Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Wari Expansion
The Wari - an ethnic group from the Ayacucho
Basin - emerged as a force to be reckoned with
for 500 years, beginning in AD 600. They were
vigorous military conquerors that built import-
ant outposts throughout a vast territory from
Chiclayo to Cuzco. As with many conquerors,
the Wari attempted to subdue others by emphas-
izing their own traditions over local belief. Thus
from about AD 700 to 1100, Wari influence is
noted in the art, technology and architecture of
cultures around Peru. These include finely
woven textiles, some of which contain record-
breaking thread counts. The Wari are most sig-
nificant, however, for creating an extensive net-
work of roadways and for expanding the terrace
agriculture system, an infrastructure that the In-
cas would employ to their advantage centuries
later.
Ruins
1 MACHU PICCHU (
CLICK HERE
)
2 CHAN CHAN (
CLICK HERE
)
3 SILLUSTANI (
CLICK HERE
)
4 SACSAYWAMÁN (
CLICK HERE
)
5 HUACAS DEL SOL Y DE LA LUNA
(
CLICK HERE
)
Regional Kingdoms
The Wari were replaced by a number of small
nation-states that thrived from about AD 1000
to the early 1400s, when the Incas came into the
picture. One of the biggest of these were the Chimú, of the Trujillo area, whose capital
was the famed Chan Chan, the largest adobe city in the world. Nearby were the Sicán,
from the Lambayeque area, renowned metallurgists who produced the
tumi
- a ceremonial
knife with a rounded blade used in sacrifices. (It has since become a national symbol.)
Other coastal cultures emerged at this point, including the Ica, the Chincha and the
Chancay - the latter of whom were known for their geometric lace and crudely humorous
pottery, in which just about every figure seems to be drinking.
In the northern Andes, the cloud-forest-dwelling Chachapoyas culture erected the ex-
pansive mountaintop settlement of Kuélap in a remote patch of the Utcubamba Valley.
6 KUÉLAP (
CLICK HERE
)
