Learn about the chachapoya - a pre-Columbian Civilisation
It is perhaps fitting that the pre-Columbian civilisation known as ‘the cloud people’ should continue to be shrouded in mystery.
Having been largely conquered by the Incas prior to the arrival of the Spanish, our knowledge of the Chachapoya (sometimes spelt Shachapuyo) comes from second-hand chronicles, and conjecture from archaeological discoveries.
Mysterious Chachapoya humanoid bas-relief.
It is not known for certain whether the Chachapoya people emigrated West from the low Amazon, or North from the southern Andes around Lake Titicaca.
One Spanish chronicler mentioned that the Chachapoya were remarkably fair-skinned and beautiful, leading to an outlandish theory that they were descended from Vikings!
Even the name ‘Chachapoya’ was an Inca imposition, and may be derived from the Quechua sach'a phuyu (meaning ‘cloud forest’) or sach'a-p-qulla (meaning ‘forest-dwelling people from Puno’).
Geography of the Chachapoya Civilisation
What we do know is that the Chachapoya started building their cities around 800 A.D - during the archaeological period known as the Middle Horizon - across a span of mountainous, forested and remote terrain that stretched some 300 km (200 miles) from north to south, in what are the modern-day provinces of Amazonas, San Martin and La Libertad.
Geographically, Chachapoya territory was confined by the Marañon River to the north and west, and by the Huallaga River to the east - both tributaries of the mighty Amazon River.
The huge outer wall of Kuelap Citadel.
The centre of their civilisation was the Utcubamba River basin, where they built citadels such as Kuelap, with huge stone walls up to 18 m (60 ft) in height and more than four hundred interior buildings, and the lesser-known La Jalca and Yarape. These served as a combination of administrative, religious and economic centres.
Architecture of the Chachapoya Civilisation
Circular Chachapoya building with rhomboid frieze.
Chachapoya complexes are notable for their large circular buildings, complemented by intricate masonry friezes, using zigzags and rhomboids. These were covered by thatched roofs, which were tall and steep to facilitate the run-off of the rains common to the area.
Also typical of the Chachapoya was the architecture surrounding the burial of the dead. This came in two forms … but always on the sides of inaccessible cliffs:
Anthropomorphous sarcophagi: stone coffins, decorated with human characteristics and placed vertically in caves, such as to be found at Karajia, El Tigre and Laguna de los Condores.
Groups of mausoleums constructed like tiny houses, such as at Revash
Chachapoya Handicrafts
Lady with traditionally-made bowl in Huancas.
The ceramics of the Chachapoya culture did not reach the technological levels of the Nazca-Paracas or Moche cultures, which actually preceded it.
Pottery pieces such as bowls and jugs were moulded with the fingers or made of rolls of clay, and decorated simply with dots, incisions, and fingerprints.
In the village of Huancas, one can still see pottery being made in this traditional way.
The textiles found with the sarcophagi at Laguna de los Condores demonstrate great artistic and technical skill. They back up the assertion by Pedro Cieza de Leon, a Spanish chronicler, who wrote that “the Chachapoya made fine and beautiful clothes for the Incas”.
Clothes were generally coloured red, and decorations were inspired by the natural world.
Collapse of the Chachapoya Civilisation
The Incas invaded Chachapoyas land in the second half of the 15th Century and the conquest is thought to have been relatively swift, possibly because the society had become fragmented by this stage.
Nonetheless, smaller rebellions continued for many years, and it is fair to say that the Inca never completely subjugated the Chachapoya, up to the time that the Spanish Conquest brought down the Inca Empire.
Still, the Inca period had a huge impact on the Chachapoya, not least on the population, with deaths in battle, executions and resettlement around the Tahuantinsuyu (the Inca Empire) estimated to have reduced their numbers by 50%.
It was perhaps for this reason that the Chachapoya largely sided with the Spanish during the Conquest, both after the capture of Atahualpa in Cajamarca and during the Manco Capac II Rebellion of the 16th Century.
How to visit the vestiges of Chachapoya Culture with PeruNorth:
Kuelap is the jewel in the crown of Chachapoya archaeology and is of course included in all our Kuelap & Gocta itineraries.
For an investigation of Kuelap along with a number of the lesser-known Chachapoya ruins, have a look at our Hidden Chachapoyas itinerary.
With so many of the Chachapoya ruins being in stunningly remote areas, hiking or horseback is sometimes the only way to reach them: