Chincha Kingdom

Chincha, one of the most important pre-Inca kingdoms in Peru. It ruled the Chincha valley, about 130 miles south of Lima, but the exact dates of the kingdom are unknown. It probably controlled the valley by 1300 ce and was incorporated into the Inca Empire about 1450. Relations between Chincha and the Inca were cordial. The lord of Chincha was traveling with the Inca Atahualpa at the time the Inca was captured by the Spanish at Cajamarca in 1532. The archaeological site known as La Centinela, near modern Chincha Baja, apparently served as the Chincha capital.

The Chincha valley, shallow but very wide at its mouth, is probably the richest Peruvian coastal valley south of Lima. María Rostworowski's studies of early colonial documents have provided evidence of a population divided into specialized economic groups of farmers, fishermen, and long-distance traders. These traders were the most intriguing feature of Chincha social and economic organization. It is believed that they sailed hundreds of boats on the ocean and had a virtual monopoly on trade with the area that is modern Ecuador. While there is no certainty of the nature of this trade, it is believed that it mainly involved an exchange of metals from inland regions to the south and east for the highly valued spondylus shell from the warm waters off the Ecuadorian coast. The Pacific coast of Peru is influenced by the cold Humboldt current, which fosters one of the richest regions of marine plant and animal life in the world. However, this region does not include the spondylus, or spiny oyster, which appeared in the south only during the periods of El Niño events, when cold currents were displaced by a southward movement of warmer water. The rare appearances of spondylus corresponded with rains on the Peruvian desert coast. The association between rains and spondylus apparently resulted in the belief that the spondylus brought rain. The red shells became sacred and extremely valuable. It is believed that Chincha dominated the trade that brought the shells from the north by boat, supplying large areas of the Andean highlands.

Archaeological studies have not yet located installations used by the traders. Evidence of the fisherfolk referred to in the written sources has been identified at a seaside site called Lo Demas. Numerous sites of various sizes in the inland heart of the well-irrigated valley were probably related to agricultural activities. These sites include Huacarones and Las Huacas. While the most dense occupation of the Chincha valley dates to the period between 1300 and 1532, its occupation and use began in the early periods of Andean prehistory. Archaeological sites dating to the time of the Paracas and Nazca cultures are prominent in the valley, demonstrating that the great wealth and large populations documented by both the archaeological and written sources for the immediately pre-Columbian periods extended back for more than a millennium.

See alsoPrecontact History: Andean Region .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Dorothy Menzel and John Rowe, "The Role of Chincha in Late Pre-Spanish Peru," in Ñawpa Pacha 4 (1966): 63-79.

María Rostworowski De Díez Canseco, "Mercaderes del valle de Chincha en la Época prehispánica: Un documento y unos comentarios," in Revista Española de Anthropologia Americana 5 (1970): 135-177.

Craig Morris, "Más allá de las fronteras de Chincha," in La frontera del estado Inca, edited by Tom D. Dillehay and Patricia Netherly (1988), pp. 131-140.

Daniel H. Sandweiss, The Archaeology of Chincha Fishermen: Specialization and Status in Inka Peru (1992).

                                         Craig Morris