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TRUJILLO, or TRUJILLO

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Originally appearing in Volume V27, Page 323 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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TRUJILLO, or TRUJILLO , a See also:city of See also:northern See also:Peru, the see of a bishopric, and See also:capital of the See also:department of See also:Libertad, about 315 M. N.N.W. of See also:Lima and 12 m. from the Pacific See also:coast, in See also:lat. 8° 7' S., See also:long. i9° 9' W. Pop. (1906, estimate), about 6500. The city stands on the arid, sandy See also:plain (Mansiche, or Chimu), which skirts the coast from See also:Paita See also:south to See also:Santa, a few See also:miles See also:north of the Moche or Chimu See also:river, and at the northern entrance to the celebrated Chimu Valley. North and See also:east are the ruins of an old See also:Indian city commonly known as the See also:Grand Chimu, together with extensive aqueducts and reservoirs. The city is partly enclosed by an old See also:adobe See also:wall built in 1686, and its buildings are in See also:great See also:part also constructed of adobe. The public institutions include auniversity, two See also:national colleges, one of which is for girls, an episcopal See also:seminary, a See also:hospital and a See also:theatre. Trujillo was once an important commercial centre and the See also:metropolis of northern Peru, but the See also:short See also:railways See also:running inland from various ports have taken away its commercial importance. The See also:port of Salaverry (with which Trujillo is .connected by See also:rail) is about to m. south-east, where the national See also:government has constructed a long See also:iron See also:pier. Rail-ways also extend northward to Ascope and eastward to See also:Laredo, Galindo and Menocucho, and a short See also:line runs from See also:Roma, on the Ascope See also:extension, to the port of Huanchaco.

The only important manufactures of Trujillo are cigars and cigarettes. Trujillo was founded in 1535, by Francisco See also:

Pizarro, who gave it the name of his native city in See also:Spain. Its position on the road from Tumbez to Lima gave it considerable See also:political and commercial importance, and some reflection of that colonial distinction still remains. It suffered little in the See also:War of See also:Independence, but was occupied and plundered by the Chileans in 1882. Of the See also:ancient aboriginal city, or See also:group of towns, whose ruins and See also:burial-places See also:cover the plain on every See also:side of Trujillo, comparatively little is definitely known. The extent of these ruins, which cover an See also:area 12 to 15 M. long by 5 to 6 m. wide, demonstrate that it was much the largest Indian city on the See also:southern See also:continent. The See also:principal ruins are 4 M. north of Trujillo, but others See also:lie more to the eastward and still others southward of the See also:banks of the Moche. The great See also:aqueduct, which brought See also:water to the several large reservoirs of the city, was 14 M. long and in some places in See also:crossing the Chimu Valley it had an See also:elevation of 6o ft. The name of Grand Chimu is usually given to the ruined city, this being the See also:title applied to the See also:chief of the See also:people, who were called the Chimu, or Yuncas. They were a See also:race wholly distinct from the Incas, by whom they were finally conquered. They spoke a different See also:language and had See also:developed an altogether different See also:civilization, anc'it is not unreasonable to presume that they were related to some earlier race of southern See also:Mexico. Specimens of skilfully wrought ornaments of See also:gold and See also:silver, artistically made pottery, and finely See also:woven fabrics of See also:cotton and See also:wool (See also:alpaca), have been found in their huacas, or burial-places.

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Bronze was known to them, and from it tools and weapons were made. Their extensive See also:irrigation See also:works show that they were painstaking agriculturists, and that they were successful ones may be assumed from the See also:size of the See also:population maintained in so arid a region. Since the See also:Spanish See also:conquest their huacas have been opened and rifled, and many of the larger masses of ruins have been extensively See also:mined in See also:search of treasure, but enough still remains to impress upon the observer the magnitude of the city and the See also:genius of the people who built it. Nothing is known of their See also:history or of their political institutions, but these remains of their handiwork See also:bear eloquent testimony that they had reached a degree of development in some respects higher even than that of the Incas. See E. G. Squier, Peru (New See also:York, 1877) ; and See also:Charles Wiener, Perou et Bolivie (See also:Paris, 1882).

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