Paramonga was an important city constructed at the border of the former

Kingdom of Chimor Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture (). The culture arose about 900 CE, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca Empire, Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui aro ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

during the late Intermediate Period (AD 1200 to 1400), whose capital was the metropolis of

Chan Chan Chan Chan (), sometimes itself called Chimor, was the capital city of the Chimor kingdom. It was the largest city of the pre-Columbian era in South America. It is now an archeological site in the department of La Libertad west of Trujillo, P ...

. Paramonga is located on the Fortaleza River, close to the town of

Pativilca Pativilca is a town in central Peru, capital of the district Pativilca in the province Barranca in the region Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and la ...

to the north of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

. It is said that it was an important religious settlement, similar to

Pachacamac Pachacámac () is an archaeological site southeast of Lima, Peru in the Valley of the Lurín River. The site was first settled around A.D. 200 and was named after the "Earth Maker" creator god Pacha Kamaq. The site flourished for about 1,300 ye ...

. It is named after the nearby modern town of Paramonga, as its original name is unknown. Paramonga is often called a fortress due to its staggered pyramid of four levels of enormous proportions constructed on a hill, which somewhat resembles a European medieval

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, though it was built prior to Spanish colonization of the area.

History

The oldest written records of Paramonga belong to Miguel de Estete, who was called the "chronicler soldier", during the conquest of the

Tawantinsuyu The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose fr ...

. In 1533, Estete accompanying

Hernando Pizarro Hernando Pizarro y de Vargas (; c. 1504 – c. 1578) was a Spanish conquistador and one of the Pizarro brothers who ruled over Peru. He was the only one of the Pizarro brothers who was not killed in Peru, and eventually returned to Spain. Piza ...

and his little dispatch of 'twenty horsemen and some arquebusiers' with a few of Atahualpa's retainers acting as guides descended from

Cajamarca Cajamarca (), also known by the Quechua name, ''Kashamarka'', is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Per ...

, by orders of the leader of the conquistador band in Peru, the brother of Hernando,

Francisco Pizarro Francisco Pizarro, Marquess of the Atabillos (; ; – 26 June 1541) was a Spanish ''conquistador'', best known for his expeditions that led to the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Born in Trujillo, Cáceres, Trujillo, Spain, to a poor fam ...

, who had settled in Cajamarca alongside a captive

Atahualpa Atahualpa (), also Atawallpa or Ataw Wallpa ( Quechua) ( 150226 July 1533), was the last effective Inca emperor, reigning from April 1532 until his capture and execution in July of the following year, as part of the Spanish conquest of the In ...

Inca The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (, ), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The History of the Incas, Inca ...

since the previous year in order to wait for the completion of enormous ransom payment of gold and silver proposed by Atahualpa for his own rescue, however as time passed the supply of precious metal artifacts arriving at Cajamarca had significantly decreased over the past months, the Spaniards were growing impatient and the tensions between the newly arrived Almagrists and the Pizarrists were beginning to escalate, in an attempt to complete the payment of his ransom Atahaulpa then proposes to the Spanish to loot Pachacamac, city where riches abounded but held by priests that sided with Huascar in the Inca civil war and thus were enemies of Atahualpa. Estete and Hernando's expedition traveled by the Able Ñan (dirt road) along the coast, and became the first Spaniards to have visited Paramonga along the way to Pachacamac. During the Spanish colonial period, Paramanonga would be visited by a number of chroniclers, soldiers, priests, and other literate men. Estete wrote in his account.

"... and another day we went to sleep in a large town that is called Parmunga, which is next to the sea, has a Strong House, with five blind fences, painted of elaborately on the inside and outside with its walls carved, the way it is done in Spain, with two tigers (pumas?) at the main entrance ..."

Another chronicler,

Pedro Cieza de León Pedro Cieza de León ( Llerena, Spain c. 1518 or 1520 – Seville, Spain July 2, 1554) was a Spanish conquistador and chronicler of Peru and Popayán. He is known primarily for his extensive work, ''Crónicas del Perú'' (The Chronicle of Peru), ...

, passed Paramonga during his trip from the City of the Kings (Lima) to Trujillo in 1541. He described it by the following:

"There is one thing worth seeing in this valley, which is a fine well-built fortress, and it is certainly very curious to see how they raised water in channels to irrigate higher levels. The buildings were very handsome, and many wild beasts and birds were painted on the walls, which are now all in ruins and undermined in many places by those who have searched for buried gold and silver. In these days the fortress only serves as a witness to that which has been."

References

{{Coord, 10, 39, 12, S, 77, 50, 29, W, display=title, region:PE_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki Populated places in the Department of Lima Former populated places in Peru