📷 Joshuan Barboza · Pexels

Where in the world

Peru

Chan Chan

Chimú · Peru

Field notes

civilizations: Chimú
types: City · Palace · Wall
built: 850 CE — 1,400 CE
occupied: 850 CE — 1,470 CE
country: Peru

The site

Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimú kingdom of Chimor, raised on Peru's arid northern coast near the mouth of the Moche Valley around 850 CE. Built entirely of adobe, it grew into the largest city of the pre-Columbian Americas, its dense core packed with walled palace compounds, or ciudadelas, laced together by irrigation drawn from Andean rivers. The Chimú held it until the Inca absorbed them in 1470, leaving behind this vast earthen metropolis.

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