, and it also controlled the weather and growth of crops. Sacrifices were made to the moon, and devotees sacrificed their own children on piles of colored cottons with offerings of fruit
and chicha
. They believed the sacrificed children would become deified and they were usually sacrificed around age five. "Animals and birds were also sacrificed to the Moon".
The Sun
was associated with stones called alaec-pong (cacique stone). These stones were believed to be ancestors of the people in whose area they stood and sons of the Sun.
Several constellations were also viewed as important. Two of the stars of Orion's Belt
were considered to be the emissaries of the Moon
. The constellation Fur (the Pleiades
) was used to calculate the year and was believed to watch over the crops.
"The Sea
(Ni) was a very important divinity, and sacrifices of white maize
flour, red ochre
and other things were made to it, along with prayers for fish
and protection against drowning." (50)
There were also local shrines in each district, which varied in importance. These shrines are also found in other parts of Peru
. These shrines (called huacas) had a sacred object of worship (macyaec) with an associated legend and cult.
Mars (Nor), Sol (Jiang) and Earth (Ghisa) were also worshiped.
Sacrifice
In 1997[1], members of an archaeological team discovered approximately 200 skeletal remains on the beach at Punta Lobos, Peru. The bodies had their hands bound behind their backs, their feet were bound together, they were blindfolded, and their throats had been slashed.
Archeologists suggest these fisherman may have been killed as a sign of gratitude to the sea god Ni after they conquered the fishermen's fertile seaside valley in 1350 A.D.
Tombs in the Huaca of the Moon belonged to six or seven teenagers from 13–14 years of age. Nine tombs were reported to belong to children. If this is indicative of human sacrifice, the Chimú offered children to their gods.
Differential architecture of palaces and monumental sites distinguished the rulers from the common people. At Chan Chan
, there are 10 large, walled enclosures called ciudadelas,or royal compounds, thought to be associated with the kings of Chimor(Day 1973, 1982). They were surrounded by adobe walls 9m high, giving the ciudadela the appearance of a fortress.
The bulk of the Chimú population (around 26,000 people) lived in barrios on the outer edge of the city. They consisted of many single-family domestic spaces with a kitchen, work space, domestic animals, and storage area.
Ciudadelas frequently have U-shaped rooms that consist of three walls, a raised floor, and frequently a courtyard, and there were often as many as 15 in one palace. In the early Chimú, the U-shaped areas were found in strategic places for controlling the flow of supplies from storerooms, but it is unlikely that they served as storage areas. They are described as mnemonic devices for keeping track of the distribution of supplies. Throughout time, the frequency of the U-shaped structures increases, and their distribution changes. They become more grouped, rather than dispersed, and occur further away from access routes to resources.
The architecture of the rural sites also support the idea of a hierarchical social order. They have similar structural components, making them mini-ciudadelas with rural adapted administrative functions. Most of these sites have smaller walls, with many audiencias as the focial point of the structures. These would be used to restrict access to certain areas and are often found at strategic points.
Chan Chan
shows a lack of a unifying plan or a discernible pattern. The urban core contains six principal classes of architecture:
Chimor
Chimor was the political grouping of the Chimú culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru, beginning around 850 AD and ending around 1470 AD. Chimor was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate period, encompassing 1,000 km of coastline...
, with its capital at the city of Chan Chan
Chan Chan
The largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6km²...
, a large adobe city in the Moche Valley of present-day Trujillo, Peru
Trujillo, Peru
Trujillo, in northwestern Peru, is the capital of the La Libertad Region, and the third largest city in Peru. The urban area has 811,979 inhabitants and is an economic hub in northern Peru...
. The culture arose about 900 AD. The Inca ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui
Tupac Inca Yupanqui
Topa Inca Yupanqui , translated as "noble Inca accountant," was the tenth Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire, and fifth of the Hanan dynasty. His father was Pachacuti, and his son was Huayna Capac. Topa Inca belonged to the Qhapaq panaca....
led a campaign which conquered the Chimú around 1470 AD,.
This was just fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Consequently, Spanish chroniclers were able to record accounts of Chimú culture from individuals who had lived before the Inca conquest. Similarly, Archaeological evidence suggest Chimor grew out of the remnants of Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
culture; early Chimú pottery had some resemblance to that of the Moche. Their ceramics are all black, and their work in precious metals is very detailed and intricate.
The Chimú resided on the north coast of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
: "It consists of a narrow strip of desert, 20 to 100 miles wide, between the Pacific and the western slopes of the Andes, crossed here and there by short rivers which start in the rainier mountains and provide a series of green and fertile oases." The valley plains are very flat and well-suited to irrigation, which is probably as old as agriculture here. Fishing was also very important and was almost considered as important as agriculture.
The Chimú were known to have worshipped the moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, unlike the Inca, who worshiped the sun. The Chimu viewed the sun as a destroyer. This is likely due to the harshness of the sun in their desert environment. Offerings played an important role in religious rites. A common object for offerings, as well as one used by artisans, was the shell of the Spondylus
Spondylus
Spondylus is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae. As well as being the systematic or scientific name, Spondylus is also the most often used common name for these animals, though they are also known as thorny oysters or spiny oysters.There are many species of...
shellfish, which live only in the warm coastal waters off present-day Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. It was associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility. Spondylus
Spondylus
Spondylus is a genus of bivalve molluscs, the only genus in the family Spondylidae. As well as being the systematic or scientific name, Spondylus is also the most often used common name for these animals, though they are also known as thorny oysters or spiny oysters.There are many species of...
shells were also highly valued and traded by the Chimú.
The Chimú are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, and tumbago (copper and gold). The pottery is often in the shape of a creature, or has a human figure sitting or standing on a cuboid
Cuboid
In geometry, a cuboid is a solid figure bounded by six faces, forming a convex polyhedron. There are two competing definitions of a cuboid in mathematical literature...
bottle. The shiny black finish of most Chimú pottery was achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
, which prevented oxygen
Oxygen
Oxygen is the element with atomic number 8 and represented by the symbol O. Its name derives from the Greek roots ὀξύς and -γενής , because at the time of naming, it was mistakenly thought that all acids required oxygen in their composition...
from reacting with the clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
.
Quingnam
The Quingnam language is a pre-ColumbianPre-Columbian
The pre-Columbian era incorporates all period subdivisions in the history and prehistory of the Americas before the appearance of significant European influences on the American continents, spanning the time of the original settlement in the Upper Paleolithic period to European colonization during...
language of the area that is believed to have disappeared before the beginning of the Inca Empire. Quingnam was spoken by ethnic Chimú, who lived in the former territories of the Mochicas: an area north of the Chicama Chao River Valley. At the height of Chimú conquests, the language was spoken extensively from the Jequetepeque River in the north, to the Carabayllo (near present-day Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...
) in the south. It was the language that prevailed in the Chimú culture.
Linguists have found that Quingnam was related to the language of the earlier Moches, Mochica or Muchik. The Chimú spoke Mochica or Muchik as the common language. Chimú fishermen had developed an occupational dialect referred to as "fisherwoman language" by the Spanish missionaries. A letter found during excavations at Magdalena de Cao Viejo in the El Brujo Archaeological Complex
El Brujo
The El Brujo Archaeological Complex, just north of Trujillo, La Libertad Province, Peru, is an ancient monument of the Moche culture. It includes Huaca Prieta and the nearby colonial remains of Salinar, Moche, Lambayeque, Chimú.Huaca El Brujo and Huaca Cao Viejo were built by the...
may contain translations of numbers written in Quingnam using the decimal system.
The Quingnam language became extinct shortly after the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors, primarily due to:
- The core Chimú city, Chan ChanChan ChanThe largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6km²...
, was in the vicinity of the new Spanish city of Trujillo and became overwhelmed by it, with people needing to pick up the language of the conquerors for trade and survival. - People abandoned Quingnam after learning to speak a Spanish dialect.
- The area of transmission was much smaller than that of the Mochica language: Quingnam was only spoken by the elite Chimú in territories belonging to the Chimú empire. Quingnam was spoken in Tumbes, Piura and parts of Lambayeque (also inhabited by Mochica-speakers). Quingnam was spoken overwhelmingly in the coastal strip from Jequetepeque to the Huaral River (present-day AncónAncónAncón may refer to:*Ancón, Guayas, a city in Guayas, Ecuador*Ancón District, a district of Peru*Ancón, Panama, a city in central Panama*Treaty of Ancón, signed by Peru and Chile on 20 October 1883...
). Some estimates are that the language was spoken on the coast as far south as the river Chillón (CarabaylloCarabaylloCarabayllo is one of the 43 districts of the province Lima in Peru. It is located in the Cono Norte area of the province and was founded by General José de San Martín in August 1821 at which time it was the only district to occupy the area north of the Rímac River up to the province Canta.-...
). - Most speakers were killed by infectious diseaseInfectious diseaseInfectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
epidemics; the Spaniards carried diseases to which the natives had no immunity. - The surviving Quingnam speakers were uprooted from their native places, as indigenous people were bought by the Spanish for laborers. They were taken to work on estates and obrajes.
Early Chimú (Moche Civilization)
The oldest civilization present on the north coast of PeruPeru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
is Early Chimú. Early Chimú is also known as the Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
or Mochica civilization. The start of this Early Chimú time period is not known (although it was BC), but it ends around 500 A.D. It was centered in the Chicama, Moche
Moche
'The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru from about 100 AD to 800 AD, during the Regional Development Epoch. While this issue is the subject of some debate, many scholars contend that the Moche were not politically organized as a monolithic empire or state...
, and Viru valleys. "Many large pyramids are attributed to the Early Chimú period." (37) These pyramids are built of adobe
Adobe
Adobe is a natural building material made from sand, clay, water, and some kind of fibrous or organic material , which the builders shape into bricks using frames and dry in the sun. Adobe buildings are similar to cob and mudbrick buildings. Adobe structures are extremely durable, and account for...
in rectangular shapes made from molds.
"Early Chimú cemeteries are also found without pyramid associations. Burials are usually in extended positions, in prepared tombs. The rectangular, adobe-lined and covered tombs have niches in their walls in which bowls were placed." (39)
The Early pottery is also characterized by realistic modeling and painted scenes.
Expansion and rule
- Expansion
The mature Chimú culture developed in roughly the same territory where the Mochica had existed centuries before. The Chimú was also a coastal culture. It was developed in the Moche Valley south of present-day Lima, northeast of Huarmey
Huarmey
Huarmey is a coastal town in the Ancash Region, Peru. It is one of the five district and also the capital of the Province of Huarmey. It is located crossing the Pan-American highway from south to north after leaving the department of Lima in Paramonga and at 82 km from the Fortaleza river...
, and finishing in central present-day Trujillo
Trujillo, Peru
Trujillo, in northwestern Peru, is the capital of the La Libertad Region, and the third largest city in Peru. The urban area has 811,979 inhabitants and is an economic hub in northern Peru...
. Later it expanded to Arequipa
Arequipa
Arequipa is the capital city of the Arequipa Region in southern Peru. With a population of 836,859 it is the second most populous city of the country...
.
The Chimú appeared in the year 900 A.D: "The City of Chimor was at the great site now called Chanchan, between Trujilo and the sea, and we may assume that Taycanamo founded his kingdom there. His son, Guacri-caur, conquered the lower part of the valley and was succeeded by a son named Nancen-pinco who really laid the foundations of the Kingdom by conquering the head of the valley of Chimor
Chimor
Chimor was the political grouping of the Chimú culture that ruled the northern coast of Peru, beginning around 850 AD and ending around 1470 AD. Chimor was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate period, encompassing 1,000 km of coastline...
and the neighboring valleys of Sana, Pacasmayo, Chicama, Viru, Chao and Santa." (39)
The estimated founding date of the Chimú Kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
is in the first half of the 14th century. Nacen-pinco was believed to have ruled around 1370 CE and was followed by seven rulers whose names are not yet known. Minchancaman followed these rulers, and was ruling around the time of the Inca conquest (between 1462 and 1470). This great expansion is believed to have occurred during the late period of Chimú civilization, called: Late Chimú, but the development of the Chimú territory spanned a number of phases and more than a single generation. Nacen-pinco, "may have pushed the imperial frontiers to Jequetepeque and to Santa, but conquest of the entire region was an agglutinative process initiated by earlier rulers." (17)
The Chimú expanded to include a vast area and many different ethnic groups. At its peak, the Chimú advanced to the limits of the desert coast, to the Jequetepeque Valley in the north, and Carabayallo in the south. Their expansion southward was stopped by the military power of the great valley of Lima. Historians and archeologists contest how far south they managed to expand.
- Rule
The Chimú society was a four-level hierarchical system, with a powerful elite rule over administrative centers. The hierarchy was centered at the walled cities, called ciudadelas, at Chan Chan
Chan Chan
The largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6km²...
. The political power at Chan Chan is demonstrated by the organization of labor to construct the Chimú's canal
Canal
Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...
s and irrigated fields.
Chan Chan was the top of the Chimu hierarchy, with Farfán in the Jequetepeque Valley as a subordinate. This organization, which was quickly established during the conquest of the Jequetepeque Valley, suggests the Chimú established the hierarchy during the early stages of their expansion. The existing elite at peripheral locations, such as the Jequetepeque Valley and other centers of power, were incorporated into the Chimú government on lower levels of the hierarchy. These lower-order centers managed land, water, and labor, while the higher-order centers either moved the resources to Chan Chan or carried out other administrative decisions. Rural sites were used as engineering headquarters, while the canals were being built; later they operated as maintenance sites. The numerous broken bowls found at Quebrada del Oso support this theory, as the bowls were probably used to feed the large workforce that built and maintained that section of canal. The workers were probably fed and housed at state expense.
The state governed such social classes until imperial Sican
Sican
Sican may refer to:*The Sican culture in what is now Peru*Sican language*The Sicani, a people of ancient Sicily...
conquered the kingdom of Lambayeque
Lambayeque, Peru
Lambayeque is a city in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru. It is notable for its exceptional museums featuring artefacts from local archaeological sites. The Bruning Museum, established in the early 1900s, contains hundreds of gold and silver pieces, as well as textiles and ceramics, from the...
. The legends of war were said to have been told by the leaders Naylamp in the Sican language and Tacayanamo in Chimú. The people paid tribute to the rulers with products or labor. By 1470, the Incas from Cuzco defeated the Chimú. They moved Minchancaman to Cuzco, and redirected gold and silver there to adorn the Temple of the Sun.
Economy
Chan Chan could be said to have developed a bureaucracyBureaucracy
A bureaucracy is an organization of non-elected officials of a governmental or organization who implement the rules, laws, and functions of their institution, and are occasionally characterized by officialism and red tape.-Weberian bureaucracy:...
due to the elite's controlled access to information. The economic and social system operated through the import of raw materials, where they were processed into prestige goods by artisans at Chan Chan. The elite at Chan Chan made the decisions on most other matters concerning organization, monopolizing production, storage of food and products, and distribution or consumption of goods.
The majority of the citizens in each ciudadela were artisans. In the late Chimú, about 12,000 artisans lived and worked in Chan Chan alone. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, craft work, and trade. Artisans were forbidden to change their profession, and were grouped in the ciudadela according to their area of specialization. Archeologists have noted a dramatic increase in Chimú craft production, and they believe that artisans may have been brought to Chan Chan from another area taken as a result of Chimú conquest. As there is evidence of both metalwork and weaving
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...
in the same domestic unit, it is likely that both men and women were artisans. They engaged in fishing, agriculture, and metallurgy, and made ceramics and textiles (from cotton, llama
Llama
The llama is a South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since pre-Hispanic times....
, alpaca
Alpaca
An alpaca is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in appearance.Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru, northern Bolivia, Ecuador, and northern Chile at an altitude of to above sea level, throughout the year...
, and vicuna
Vicuña
The vicuña or vicugna is one of two wild South American camelids, along with the guanaco, which live in the high alpine areas of the Andes. It is a relative of the llama, and is now believed to share a wild ancestor with domesticated alpacas, which are raised for their fibre...
s wool). People used reed fishing canoes, hunted, and traded using bronze coins.
Split Inheritance
The Chimu capital, Chan Chan, had a series of elite residential compounds or cuidadelas that were not occupied simultaneously, but sequentially. The reason for this is that Chimu rulers practice split inheritance, which dictated that the heir to the throne had to build his own palace and after the death of a ruler; all the ruler's wealth would be distributed to more distant relatives.Textiles
Spindle
The term spindle may refer to:In textiles and manufacturing:*Spindle , a device to spin fibres into thread*Spindle , is the main rotating part of a machine tool, woodworking machine, etc...
. The zone is an instrument made of a small wand that usually gets thinner at both ends; that was used alongside a tortera or piruro. The spindle is inserted into the bottom to make a counterweight. It starts spinning, taking the rueca (where the fiber was set to be spun). Fibers that are laid down in the zone are quickly turned between the thumb and index fingers and twisted to interlock the fibers, creating a long thread. After the desired lengths of threads are attained, the threads are intersected and woven in various combinations to make fabrics.
The Chimú embellished their fabrics with brocades, embroidery
Embroidery
Embroidery is the art or handicraft of decorating fabric or other materials with needle and thread or yarn. Embroidery may also incorporate other materials such as metal strips, pearls, beads, quills, and sequins....
, fabrics doubles, and painted fabrics. Sometimes textiles were adorned with feathers and gold or silver plates. Colored dyes were created from plants containing tannin
Tannin
A tannin is an astringent, bitter plant polyphenolic compound that binds to and precipitates proteins and various other organic compounds including amino acids and alkaloids.The term tannin refers to the use of...
, mole
Mole
- Animals :* Mole or "true mole", many of the mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America* Golden moles, southern African mammals, similar to but unrelated to Talpidae moles...
, or walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
; and minerals, such as clay
Clay
Clay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
, ferruginosa, or mordant aluminum; as well as animals, such as cochineal
Cochineal
The cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colour dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico, this insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and...
. The garments were made of the wool of four animals: the guanaco, llama, alpaca, and vicuna. The people also used varieties of cotton, that grows naturally in seven different colors. The clothing consisted of the Chimú loincloth, sleeveless shirts with or without fringes, small ponchos, and tunics.
The majority of Chimú textiles were made from alpaca wool. Judging from he uniform spin direction, degree of the twist, and colors of the threads, all of the fibers were likely prespun and imported from a single location.
Ceramics
Chimú ceramics were crafted for two functions: containers for daily domestic use and those made for ceremonial use for offerings at burials. Domestic pottery was developed without higher finishing, while funeral ceramics show more aesthetic refinement.The main features of Chimú ceramics were small sculptures, and manufacturing molded and shaped pottery for ceremonial or daily use. Ceramics were usually stained black, although there are some variations. Lighter ceramics were also produced in smaller quantities. The characteristic brightness was obtained by rubbing with a rock that previously had been polished. Many animals, fruits, characters, and mystical entities have been represented pictorially on Chimú ceramics.
Metallurgy
Metalworking picked up quickly in the Late Chimú periods. Some Chimú artisans worked in metal workshops divided into sections for each specialized treatment of metals: plating, gold, stamping, lost-wax, pearl, the watermark, and embossing wooden molds. These techniques produced large variety of objects, such as cups, knives, containers, figurines, bracelets, pins, crowns, etc. They used arsenic to harden the metals after they were cast. Large-scale smelting took place in a cluster of workshops at Cerro de los Cemetarios. The process starts with ore extracted from mines or a river, which is heated to very high temperatures and then cooled. The result is a group of prills (small round sections of copper, for example) in a mass of slag (other materials which are not useful for metallurgy). The prills are then extracted by crushing the slag, and then melted together to form ingots, which were fashioned into various items.Although copper is found naturally on the coast, it was mostly attained from the highlands in an area about 3 days away. Since most of the copper was imported, it is likely that most of the metal objects that were made were likely very small. The pieces, such as wires, needles, digging stick points, tweezers, and personal ornaments, are consistently small, utilitarian objects of copper or copper bronze. The Tumi
Tumi
- History :Tumi, Inc., a manufacturer of suitcases and bags for travel, is based in South Plainfield, New Jersey. Founded in 1975 by Charlie Clifford after a stint in the Peace Corps in Peru, the company is named after a Peruvian ceremonial knife used for sacrifices. Tumi, Inc. has been a unit of...
is one well-known Chimú work. They also made beautiful ritual costumes of gold compounds with plume headdresses (also gold), earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and breastplates.
Subsistence and Agriculture
Nazca
Nazca is a system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru, and the name of the region's largest existing town in the Nazca Province. It is also the name applied to the Nazca culture that flourished in the area between 300 BC and AD 800...
, to draw water, and reservoirs to contain the water from rivers. This system increased the productivity of the land, which increased Chimú wealth, and likely contributed to the formation of a bureaucratic system.
The Chimú cultivated beans, sweet potato, papaya, and cotton with their reservoir and irrigation system. This focus on large-scale irrigation persisted until the Late Intermediate period. At this point, there was a shift to a more specialized system that focused on importing and redistributing resources from satellite communities. There appears to have been a complex network of sites that provided goods and services for Chimú subsistence. Many of these sites produced commodities that the Chimú could not.
Many sites relied on marine resources, but after the advent of agriculture, there were more sites further inland, where marine resources were harder to attain. Keeping llamas arose as a supplemental way of attaining meat, but by the Late Intermediate period and Late Horizon, inland sites used llamas as a main resource, although they maintained contact with coastal sites to use supplemental marine resources.
Religion
DeitiesIn Pacasmayo, the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
(Si) was the greatest divinity. It was believed to be more powerful than the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
, as it appeared by night and day, and it also controlled the weather and growth of crops. Sacrifices were made to the moon, and devotees sacrificed their own children on piles of colored cottons with offerings of fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and chicha
Chicha
For the musical genre, see Peruvian cumbiaChicha is a term used in some regions of Latin America for several varieties of fermented and non-fermented beverages, rather often to those derived from maize and similar non-alcoholic beverages...
. They believed the sacrificed children would become deified and they were usually sacrificed around age five. "Animals and birds were also sacrificed to the Moon".
The Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
was associated with stones called alaec-pong (cacique stone). These stones were believed to be ancestors of the people in whose area they stood and sons of the Sun.
Several constellations were also viewed as important. Two of the stars of Orion's Belt
Orion's Belt
The term Orion's Belt or the Belt of Orion may refer to:* Orion's Belt, an asterism consisting of three bright stars in a row in the constellation Orion* Orion's Belt, a 1985 film* Orion's Belt, a browser game...
were considered to be the emissaries of the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
. The constellation Fur (the Pleiades
Pleiades (star cluster)
In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters , is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky...
) was used to calculate the year and was believed to watch over the crops.
"The Sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
(Ni) was a very important divinity, and sacrifices of white maize
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
flour, red ochre
Ochre
Ochre is the term for both a golden-yellow or light yellow brown color and for a form of earth pigment which produces the color. The pigment can also be used to create a reddish tint known as "red ochre". The more rarely used terms "purple ochre" and "brown ochre" also exist for variant hues...
and other things were made to it, along with prayers for fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
and protection against drowning." (50)
There were also local shrines in each district, which varied in importance. These shrines are also found in other parts of Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. These shrines (called huacas) had a sacred object of worship (macyaec) with an associated legend and cult.
Mars (Nor), Sol (Jiang) and Earth (Ghisa) were also worshiped.
Sacrifice
In 1997[1], members of an archaeological team discovered approximately 200 skeletal remains on the beach at Punta Lobos, Peru. The bodies had their hands bound behind their backs, their feet were bound together, they were blindfolded, and their throats had been slashed.
Archeologists suggest these fisherman may have been killed as a sign of gratitude to the sea god Ni after they conquered the fishermen's fertile seaside valley in 1350 A.D.
Tombs in the Huaca of the Moon belonged to six or seven teenagers from 13–14 years of age. Nine tombs were reported to belong to children. If this is indicative of human sacrifice, the Chimú offered children to their gods.
Architecture
Chan Chan
The largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6km²...
, there are 10 large, walled enclosures called ciudadelas,or royal compounds, thought to be associated with the kings of Chimor(Day 1973, 1982). They were surrounded by adobe walls 9m high, giving the ciudadela the appearance of a fortress.
The bulk of the Chimú population (around 26,000 people) lived in barrios on the outer edge of the city. They consisted of many single-family domestic spaces with a kitchen, work space, domestic animals, and storage area.
Ciudadelas frequently have U-shaped rooms that consist of three walls, a raised floor, and frequently a courtyard, and there were often as many as 15 in one palace. In the early Chimú, the U-shaped areas were found in strategic places for controlling the flow of supplies from storerooms, but it is unlikely that they served as storage areas. They are described as mnemonic devices for keeping track of the distribution of supplies. Throughout time, the frequency of the U-shaped structures increases, and their distribution changes. They become more grouped, rather than dispersed, and occur further away from access routes to resources.
The architecture of the rural sites also support the idea of a hierarchical social order. They have similar structural components, making them mini-ciudadelas with rural adapted administrative functions. Most of these sites have smaller walls, with many audiencias as the focial point of the structures. These would be used to restrict access to certain areas and are often found at strategic points.
Chan Chan
Chan Chan
The largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6km²...
shows a lack of a unifying plan or a discernible pattern. The urban core contains six principal classes of architecture:
- non-elite commoner dwellings and workshops spread throughout the city
- intermediate architecture associated with Chan ChanChan ChanThe largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, Chan Chan is an archaeological site located in the Peruvian region of La Libertad, five km west of Trujillo. Chan Chan covers an area of approximately 20 km² and had a dense urban center of about 6km²...
's non-royal elites - ten ciudadelas, thought to be palaces of the Chimú kings
- four huacas
- U-shaped structures called audiencias
- SIAR or small irregular agglutinated rooms, which probably served as the residences for the majority of the population
External links
- Central and Southern Andes, 1000–1400 AD at Metropolitan Museum of ArtMetropolitan Museum of ArtThe Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
- Chimú gallery
- Video of possible Quingam letter discussed above