Trujillo, Peru and others. The Chimu culture built its primary settlement at what is known as Chan Chan, which was the capital, having an estimated 100,000 people at its peak. It is the largest pre-Columbian city built of adobe and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its remains are northwest of the current city center. The present Spanish–Peruvian city of Trujillo was founded in an ancestral territory populated by ancient indigenous civilizations. The Spanish founded new cities expressing their culture in what they called the "Viceroyalty of Peru". The Moche civilization flourished in northern Peru with its Huacas del Sol
Geography of South America for the continent's only pre-Columbian state civilizations: those of the Inca Empire and its predecessors (Chavín, Nazca, Mochica, etc.). The area is still a major agricultural region. The Altiplano contains many rare minerals such as copper, tin, mercury ore. The Atacama is mined for its nitrates. Peru east of the Andes is regarded as the most important biodiversity hotspot in the world with its unique forests that form the western edge of the world's largest rainforest, the Amazon Rainforest. East of the Andes is a large lowland drained by a small number of rivers, including the two largest in the