CONCLUSION

From AD 900 to 1470, the evolution and expansion of the Chimu state influenced the cultural trajectories of the north coast of Peru. Developing over a span of five centuries, the kingdom of Chimor was one of the most enduring New World states. Current archaeological data indicate that the Chimu were the largest north coast polity, employing a mosaic of administrative strategies. The Chimu state exerted its greatest impact, not surprisingly, on the Moche, Chi-cama and Viru valleys. As one of the largest cities in the pre-Hispanic Americas, Chan Chan’s growth depended on the extension of irrigation and expansion of arable land. As a center for royalty and elites, Chan Chan’s growth also triggered the reorganization of labor both for large-scale corvee projects and craft production (Day 1982; J. Topic 1982, 1990).

Away from the Chimu heartland, imperial strategies varied. First, territorial integration extended from the Casma Valley to the La Leche Valley, with clear evidence for settlement reorganization in the northern region previously controlled by the Lambayeque/Sican state. Second, a variety of strategies were employed within this area of direct imperial control, ranging from the imposition of new administrative centers, the cooption of local elites, and investment in specific and focused imperial enterprises. Third, populations over an extensive area—from Motupe, north 300km to Tumbes and from Casma 350km south to Chillon— interacted with the Chimu to varying degrees through indirect rule, elite exchanges, or trade.

Archaeological investigations have identified some of the factors that contributed to Chimor’s political durability. Chan Chan was the apex of a sociopolitical network whose creation and sustenance transformed the Moche-Chicama-Viru heartland, changing everything from the flow of water to the flow of goods and services between AD 900 and 1200. The Chimu then turned to conquest, expanding north to Jequetepeque by AD 1320 and south to Casma by AD 1350, and then driving further north to the La Leche Valley at the end of the fourteenth century. This region of direct political control was consolidated into the Chimu state through various means: violent conquest followed by the imposition of Chimu rule, the creation of new Chimu settlements that incorporated local nobles into the structures of statecraft, and the maintance of lower-level and compliant communities. Beyond this region, Chimu influence was extended by less direct means, probably including inter-elite gift exchange and trade, but was regardless a major factor on the north coast until the region’s conquest by the Incas.

Chimu hegemony was exerted not only by armed force and surplus extraction, but also through the ideological expropriation of north coast worldview and religion. Drawing on icons present in earlier Moche culture, the Chimu modified key elements—depicting the Staff God as more firmly rooted in the human realm and clearly associating the Chimu Goddess with the Sea, the Moon, weaving and child-rearing. Appealing to creation myths that naturalized the separate existences of lords and subjects, the Chimu justified the social divisions that characterized their kingdom.

Archaeological investigations over the last five decades have significantly advanced understanding of the kingdom of Chimor. While much remains unknown, a relatively clear model of Chimu society and statecraft has been developed, one that contributes to comparative studies of the evolution of social complexity and the nature of ancient empires in the Andes.