Cusco

The city of Cusco, Peru is currently known as the cultural capital of the country, but its significant history goes back much further. As the oldest living city in the Americas, Cusco has been inhabited continuously for over 3,000 years. It was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th to 16th century until Spanish conquest, and now is a major tourist destination- receiving nearly 2 million visitors per year. So, if you’re headed to Peru, make sure to brush up on the history of Cusco before you go so you can begin to comprehend the role over time that it has played. Walking the ancient city streets and witnessing the sacred ruins won’t be the same afterwards!

Inca civilization began in Cusco around 1200 A.D., with the very first Inka: Manko Capaq and Mama Ocllo. Elaborating greatly on previous life in Cusco, the Incas built what we now know as Cusco city. It was divided into two sectors, the urin and hanan, each arranged to include two of the four provinces (also known as suyos, representing the northwest, northeast, southwest and southeast quarters).

While we know that the Incas built Cusco city, one of the biggest mysteries today is how. It is unknown how the large stones were gathered and transported to the site, or how they managed to build with techniques so far advanced for their time.

After this initial foundation of Cusco, the Inca city went into a second period of growth around 1400. Archaeological evidence suggests gradual growth before the rule of Pachacuti, however the Inca history of Cusco states that King Pachacuti led this expansive phase, the start of his transformation of Cusco from sleepy city-state to vast empire of Tawantinsuyu. Many believed the new layout of the city was planned as an effigy, distinctively in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal in Inca culture. The fortress of Saksaywaman formed the head, the plaza of Huacaypata the navel, and the converging Huatanay and Tullumayo Rivers as the tail.

Archaeologists have suggested this city plan was then replicated at various other sites throughout the Inca Empire.

In 1527, in the midst of civil war, the city fell to the sphere of Huascar after the death of Huayna Capac. Cusco was then captured by the generals of Atahualpa in the Battle of Quipaipan in April 1532, just 19 months before the Spanish Invasion.