The arrival of Europeans in the Americas in the late 15^th and early 16^th centuries brought to an abrupt end to a series of cultures dating back more than 2000 years. These civilisations are known as pre-Columbian from the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus (1451 to 1506).

CHAVIN
    Earliest highly developed Peruvian culture, existing from about 900 to 200 BC. The Chavins were a farming society composed of several different regional groups. Their capital was the city of Chavin de Huantar in northern Peru.

NAZCA
    Mysterious souther Peruvian culture about which little is known for gertain. Thought to have been founded about the time of Christ, but its people had disappeared by the time of the Spanish Conquest. The major evidence for the nature of the Nazca culture is a series of enormous figures and designs drawn and with lines of pebbles across the coastal desert of southern Peru, which are best seen from the air. The largest design os of a bird; it is about 275m (900ft) long.

TIAHUANACO
    Named after the city of Tiahuanaco, founded in about 800 BC near Lake Titicaca in present-day Bolivia. The city was occupied by a series of five different cultures until about AD 1200. Then it was largely abandoned, for unknown reasons.

CHIBCHA
    Civilisaton founded in Colombian highlands and eventually destroyed by Spanish in 16^th century. May have inspired the legends of Eldorado.

MOCHICA
    Flourished in northern Peru from about 200 BC to AD 600. Mochica farmers used irrigation systems, built fortifications and developed sophisticated crafts and sculpture.

CHIMU
    Civilisation established on northwest Peruvian coast in about AD 1000. Its capital was the city of Chan Chan, which at its peak had a population of 100,000. Expanded into the Andes under Nancen Pinco after 1370. Conquered in about 1470 by Incas.

INCA
    Last and largest pre-Columbian civilisation in South America. Created vast Andean empire between 1438 anf 1532. Destroyed by Spanish conquistadors under Francisco Pizarro in the 1530's.