Huayla

The Huayla, or Huaylas, were the people of the Callejón de Huaylas, a Santa River valley of the Ancash highlands. Occupation of the valley reaches back to the Chavín horizon of around 500 BC; their principal shrine was Pumacayán. They formed a señorío and revolted against the Incas with neighbouring peoples.

Only between 1470 and 1490, under Túpac Yupanqui and Huayna Cápac, was the valley subdued; Pumacayán was destroyed and curacas sent daughters to Cusco as Inca rulers' secondary wives. The Incas reorganized them into Hanan and Hurin Huaylas; the maize lands of Hanan Huaylas ranked among the empire's most fertile provinces.

Under the Spaniards their Inca ties served them: Contarhuacho, daughter of the Hanan curaca and wife of Huayna Cápac, bore Quispe Sisa, first wife of Francisco Pizarro, and in 1536 sent a Huayla contingent to defend Lima against Quizu Yupanqui. The valley was partitioned into encomiendas and reductions.