The Inca and Chimu - Imperial Rivals

We are discussing the The Chimu and Inca Empires of Peru.  The two cultures were rivals in the 12th - 15th centuries.  The Chimu was a coastal empire that rose on the ruins of the Moche kingdom.  They rose to power through warfare and grew wealthy from tribute and trade.

Though a culture based on agriculture, the Chimú had skilled artisans who created ceramics, wove baskets and particularly textiles, but most of all, developed metallurgy. Artisans worked the most with gold and silver, and the nobility accumulated large quantities of gold and silver, as well as other other Chimú products in the capital of Chan-Chan in the Moche Valley. Chimú workers built buildings primarily out of adobe and decorated them with bas-relief and stucco.




At their height, the Chimu ruled more than 800 miles of the north of Peru to modern day Ecuador.  They were also skilled mariners that sailed large balsa rafts.  Their capital,  Chan Chan, swelled to include as many as 100,000 people. 

In the 1200s, when Chimu warriors were conquering the affluent northern kingdoms, the Inca were still a minor chiefdom.  But only two centuries later the Inca's had expanded rapidly.  From the central highlands near Cusco, Inca armies surged northward where they overran Chimu's key rival the city of Cajamarca.

The Inca then cut off Chimu's primary water supply.  Though far more sophisticate than the Inca, the Chimu soon fell.

Scholars feel the conquered Chimu culture greatly influenced the Inca.  Along with the loot the Inca also carried off the Chimu skilled artisans.  A multitude of Chimu practices later emerge in Inca society and help define the culture.

These included treating rulers as God-kings who are worshipped after their death.  The idea of having descendants rather than successors inherit ruler's estates.  This idea forced new kings to gain wealth through conquest.  A massive wealth of gold, silver and textiles were distributed to members of a very small ruling class.

The Inca Empire flourished until the arrival of Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish conquerors in 1532.  In a short span of 50 years the Inca Empire had fallen and their tremendous treasures of gold and silver carried off to Spain.