Inca Conquest of Chimor (c. 1470): Fall of the Chimu Kingdom

The Inca conquest of Chimor, usually dated to around 1470, brought the largest rival state in the Andes under Inca rule. Chimor, the kingdom of the Chimu people, controlled much of the north coast of Peru from its capital Chan Chan. Inca armies led by Topa Inca Yupanqui defeated its ruler Minchancaman, carried off its treasures and resettled its skilled craftsmen in Cusco.

Background: two expanding powers

The Chimu kingdom grew up in the Moche Valley on Peru’s arid north coast from around the 10th century. Its capital, Chan Chan, was a huge city of adobe walls, with large walled compounds that probably served as palaces and burial places for successive kings. The city covered roughly 20 square kilometres, and its walls were decorated with moulded reliefs of fish, birds, animals and geometric patterns. Chimu rulers claimed descent from a legendary founder, Taycanamo, said to have arrived by sea on a raft. Through irrigation canals, Chimor turned desert valleys into farmland.

In the 14th and 15th centuries Chimor expanded along the coast. At its height it stretched roughly 1,000 km, from the area of Tumbes near today’s border with Ecuador to the valleys just north of modern Lima. It absorbed older states such as the Lambayeque (Sicán) culture.

Meanwhile, in the highlands, the Inca were building their own empire under Pachacuti, whose rise is traditionally dated to around 1438. By the 1460s Inca armies were pushing north through the central highlands. A collision with Chimor, which had its own highland allies, was likely.

The campaign

According to Spanish chronicles, the northern campaigns were led by Pachacuti’s son Topa Inca Yupanqui. He first conquered the highland kingdom of Cajamarca, an ally of Chimor, defeating a Chimu force that had come to its aid. This opened the way to the coast.

The details of the fighting that followed are uncertain, since the chronicles were written generations later and from the Inca point of view. Some accounts describe hard fighting in the coastal valleys. Others suggest that the Inca gained an advantage by threatening the irrigation canals on which the coastal cities depended, although this story may be a later embellishment. In the end Minchancaman, the Chimu ruler, was defeated and submitted.

Minchancaman and Inca rule

The Inca took Minchancaman to Cusco, where he lived under their control. Following their usual practice, they did not abolish the local ruling family. A member of the dynasty, often named as his son Chumun Caur, was installed as a subordinate ruler.

At the same time, the Inca broke Chimor into smaller administrative units so that it could not threaten them again. Inca officials took charge of its tribute, and Inca roads linked the coastal valleys to the highland network. Chan Chan lost its role as the capital of a great kingdom and gradually declined.

Treasure and craftsmen

Chimor was famous for its gold and silver work, textiles and fine black pottery. The Inca carried large quantities of precious metal from Chan Chan back to Cusco, where some of it decorated temples and palaces.

Just as important were the people who made these goods. The Inca resettled many Chimu metalworkers and other artisans in Cusco, where they worked for the state and the royal court. Historians see a strong Chimu influence in later Inca metalwork and ceramics, and the Inca practice of moving whole communities, known as mitma, helped spread coastal techniques across the empire.

Consequences

The conquest of Chimor removed the only state in the Andes that could rival the Inca in size and wealth. It gave the Inca control of the rich irrigated valleys of the north coast and their maritime trade, and it opened the way to further expansion towards Ecuador.

The memory of Chimu kingship did not vanish. Local lords on the north coast kept considerable authority under the Inca and later under Spanish rule, and some traced their descent to the Chimu kings. When the Spanish arrived in the 1530s, a number of coastal groups were ready to cooperate with them against their former Inca overlords.

Timeline

• c. 900–1000: The Chimu state emerges in the Moche Valley, with its capital at Chan Chan.
• c. 1350–1400: Chimor expands and absorbs the Lambayeque (Sicán) region.
• c. 1438: Traditional date of Pachacuti’s rise to power in Cusco.
• c. 1460s: Topa Inca Yupanqui leads Inca armies north and conquers Cajamarca.
• c. 1470: Chimor falls to the Inca; Minchancaman is taken to Cusco (dates approximate).
• c. 1471: Topa Inca Yupanqui becomes sole Inca ruler.
• 1532: The Spanish arrive in Peru and begin the conquest of the Inca Empire.

Why it matters

The fall of Chimor made the Inca the unchallenged power of the Andes. By absorbing the wealth, roads and craftsmen of the coast, the Inca Empire gained resources and skills that helped make it the largest state in the pre-Columbian Americas.