Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimor Empire (900-1470), located in the Moche Valley, Trujillo, Peru. It had been the largest city in South America in the pre-Columbian era until it fell to the Incas. Once occupying twenty square kilometers, the city consisted of nine rectangular citadels enclosed by earthen walls. These citadels included temples, dwellings, storehouses, reservoirs, and cemeteries placed around public spaces. The mud-brick walls were adorned with abstract motifs or anthropomorphic and zoomorphic patterns.
Chan Chan was the largest city in South America in the pre-Columbian period as well as the largest earthen city in the world.
The city was a remarkable example of town planning with its hierarchically arranged buildings, industrial and architectural zones, and an intricate irrigation system. It is indeed a rare town planning example that states the political and social zones with such clear divisions. Moreover, the Chimú engineering was so advanced that their irrigation techniques were discovered in Europe and North America in the late 19th century.
Located in a coasted desert, the city had to supply water for its gardens from the Chicama and Moche Rivers. Although there is no proof of written language or detailed measurements, the Chimú people managed to build a canal between two valleys 50 miles apart from each other. Nevertheless, the shifting earth deterred the Chimú engineers from the project around 1300. So, the agriculture sector benefited from the Humboldt Current that raises the nutrient-rich water up to the ocean’s surface.
