…en Perú - Travel Culture History News

Descended from the older Paracas civilisation, the Nazca are of course most famous for their countless mysterious lines drawn in the rocky desert plains in which they lived. They were also great water engineers, creating a series of complex aqueducts.

When you think of the Nazca, you think of their mysterious geometric shapes and lines in the desert, which were seemingly important enough to dedicate such huge amounts of time and resources to create.

From their capital city of Cahuachi, archaeologists have gleamed far more information about this pre-Incan people. This city was of immense, memorising proportions. Most estimates put the terrain it covered at as much as 24km2, that’s, dare I mention it, bigger than Chan Chan, built centuries later. It stretches along the sandy slopes overlooking the fertile valley, in a line that is, by my estimate, about 12km. Here you’ll find dozens of pyramids, broken pottery scattered across the desert and textiles just beneath the surface.

What was found here told us that the Nazca were descendants of the older Paracas culture, continuing their production of some of the most complex and creative textile patterns in the Andean world, and continuing and improving upon their ceramic production techniques, creating new methods to produce colourful and more realistic decoration.

From their ancient burial ground of Chauchilla, we learn that far from being small, the average Nazcan was 1.7m or 5.57ft tall. They also sported long thing dreadlocks that reach the floor.

Other than the fascinating lines, or the huge ceremonial city of Cahuachi, the Nazca are also famous for their complex underground aqueducts, bringing water to the more arid parts of their world. Wells leading down into them are found at Cantalloc, near the much later Inca ruins of Paredones, eventual rulers of this land.

Share/Save

Join Dan Cruickshank in a journey across Peru in which he discovers what he considers to be some of the world’s greatest treasures.

See the video here

Share/Save

It was the largest city that had existed in South America and remained that way even when it lay in ruins during part of the Spanish colonial period. At 18km2 by some measurements and more than 20km2 including its surrounding agricultural districts, this gigantic city formed the capital of the Chimor kingdom of the Chimú civilisation.

Located 5km west of modern Trujillo, out-sizing it until modern expansion, the ruins of Chan Chan are an extraordinary sight. Consisting of 10 citadels constructed by 10 generations of rulers, it would be impossible to visit it all.

Chan Chan now lays in a dilapidated state. Damage caused by El Niño rains have left the once towering walls of Chan Chan looking like melted snow. The most recent and most sever damage took place early last century when most of the remaining details on the walls were washed away.

Of the massive archaeological site, one small part, in itself huge, has been saved from the elements with careful restoration. Known as the Tschudi Complex, it is one of the last of 10 urban complexes constructed. In Chan Chan the Chimor rulers were expected to construct their own living and administrative centres to manage the kingdom. When a ruler dies, he and all his administrative staff are buried with him inside his complex. The complex is then sealed and a new one constructed by the following ruler.

Exploring the entire site can be done on foot, but there’s not much to see other than melted walls. In the Tschudi Complex however, you get an idea of how spectacular Chan Chan was.

The walls are constructed with adobe bricks, and covered with a smooth  surface on which images were carved. These images had a maritime theme of fish, waves and pelican birds, a bird they also used to help them fish. Think bird on a string.

The Tschudi complex consists of 3 plazas, increasingly less exquisitely decorated as you move closer and closer to the residential areas. There was less need to show off to chieftains bringing tribute in these areas as they would not be visited. Other significant parts of the complex are the administration and taxation areas. In this part of the city there are many booths to which representatives from specific parts of the kingdom would bring their tributes to be accounted for. In this area, filled with people surrounded by baking mud walls, the Chimú made ventilation a priority. Here the walls were designed with holes in the form of fishing nets. All these areas are connected by corridors with towering decorated walls leading, eventually, towards the area of the ruling elite and the king himself. Here you will also find the one of the city’s water supplies, a deep pool dug down below the ground water level.

In the palace area of the city is the tomb of the ruler of this time, buried with many others to accompany him in the afterlife. With all the political elite killed off, the next generation took control of the kingdom.

Photos - Read the rest of this entry »

Share/Save

In the aftermath of the collapse of the the Moche civilisation in the late 700s A.D. a new civilisation was born. In the late 800s until the early 1000s the Chimú culture began to establish itself, reaching it’s peak in the 1200s and lasting until the 1490s when they were conquered by the Incas.

The Chimú set up an empire that stretched from Peru’s border with Ecuador to the region of Lima. In the centre of this 1000km stretch of coast the Chimú built their capital city Chan Chan, which is a corruption of the Mochic words Sian-Sian or Sun Sun. At roughly 18km2 it is the biggest adobe city in the world, and was at the time one of the largest cities in the world.

Like the Moche, the Chimú too built stepped pyramids. These hosted temples on their truncated peaks with a large ramp leading up. These constructions were somewhat more simple than those of the Moche and did not contain anything inside - they were solid formations of hundreds of thousands of mud bricks.

Another thing that differentiates the Chimú from their Moche ancestors is their affinity with the sea. This may be due to one of the myths of the origin of their civilisation or simply due to the fact that they relied heavily on a sea food diet, fishing using their caballitos de totora. Whatever their reason, their constructions and monochrome pottery are covered with decorations showing fish, waves, sea birds and fishing nets. Most of their capital city, Chan Chan is less than a few hundred metres from the ocean and can be heard throughout the city.

After the Chincha culture, the Chimú were the next and final strong nation state the Incas had to conquer to form their massive empire. Also an agricultural-based civilisation, this was the major Chimú weakness when the Incas attacked. On entering the Chimor empire and approaching the city of Chan Chan, the Incas made sure to destroy all the irrigation systems that gave life to the sun-baked arid area. The Inca attack began in 1470 and lasted until 1493 with the defeat of the Chimú, who made sure to heavily destroy their capital city and loot its gold before the Incas did.

Share/Save

Trujillo is the capital of the region of La Libertad on the northern coast, and is the third largest city in Peru after Lima and Arequipa. This is where the Moche and Chimú civilizations developed between 200B.C. and 700A.D. Its year-round pleasant climate has earned it the title of “Capital of the Eternal Spring”. It has wonderful beaches, including the famous Huanchaco, which are sometimes venues for international surfing competitions. Fishermen still use reed canoes called “Caballitos de Tortora”, made the same way for thousands of years.

Trujillo was one of the first cities founded by Spanish conquerors in America. On December 6, 1534, Diego de Almagro founded the city under the name of “Villa Trujillo,” in honour of Francisco Pizarro’s birthplace, Trujillo in Extremadura, Spain. On 23 November 1537, King Charles I of Spain gave it the rank of ‘city’ and the coat of arms that remains a symbol for the city.

During colonial times the city developed its own architectural style seen in its gracious family homes with large wrought-iron windows, unique to the city. Trujillo played a significant role in the struggle against Spanish rule. It declared its independence in 1820, served as temporary capital of Peru in 1825, and was the main headquarters for Simon Bolívar.

Trujillo is a beautiful city and shows how central Lima might look if it were less dirty and chaotic.

The colonial beauty continues through the night in Trujillo. Here are some of the photos, but there are more attached to this blog.

The Spanish built this city (for those who want a little more history) next to the old capital of the Chimu kingdom, the Chimu having been conquered by the Incas before the Spanish arrived. The map below is of the city and the nearby “indian villages” that were created by Gonzales de Cuenca in 1565 to wipe out traditional customs.

It also shows the scale of the Chimu capital, Chan Chan, bigger that the Spanish city.

Photos - Read the rest of this entry »

Share/Save

The largest archaeological site and pre-Columbian city in the Americas, Chan Chan, has been placed under an emergency declaration.

The ruins lay in La Libertad, in the north of Perú, and formed the central administrative center for the Chimú culture, which developed from the remnants of the collapsed Moche civilisation.
This spectacular site is constructed entirely of adobe, making excavated parts extremely fragile to wind and rain. It costs tremendous amounts of time and money to keep it in good order (95% of all entrance fees to towards restoration, INC take note).

However, only so much can be done to keep these fragile structures safe - and with the eminent onslaught of El Niño in December, bringing heavy rains and destruction, the Government have declared and emergency period of 120 days in which to formulate and implement a new and more effective plan.

Share/Save