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Chachapoya Indians  

Definition

  • The Chachapoya Indians, often described in popular media as Peru's ancient “Cloud People,” inhabited the Andean tropical cloud forests between the Marañon and Huallaga River valleys prior to their rapid cultural disintegration after the Spanish conquest in AD 1532 (see Figure 1). In anthropology and in the popular imagination, the Chachapoya represent the quintessential “lost tribe,” founders of a “lost civilization,” and builders of “lost cities” now abandoned and concealed by cold and rainy tropical cloud forests. [Source: Encyclopedia of Anthropology; Chachapoya Indians]

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https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/Chachapoya_Indians

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