Chimor

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Chimor" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Kingdom of Chimor Chimor
c. 900–1470
Chimú pottery and ceramics, Chan Chan, Gold ceremonial dress, a map of Chimú cultural influence within Peru
Status	Culture
Capital	Chan Chan[1]
Common languages	Mochica, Quingnam
Religion	Polytheist
Government	Monarchy
King of Chimor
• c.1305	Taycanamo[2][3]
• c.1340	Guacricaur
• c.1375[4]	Ñancempinco
• c. 1450–1470	Minchançaman[5][6]
Historical era	Late Intermediate
• Established	c. 900
• Inca conquest	1470
Preceded by Succeeded by Wari Empire Inca Empire

Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture. The culture arose about 900 CE, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470, fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region.^[7] Chimor (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃi'mu]) was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate Period, encompassing 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of coastline.

According to Chimú oral history, the history of Chimor began with the arrival of Taycanamo in the Moche Valley from the sea on a balsa raft. From there his descendants would conquer surrounding areas starting with his son Guacriur. Guacricur integrated Chimú reign over the lower valley and Ñancempinco, Taycanamo's grandson would expand the kingdom by conquering the upper valley. Ñançenpinco began to further expansion both north and south of the Moche Valleys. ^[8]

The first valleys seem to have joined forces willingly, but the Sican culture was acquired through conquest. They also were significantly influenced by the pre-Inca Cajamarca and Wari cultures. According to legend, its capital of Chan Chan was founded by Taycanamo, who arrived in the area by sea. Chimor was the last kingdom that had any chance of stopping the Inca Empire. But the Inca conquest began in the 1470s by Topa Inca Yupanqui, defeating the emperor and descendant of Taycanamo, Minchançaman, and was nearly complete when Huayna Capac assumed the throne in 1493.

The Chimú resided on a strip of desert on the northern coast of Peru. The rivers in the region carved a series of fertile valley plains, which were very flat and well-suited to irrigation. Agriculture and fishing were both very important to the Chimú economy.^[9]

Worshipping the moon, the Chimú, unlike the Inca, considered it more powerful than the sun. 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 resides only in the warm coastal waters off present-day Ecuador. Associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility, Spondylus shells were highly valued and traded by the Chimú people, and the exchange of the shells played a significant economic and political role in the empire.^[10]

The Chimú people are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and tumbaga (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.