The Chimu civilization: complex society and Spanish Eurocentrism

¶ … Chimu Indians

The fifteenth-century Spanish travelers who embarked on voyages of discovery and conquest in the Americas expected to encounter primitive savage races. Instead, they found advanced civilizations with intricately designed cities, complex social hierarchies and accurate methods of calculating calendars. But despite this evidence, the Spaniards used the differences between the two sets of cultural beliefs and practices as proof of the inferiority of the Andean civilizations. Because of this backwardness, the Spanish believed that colonization was needed to bring "civilization" to the new world. Susan Ramirez described this Eurocentrism as a "disregard of others' cultures and identities" (Ramirez, 10-11).

This paper applies Ramirez's critique of Eurocentrism by looking at the civilization of the Chimu, a powerful coastal kingdom in Northern Peru. By looking at the Chimu religion and social structure - as evidenced in their ceramic art and in their architecture - this paper posits that the Chimu were a people with a rich and complex civilization even before the Spanish conquerors arrived.

By the time of the Spanish conquest, various aspects of the Chimu culture were still evident among the resettled Chimu and the former Chimu territories along the coast of Peru. In fact, many of the coastal territories continued to use the Chimu language yunca, a term which eventually became identified with the Chimu descendents (Mason 102).

The Chimu had no written language and their cultural practices included sodomy and ritual sacrifice, customs that the Inca and the Spaniards found abhorrent. According to Ramirez's formulation, these differences in values and worldviews left the Spaniards blind to the Chimu's mastery of gold and silver artisanship and the engineering skill that went into the complex irrigation programs that watered Chimu urban dwellings.

Chimu background

The Chimus were the immediate predecessors of the Incas. Their civilization lasted from circa 1100 AD to 1400 and flourished along Peru's northern coast. The Chimu state was characterized by conquest and expansion periods during the late 13th and early 14th centuries. At its height, the Chimu Empire stretched across 620 square miles (Crow 24).

Chimu conquest led to their domination over neighboring states such as Chancay. In the mid-15th century, however, a quest for expansion to the south led to conflicts with the Inca Empire. The Chimu were overwhelmed by the Inca in a yearlong war beginning 1475. The entire Chimu state was then absorbed. The nobility and skilled artisans were resettled in the city of Cuzco to serve their new Inca rulers (von Hagen 162).

The Chimu were well-known for an elaborate irrigation system that brought in a great amount of water into an otherwise arid land. This irrigation system gave rise to an agricultural system and allowed the Chimu to build and congregate in large urban centers. One irrigation canal, for example, stretched for 20 miles to bring water to the capital city of Chan. This irrigation system, however, also proved to be their Achilles heel. To weaken their enemies, the Incas destroyed the canals, depriving Chimu states of water (von Hagen 119).

Aside from agriculture, the Chimu were also craftspeople who produced textiles, silver, gold and copper objects. Their as ceramics and pottery, while not artistically accomplished as other Andean civilizations, depicts many scenes from Chimu daily life (Mason 103). Because the Chimu did not have a written language, much of the scholarship on their religion and social structures are inferred from the artifacts and architecture that they left behind.

Chimu religion

The October 2002 discovery of 200 mummified remains of fishermen in Huarmey, Peru confirms that the Chimu practiced ritual sacrifices. The fishermen were members of a fertile seaside valley conquered by the Chimu in 1350. The sacrificial victims were stabbed in a mass killing then offered as tribute to the sea god Ni (Ryan, "Peru find 200 fishers...").

The archeological find confirms that the Chimu were part of a long religious tradition that included human sacrifice. Archeologists believe that as the Chimu Empire prospered, there was a corresponding increase in the scale and frequency of these human sacrifices (Ryan).

The discovery of the mass killings also confirms earlier evidence of human sacrifices when the skeletons of several young women were found inside the tombs of nobility. Such finds, however grisly, show that the Chimu had the concept of an afterlife and sought to curry favor with the gods through an ultimate sacrifice.

Unlike the Incas, the Chimu were moon-worshippers, a trait common to the coastal-dwelling peoples (Leicht 63). Religion often grows out of a need to explain the unknown. Following this need, the Chimu anthromorphized objects in nature for veneration.

The moon was a natural choice for worship, since as a coastal people, the Chimu readily observed the moon's phases and its influence on the tides. In addition, the Chimu believed that the stars were gods as well. The Chimu were dependent on water, giving rise to the god Ni and a host of other sea-spawned creatures which needed to be kept appeased. Every unexplained phenomenon was attributed to a god (von Hagen 105-106).

Like many ancient peoples, the Chimu practiced a form of totemism, believing that every object in nature - from rocks to trees to animals - possessed both sentience and a soul. In contrast to the Judeo-Christian notion giving humans dominion over the world, the Chimu saw themselves as part of the sphere of animals (von Hagen 106).

In labeling the Chimu and the yunca as primitive because of their religious beliefs, the Spanish conquerors and missionaries ignored several important parallels between the Chimu and Judeo-Christian beliefs.

First, the elaborate Chimu burial rituals, at least for rulers and nobility, implied a belief in life after death. The Chimu believed that their dead should carry with them the possessions - pots, cups, weapons - that they would need in the afterlife. The dead were also wrapped in shrouds signifying their rank in life (Leicht 74). These practices facilitate the continuity of life, a belief that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Christian concept of the immortal soul.

Like the Incas, the Chimu also believed in the Hauqui, a friendly shadow which provided people with friendship and good counsel (von Hagen 106). Again, this belief in friendly spirits is akin to the Christian concepts of guardian angels, a fact that the Spaniards, in their Eurocentrism, failed to recognize.

Chan Chan

To paraphrase Plato, Chan is the Chimu clan writ large against the sky. Much of today's scholarship on Chimu life is inferred from the remains of Chan, the largest city in South America before the arrival of the Spanish. The city was built between the 9th and the 15th centuries. It covered nine square miles and served as the seat of power of the Chimu Empire (Mason 101).

Chan Chan served as the seat of the Chimu Empire's craft gold and silver craft production, making it the wealthiest city in addition to the largest. By the late 15th century, however, the Inca conquerors had plundered Chan Chan's wealth and relocated its artisans to Cuzco. Spaniards led by Francisco Pizarro further plundered Chan in 1470. Grave robbers continued to dig for treasures well into the 19th century (Leicht 166).

The remaining adobe walls and structures of Chan, however, reveal valuable insight into Chimu social organization. Archeologists have learned that the great city is composed of nine rectangular palace complexes, called ciudadelas.

Each ciudadela contained temples, cemeteries, food and supply reservoirs and symmetrically arranged rooms (Kubler 402). They served as the living quarters of the reigning Chimu king. Upon the ruler's death, the ciudadela became the burial place and also served as a shrine, where citizens venerated the departed ruler's soul.

Archeologists theorize that the architectural layout of Chan mirrors the social caste system that governs Chimu society. The Chimu instituted a strict social hierarchy, since the nobility and the common citizens were believed to have descended from different gods (Leicht 62).

This division was reflected in the way living quarters were arranged in Chan.

The center of Chan, however, was the reigning royal palace, which housed not only the king but also other members of the high nobility. Various nobles held office in building around the palace grounds, overseeing the collected tributes and managing the production of goods in the barrios.

The current ciudadela was the focal point of Chan Chan's political, administrative and religious power. In addition, the ciudadela in Chan was also the central storehouse for tributes paid by other kingdoms and conquered territories of the Chimu Empire.

In addition to the living and administrative quarters, the ciudadelas also had ceremonial squares which were open to the public. These areas were later converted to burial platforms after the king's death. In addition, the public areas also housed smaller offices termed audiencias, where members of the nobility conducted business with the public. These scenes are often depicted in Chimu pottery. Archeologists posit that these audiences were a requirement for people who needed access to the food or other supplies kept in the palace storehouses. These audiencias may also have served as small temples, judging by the sacred imagery decorating the walls (Leicht 163-165).

Upon the king's death, his ciudadela was converted into a royal mausoleum. His wealth, including precious gold and silver, were stored inside the ciudadela, along with the bodies of hundreds of sacrificed young women. Both practices were meant to curry favor with the gods on behalf of the nobleman, and to ensure that the dead king has his wealth and the necessary tools for use in the afterlife. A cult was established to care for the dead king's mausoleum and shrine. Upon his death, the ruler assumed a divine status. (McIlveen, "A catacomb of palace...") His replacement king, meanwhile, will continue to rule from the new ciudadela.

The laborers and artisans, who formed the large portion of Chan Chan's population, lived outside the grand ciudadelas. They dwellings and workshops of the artisans were located in the smaller barrios. With an estimated 10,000 barrios, Chan may have had a peak population of 50,000 (Kubler 408). The barrio, archaeologists have concluded, was the seat of small-scale production, occupied by skilled artisans. In these more modest settings, the artisans and laborers produced the textiles, pottery and the gold, silver and copper instruments that were used by the nobility or traded with neighboring Chimu cities or other Andean nations.

Most of the Chimu Empire's crafts were produced in the barrios of Chan. Archeological evidence shows that these artisans lived in single-family houses made of adobe, cane, reeds and thatched roofs. Discarded food fragments reveal that the artisans of Chan had diets rich in squash, sweet potatoes, lima beans and chili peppers.

Fish and seafood was the centerpiece of Chimu diet (von Hagen 58-59).

Aside from kitchens and living quarters, these adobe houses had areas devoted to either metalworking or textile production.

In the absence of a written language, the artisans taught their craft through apprenticeships, passing the knowledge from one generation to the next.

Though the barrios appear humble when compared to the ciudadelas, the artisans lived a privileged existence compared to the fishermen, farmers and other peasants. The latter lived outside the city itself, socially and physically segregated from the artisans and the nobility. Fishermen lived near the shores while the farmers built humble settlements near the fields. These peasants did not have the same privileges as the artisans. When a king died and a new ciudadela was needed, the peasants were forced to pay a labor tribute by building the new king's palace (von Hagen 112).

Conclusion

In criticizing the Spaniards of Eurocentrism, Ramirez detailed how the colonizers were unwilling to listen or understand indigenous efforts to explain their ways and identity. The colonizers did not recognize "use-based" concepts such as the importance of the clan. As a result, Indian concepts were labeled as primitive, savage or inferior and eventually replaced with imposed European values (Ramirez 84-86).

Ramirez's findings are relevant when applied to the case of the Chimu, who were labeled as backwards or primitive because of several factors. First, despite a complex oral and apprenticeship-based society, the Chimu did not have a written language. The Spaniards deemed the Chimu "use-based" system of meting out justice as barbaric. Focusing on practices such as human sacrifice, sodomy and sexual intercourse between unmarried people further reinforced the Spanish "civilizing" mentality.

This Eurocentrism made the Spaniards blind to the complexity of Chan and the surviving Chimu societies. After all, many of the Chimu beliefs and practices had Spanish counterparts. These include a belief in the soul and the afterlife and a hierarchical society governed by a nobility. The Spanish also practiced a forced labor tribute system in its other colonies.

In conclusion, the example of the Chimu society belies the traditional Spanish colonizer's view of a primitive indigenous societies in need of civilizing. In fact, parallels between the Chimu religious beliefs and social structures indicate quite the opposite - that the Chimu were an advanced civilization on par, in several ways, with the Spanish colonizers.