See J. A. Mason, Ancient Civilizations of Peru (1957, rev. ed. 1988); V. W. Wolfgang, The Desert Kingdoms of Peru (1965); E. P. Lanning, Peru before the Incas (1967).
Licensed from Columbia University Press
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 Trujillo, Peru. The Inca ruler Tupac Inca Yupanqui led the campaign which conquered just fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Spanish chroniclers were able to record accounts of Chimú culture from individuals who had lived before the Inca conquest. Archaeological evidence suggest that Chimor grew out of the remnants of the Moche culture; early Chimú pottery had some resemblance to Moche pottery. Their ceramics are all black and their metalwork is very detailed and intricate.
The Chimú were also known for worshiping 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 the desert environment they lived in. Offerings played an important role in religious rites, and one common object for offerings as well as an item used by artisans was the shell of the Spondylus shellfish, which lives only in the warm coastal waters off Ecuador and is associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility. It was 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 is not achieved by using glazes, but instead is achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln which prevents oxygen from reacting with the clay.
In William S. Burroughs' novel Queer, while the protagonist is visiting Guayaquil, Ecuador, he refers to the city as "the area of the ancient Chimu pottery, where salt shakers and water pitchers were nameless obscenities: two men on all fours engaged in sodomy formed the handle for the top of a kitchen pot. There are, in fact, several examples of Chimú pottery depicting homosexual acts.
The language quingnam
The language is a language Quingnam Peruvian pre-Columbian who disappeared in their home (before the creation of the Chimu Empire) was spoken by ethnic Chimu, corresponding to the former territories of the Mochicas the south from the river valley in the north to Chicama Chao River Valley to the south. At its peak boom (Thanks to the Chimú conquests) was spoken en masse from the river Jequetepeque, by the north to Carabayllo (near Lima), in the South. It was language that prevailed in the Chimu culture. It was a language related to language or Mochica muchik. The Chimu also spoke Mochica or muchik as the common tongue and Chimú fishermen a dialect called "fisherwoman language" by the Spanish missionaries.
The Quingnam language became extinct shortly after the arrival of the conquistadors basically due to:
- The core Chimu, Chanchán, was in the vicinity of the new Spanish city of Trujillo.
- Also because the area of transmission was much lower than the influence of a language Mochica: quignam was only spoken by the elite Chimu in territories belonging to the Chimu empire but where there was talk quingnam as Tumbes, Piura and most Lambayeque, who was mochicahablante. The Quingnam spoke overwhelmingly in the coastal strip from Jequetepeque until Huaral river or Ancón and, as the most optimistic, until the river Chillón (Carabayllo);
- Most speakers were killed by epidemics brought by the Spaniards;
- Many left him to speak for complex planted by the Spaniards, because if the language was Mochica guttural, quingnam was much more guttural and rugged;
- The Quingnam speakers who survived were uprooted from their native places carried reductions indigenous (people) created by the Spanish charge for a more easy tribute and exploit them in the estates and obrajes in a manner "more efficient" and ;
- The "heart" of language Quingnam (where he was most widely spoken) was the capital of which was the Chimu Empire: Chanchán, according to studies that had a population of 80,000 to 100,000 inhabitants. By virtue of being depopulated of an unexpectedly by the Spanish authorities, the Spanish of the few survivors quingnam speakers was merciless.
Political organization and social founder of the kingdom was Tacaynamo Chimore. The Chimu were an expansionist centralized state with clear class divisions, charges and a legacy of very complex bureaucracy; power I had the great lord called Cie Quico and Alaec, continuing a group with some prestige and economic power and eventually called Fixlla were peasants, craftsmen and servants.
Location
The Chimu culture was developed in the same territory where they existed centuries before the Mochica culture. Like the Mochica culture Chimu was a coastal culture, was developed in the Moche Valley, south of Lima, northeast of Huarmey finishing in Central Trujillo, then expanded to Arequipa.The Chimu appear in the year 900. It was believed that the so-called "kingdom of Chimoré" had ten rulers, but only know the names of four of them: Tacaynamo, Guacricur, Naucempinco and Minchancaman. The rulers were treated like gods and lived in an elegant palace of Chan Chan.
They spoke different languages but the most talked muchic and quechua.
There were social classes governed by a state imperial Sican had conquered the kingdom of Lambayeque. Precisely the legends of Naylamp in Sican Tacayanamo in Chimu and transmitting fantastically wars initial those lands. The people paid tribute to the rulers (in products or work). It says that by 1470, the Chimu were defeated by the Incas in Cuzco. In addition to moving to Minchancaman to Cuzco, the Inca gold and silver went to adorn the Temple of the Sun.
Gold ceremonial garments of the Chimu culture. Larco Museum. Lima-Peru
Bottle Chimu. Larco Museum-Lima, Peru
Vessel erotic
Economy
The economic and social system operated through a network of rural to urban centres were responsible for receipt and dispatch to the capital taxes earned. The state was administered in the capital city of Chan Chan, thence was handled, organized and monopolize the production, storage, distribution and consumption of goods and products.
The vast majority, ie the people engaged in fishing, agriculture, craft work and trade. Besides fishing canoes (horses reeds), hunting, trade using coins (Hachitos bronze). The chimús also highlighted by its metal (gold and silver works) and its fabrics (cotton, wool llama, alpaca and vicuna).
Textiles
Spinning is the practice manual and elementary of attaching a small set of threads to achieve a long and continuous thread, in this initial work of the textiles were used various instruments such as the spindle. The zone is an instrument made of a manual wand small and thin that usually goes thinning at both ends; what was used alongside a tortera or piruro that is inserted into the bottom to make a counterweight. It starts spinning taking the rueca (where the fiber was set to be spun) some fibers that are laid down in the zone that it will quickly turn between the thumb, index and the warm wind and twist to achieve the fibers uninterrupted. When had already obtained the necessary threads were started on the bone tissue intersecting or combination of threads to make fabrics. The Chimu confeccionaron fabrics, dressing, brocades, embroidery, fabrics doubles, painted fabrics, etc.. Sometimes textiles were adorned with feathers and gold and silver plates, colours were obtained from certain plants containing tannin, molle and walnut; minerals such as clay ferruginosa and mordant aluminum and animals such as cochineal. The garments are confeccionaron the wool of four animals, the guanaco, the llama, alpaca and vicuna and native cotton plant that grows naturally in seven different colors. The clothing consisted of the Chimu loincloth, sleeveless shirts with or without fringes, small ponchos, tunics, etc.Industry potter
The ceramic Chimu met two functions, such as containers for daily use or domestic and ceramic ceremonial use or for offerings of the burials, the first were developed without finishing higher while the funeral show enough commitment. The main features of the Chimu pots are a small sculpture at the junction of golletes with the arc, to manufacture molded and shaped ceremonial pottery for daily use, staining usually black metal with some variations, its brightness characteristic was obtained Hume crock that previously had been polished. In small quantities were also developed lighter colored ceramics. In the ceramics have been translated many realistic representations as animals, fruits and characters and scenes mystical.Metallurgy
The artisans worked Chimu metal workshops divided into sections for each case of the specialized treatment of metals; worked the plating, gold, stamped, emptying the lost wax, pearl, the watermark, embossing on the wooden molds And so on. With all these techniques produced large numbers of objects such as cups, knives, containers, figurines of animals or empty sound, bracelets, pins, crowns, etc.. To make alloys used combinations of acids that are found naturally. Minerals had to be obtained from mines shortcut open, rivers and socavones. metals most commonly used were copper, silver, gold and tin.The ore is extracted molía batanes in order to separate them from other minerals and impurities immediately be merged into a furnace that had charcoal as fuel and mineral; constantly had to stoke the embers blow tubes so long to raise the temperature.
The Tumi was his most representative work. It is a ceremonial knife gold one metre long and thirty centimeters wide that was used, as is expected, sacrifices to the gods. They were excellent metal. They made beautiful costumes rituals gold compounds with plumes headdresses (also gold), ear rings, necklaces, bracelets and breastplates.
Agriculture
The Chimu developed mainly through intensive farming techniques and hydraulic work, joining valleys forming complexes such as:
Chicama-Moche: two valleys in La Libertad. Lambayeque: linking the valleys of La Leche, Lambayeque, Reque, and Saña Jequetepeque. Strength: linking the valleys of Pativilca, Paramonga and Sabía. They developed excellent agricultural techniques to expand the strength of cultivated areas as:
Huachaques: sunken farms, land that has been withdrawn to work the sand moist soil. Example: Tschudi.
Puquio: big wells to draw water. Example: Kiriwac, Larrea, Upper and Lower, Costa Rica
Reservoirs: containment of water from rivers to harness the liquid underground.
Cultivate beans, sweet potato, papaya, cotton.
Deities
The main worship was devoted to the moon because of its influence on plant growth, tides and its use as a reference of time, but each village had its own local deities and shrines.
Moon (Shi), Mar (Nor), Sol (Jiang) and Earth (Ghisa)
Architecture
The architecture has helped define that the rulers lived in palaces and monumental sites, while the people lived in houses with small rooms quincha and outside the monumental architecture.
Human sacrifices
In the Huaca of the Moon the tombs belonged to six or seven teenagers from 13-14 years of age and 9 tombs were reported to belong to children. Therefore Chimu Culture can be seen as a culture toward offerings to their gods with sacrifices of children.External links
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Last updated on Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 14:41:57 PDT (GMT -0700)
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