Zenú

The Zenú were Indigenous communities of the Sinú and San Jorge valleys on the Caribbean coast of present-day Colombia. Their farmers built extensive canals and raised terraces to manage seasonal flooding; after 1100, many moved to higher ground.

Spanish conquest and disease devastated the Zenú chiefdoms between 1510 and 1535, while gold buried in their graves attracted looters. In 1773 the Spanish crown designated a reserve for the Zenú at San Andrés de Sotavento.