Chan Chan

The largest pre-Columbian city in South America — 20 square kilometres of adobe

The largest adobe city in the Americas and one of the largest pre-Columbian cities in the world, covering 20 square kilometres of desert between Huanchaco and Trujillo. Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimú Empire, which controlled the north Peruvian coast from around 900 AD until its conquest by the Inca in 1470.

The city consisted of nine royal citadels — each built by a successive ruler and serving as his palace and eventual tomb — along with residential areas for tens of thousands of people. The Tschudi Citadel is the one open to visitors, and its scale is extraordinary: high adobe walls carved with intricate geometric and fish-net patterns, open plazas, ceremonial reservoirs, and burial platforms. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1986.

Chan Chan is 4 km east of Huanchaco; a taxi from the village takes about 10 minutes.

things to do landmark
A story
Chan Chan was the capital of the Chimú Empire from around 900 AD and at its peak housed 30,000 to 60,000 people in a city of palaces, temples, and barrios. When the Inca conquered it in 1470, they deported the Chimú king and most of the skilled craftsmen to Cusco to work for the Inca state — a deliberate strategy to neutralise a sophisticated rival civilization.