tribal confederation · South America

Chachapoya

800 CE – 1475 CE (approx.)

Peoples of the cloud forests of northern Peru, builders of the great walled citadel of Kuélap and of cliffside tombs and sarcophagi.

Origins

The Chachapoya culture developed from around 800 in the montane forests between the Marañón and Huallaga rivers, in present-day Amazonas region of Peru. Communities built circular stone houses on ridges and grew into a network of fortified settlements.

Rule and society

The Chachapoya were not a single state but a confederation of chiefdoms sharing culture and allying in war. Their most famous site, Kuélap, is a walled platform up to 20 metres high containing hundreds of round buildings. They placed their dead in cliffside mausoleums such as Revash and in tall clay sarcophagi, the purunmachus of Karajía. Their stone buildings carry zigzag and rhomboid friezes.

Decline and legacy

The Incas conquered the Chachapoya around 1475 under Túpac Inca Yupanqui, facing repeated revolts and deporting many people. Some Chachapoya allied with the Spanish after 1532. Epidemics and colonial rule then depopulated the region, and many sites remained hidden in forest until modern times.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Chachapoya. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/chachapoya
MLA
“Chachapoya.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/chachapoya. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Chachapoya.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/chachapoya.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Chachapoya’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/chachapoya (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻