Sep. 10, 2016 (con't)

After visiting Huaca el Brujo I continued towards the coast to Chan Chan, the capital city of the Chimor kingdom. It was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America.  Chan Chan is a World Heritage Site, but is also on the List of World Heritage in Danger.  

Chan Chan was constructed about 850 AD.  It was the Chimor empire's capital city, with an estimated population of 40,000–60,000 people.  An indication of the great Chimú wealth is seen in a sixteenth-century list of items looted from a burial tomb in Chan Chan: a treasure equivalent to 80,000 pesos of gold was recovered (nearly $5,000,000 US dollars in gold).

The archaeological site covers an area of approximately 20 square kilometers, being considered the largest adobe city in the world.