Chan Chan

Chan Chan (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃaɲ ˈtʃaŋ]), sometimes called Chimor itself, was the capital city of the Chimor kingdom. It was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America. It is now an archeological site in the department of La Libertad five kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Trujillo, Peru.

Chan Chan is located in the mouth of the Moche Valley and was the capital of the historical empire of the Chimor from 900 to 1470, when they were defeated and incorporated into the Inca Empire. Chimor, a conquest state, developed from the Chimú culture which established itself along the Peruvian coast around 900 CE.

Chan Chan is in a particularly arid section of the coastal desert of northern Peru. 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. This runoff allows for control of land and water through irrigation systems.

Text adapted from “Chan Chan” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Chan Chan ranks #199 of 5,814 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #5 of the 16 mapped in Peru. Founded 850, it is older than 96% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 34 atlas entries founded in the 9th century. See how Peru compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗