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Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
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THE BHP WIRE —
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Explore the people, places, events, achievements, struggles and stories that shaped our journey.
Movements, leaders, victories and the continuing fight for equality.
Innovation, patents, science, technology and world-changing contributions.
Pioneers, champions, Negro Leagues, records, activism and excellence.
Meet the people whose lives, choices and achievements shaped the journey.
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Moments that changed communities, movements, institutions and the nation.
In August 1908, a white mob attacked Springfield, Illinois’s Black community, destroying homes and businesses and lynching two Black men. National outrage over the violence helped spur the movement that created the NAACP the following year.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
Chimor (also Kingdom of Chimor or Chimú Empire) was the political grouping of the Chimú culture (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃiˈmu]). The culture arose about 900 CE, succeeding the Moche culture, and was later conquered by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470, fifty years before the arrival of the Spanish in the region. Chimor was the largest kingdom in the Late Intermediate Period, encompassing 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) of modern-day Peruvian coastline. According to Chimú oral history, the history of Chimor began with the arrival of Taycanamo in the Moche Valley from the sea on a balsa raft. From there, his descendants would conquer surrounding areas starting with his son Guacricur. Guacricur integrated Chimú's reign over the lower valley and Ñancempinco, Taycanamo's grandson, would expand the kingdom by conquering the upper valley. Ñançenpinco began further expansion both north and south of the Moche Valleys. The first valleys seem to have joined forces willingly, but the Sican culture was acquired through conquest. They also were significantly influenced by the pre-Inca Cajamarca and Wari cultures. According to legend, its capital of Chan Chan was founded by Taycanamo. Chimor was the last kingdom that had any chance of stopping the Inca Empire. But the Inca conquest began in the 1470s by Topa Inca Yupanqui, defeating the emperor and descendant of Taycanamo, Minchançaman, and was nearly complete when Huayna Capac assumed the throne in 1493. The Chimú resided on a strip of desert on the northern coast of Peru. The rivers in the region carved a series of fertile valley plains, which were very flat and well-suited to irrigation. Agriculture and fishing were both very important to the Chimú economy. The Chimú worshipped the Moon, and unlike the Inca considered it more powerful than the sun. Offerings played an important role in religious rites. A common object for offerings, as well as one used by artisans, was the shell of the Spondylus shellfish, which resides only in the warm coastal waters off present-day Ecuador. Associated with the sea, rainfall, and fertility, Spondylus shells were highly valued and traded by the Chimú people, and the exchange of the shells played a significant economic and political role in the empire. The Chimú people are best known for their distinctive monochromatic pottery and fine metal working of copper, gold, silver, bronze, and tumbaga (copper and gold). The pottery is often in the shape of a creature or has a human figure sitting or standing on a cuboid bottle. The shiny black finish of most Chimú pottery was achieved by firing the pottery at high temperatures in a closed kiln, which prevented oxygen from reacting with the clay.
The Chimor-Inca War was a conflict fought in the late 15th century between the Inca Empire and the Chimor Empire of coastal Peru. At the time of the conflict, the Chimor Empire was in a process of territorial expansion, but as the Inca Empire appeared in the picture, it became impossible for the Chimor to consolidate its conquests. Early skirmishes occurred when the Inca Empire conquered the non-Chimor inland city of Cajamarca. The Incas led by Topa Inca Yupanqui responded to hostilities by advancing first north to Quito in modern Ecuador and then turning their attention to the Chimor Empire. The Chimor Empire was likely conquered from the north. Once conquered, the Incas established an indirect rule over the Chimor. To consolidate victory the Incas pressured the Chimor to hand over the unruly Chimor cacique Minchançaman who travelled to Cuzco becoming a "luxury prisoner" while his more collaborative son acceded his position in his homeland.
The Kingdom of Chimor was a largely Quingnam-speaking polity during the Andean Late Intermediate Period in Peru, centered on the capital of Chan Chan. It would eventually be conquered by an expansionist Inca Empire. Its monarchs or kings were known as the Chimor Cápac. Known rulers of Chimor are largely extrapolated from the Relación de Taycanamo by Rubén Vargas Ugarte, with much of its information from the Historia Suscinta de los Chimú.
Chan Chan (Spanish pronunciation: [tʃaɲ ˈtʃaŋ]), sometimes called Chimor, was the capital city of the Chimor kingdom, a pre-Columbian era culture in South America. The city is now an archeological site in the department of La Libertad five kilometers (3.1 mi) west of Trujillo, Peru. Chan Chan is located in the mouth of the Moche Valley and was the capital of the historical empire of the Chimor from 900 to 1470, when they were defeated and incorporated into the Inca Empire. Chimor, a conquest state, developed from the Chimú culture that established itself along the Peruvian coast around 900 CE. Chan Chan is in a particularly arid section of the coastal desert of northern Peru. Due to the lack of rain in this area, the major source of nonsalted water for Chan Chan is in the form of rivers carrying surface runoff from the Andes. This runoff allows for control of land and water through irrigation systems. The city of Chan Chan spanned 20 square kilometers (7.7 mi2; 4,900 acres) and had a dense urban center of six square kilometers (2.3 mi2; 1,500 acres) which contained extravagant ciudadelas. Ciudadelas were large architectural masterpieces which housed plazas, storerooms, and burial platforms for the royals. The splendor of these ciudadelas suggests their association with the royal class. Housing for the lower classes of Chan Chan's hierarchical society are known as small, irregular agglutinated rooms (SIARs). Because the lower classes were often artisans whose role in the empire was to produce crafts, many of these SIARs were used as workshops.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Madam C.J. Walker
