#1470ce

Chan Chan

Chan Chan (Chimor) was the capital city of the Chimu civilization which flourished on the northern coast of Peru between the 12th and 15th centuries CE. The city was a giant metropolis populated by peoples from across the Chimu Empire, the largest the Americas had ever seen up to that time. Today, many of Chan Chan's huge palace complexes with their high relief-decorated adobe walls still survive as testimony to the city's lost grandeur. Chan Chan is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Historical Overview

Chan Chan, also known as Chimor, the name of its original inhabitants, was built at the mouth of the Rio Moche from c. 1000 CE. The initial prosperity of the Chimu was largely due to their agricultural skills as they built an extensive irrigation system using canals. Later, their successful military campaigns and policy of extracting tribute ensured that they became the dominant regional power. At its height, Chan Chan covered some 20 square kilometres and had a population of up to 40,000 making it the largest city yet seen in the Andes. The city became the hub of a vast trade and tribute network, and no fewer than 26,000 craftsmen and women resided there, often forcibly removed from conquered territories, especially the Lambayeque, to mass produce high-quality goods for domestic consumption and export. Raw materials traded and controlled by Chan Chan included gold, spondylus shell, tropical feathers, and foodstuffs.

The traditional founding ruler of the Chimu was Taycanamo, who was considered to have been born from a golden egg and then arrived from the sea. Other notable rulers include Guacricaur, who expanded into the Moche, Santa, and Zaña valleys. Eventually, the Chimu extended their territory even further south and in 1375 CE, under the rule of Nancinpinco, conquered the Lambayeque (Sican) culture absorbing some of their cultural practices and artistic ideas. The La Leche Valley was also brought under Chimu control so that, at its height, the Chimu Empire was the largest and most prosperous in South America during the Late Intermediate Period. At its greatest extent during the reign of Minchançaman c. 1400 CE, the area of Chimu influence stretched 1300 kilometres along the coast of northern Peru. As the empire grew so other administrative centres sprang up, such as at Farfan, Manchan, El Milagro, Quebrado Katuay, and the fortress site of Paramonga, but Chan Chan was supreme as the centre of the Chimu world.

Edward IV of England

Edward IV of England ruled as king from 1461 to 1470 CE and again from 1471 to 1483 CE. The Hundred Years' War (1337-1453 CE) had been lost by Edward's predecessor, Henry VI of England (1422-1461 CE & 1470-1471 CE), leaving Calais as the only English territory in France. Henry's incompetence and episodes of insanity were important factors in the rivalry between the ruling house of Lancaster and the ambitious York family that developed into the conflict known today as the Wars of the Roses (1455-1487 CE). Richard, Duke of York (1411-1460 CE) had been ambitious to become king, and his son Edward took up the mantle from 1460 CE. Following his victories on the battlefield, Edward was crowned Edward IV the next year. There would be a brief interruption when his old ally the Earl of Warwick reinstated Henry VI in 1470 CE, but Edward would win back his throne, again on the battlefield, the next year. The king's second spell saw much more stability and a booming economy thanks to a peace treaty with France and the encouragement of cross-Channel trade. Edward died, perhaps of a stroke, aged 40 in 1483 CE and was succeeded by his young son Edward V of England (r. Apr-Jun 1483 CE) who was shortly after imprisoned and murdered, probably by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester who became Richard III of England (r. 1483-1485 CE).

Hundred Years' War: The Seeds of Discontent

The failures of the Hundred Years' War between England and France provided ambitious barons in England with an excuse to rid themselves of their talentless king. Henry VI provided no military leadership at all, and his marriage in 1445 CE to Margaret of Anjou (d. 1482 CE), niece of Charles VII of France (r. 1422-1461 CE), which involved the handing over of Maine, caused further division in England. Some barons resented the king's capitulation while others were angry that the hugely expensive war with France was still not at an end. The obvious influence of the queen on her weak-willed husband was yet another bone of contention amongst the court officials who were themselves seen as corrupt by outsiders. By 1453 CE the war was over, though, and the French had regained all English-controlled lands except Calais. It was then that Henry suffered his first episode of insanity which made him so incapable of ruling that Richard, Duke of York was nominated as Protector of the Realm, in effect, regent, in March 1454 CE.