Chanka

The Chanka were a warlike people of the central Peruvian Andes, related to the Quechua. Their chiefdoms grew in the Andahuaylas valley and Ayacucho highlands after they migrated from Castrovirreina, and their raids are thought to have helped bring down the Wari state. Their confederation united the Hanan, Urin and Villca under two paramount chiefs; chronicles describe a rich lordship at its height between 1200 and 1438.

Farmers and llama herders, they worshipped a puma deity, painted faces, carried ancestral mummies into battle and made cups from the skulls of slain enemies.

Inca tradition claims the Urin Chanka were subdued around 1230, Mayta Cápac crossing the Apurímac by a hanging bridge; after 1430 the Hanan Chanka besieged Cusco and were crushed at Yawarpampa by the prince Cusi Yupanqui, who took the name Pachacuti. In 1532 the Chanka joined Pizarro's auxiliaries against the Inca; colonial rule brought forced labour.