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Cusco Travel: Cuzco (also "Cusco", or "Qosqo" in
Quechua), located in the Southern Sierras is a fascinating city that
was the capital of the Incan Empire. Cuzco is a Unesco World
Heritage Site and is one of Peru's most visited cities.
The city has a population of about 300,000, triple the population it
contained just 20 years ago. The altitude of the city, located on
the eastern end of the Knot of Cuzco, is around 3,500 m (11,500
feet).
The historic capital of the sun-worshipping Inca empire, it has been
found in 2006 to be the spot on Earth with the highest UV level.
It still remains in the past's obscurity the conditions and date
when man began inhabiting this continent. However, the most accepted
version says that the American man came from the Asian Continent and
that taking advantage of the ocean freeze in the Bering Strait could
cross to this side of the world. According to archaeology the Nevada
Man in present day USA, must have lived about 30 to 50 thousand
years ago. In the case of Peru, in 1969 Mac Neish revealed the
oldest dates for the first Peruvians: 18 to 20 thousand years B.C.
for the Pacaicasa Man around Ayacucho. That age is beyond the
logical sphere because it was determined using the absolute date
technique of Radiocarbon or Carbon 14. Since that remote time man
moved himself through different spots in the Peruvian Andes. In the
Qosqo region there were some pre-ceramic settlements, thus the
oldest ones and still gatherers were the Men of Yauri and
Chumbivilcas with an approximate age of 5 thousand years B.C. Later
we had the shepherds of the Canas and Chawaytiri areas and even
later as farmers the Men of Qorqa. It is in the Formative period
when man appeared in the Watanay Valley (Qosqo Valley). The oldest
sedentary settlement in a first phase in this valley was begun in
Marcavalle on the eastern part of the present-day city with a
relatively organized population of farmers and shepherds using
pottery approximately since 1,000 B.C. Organized life in Qosqo City
began practically with them. Today Qosqo City is considered the
oldest living city in the American Continent with a continuous
occupation of about 3,000 years until today. In a second phase, the
Chanapata culture was developed about 800 B.C. Later, we had the
Regional States and one of the first was that of Qotakalli around
600 A.D. Probably by 750 A.D. the Wari invasion happened, they
constructed the buildings of what today we name Pikillaqta.
Subsequently by 800 A.D. the Regional State of Killki was formed and
later that of Lucre about 1000 A.D. What is traditionally known as
the Inka civilization (empire or state) began approximately by 1200
A.D. in its initial phase, and later around 1400 A.D. in its
expansive phase. One of the most difficult epochs in the city's life
was begun in 1533 with the arrival and subsequent Spanish invasion
and ethnocide.
It is still very difficult to state exactly who were the first
founders of the city or which would be the valid foundation of Qosqo.
They could be the settlers of Marcavalle. Victor Angles suggests
that they could be the Sawasiras, Antasayas and Wallas, tribes
settled in the valley before the Tawantinsuyo development. Another
foundation would be that of the first Inka Manko Qhapaq around 1200
A.D. It is also suggested that Pachakuteq, the ninth king did
another foundation by 1438. Finally, after the arrival of the first
Spaniards to the city on November 15th 1533, Francisco Pizarro
refounded it for the Spanish King following the Spanish tradition on
March 23rd 1534; with the name and title of: THE VERY NOBLE AND
GREAT CITY OF CUZCO.
In 1535 Pizarro founded the new capital in Lima that immediately
gained importance and power even until today. In 1536 Manko Inka
began a long and bloody war against the Spanish invaders having a
siege of 8 months over the city. Finally in 1572, after a war that
lasted 36 years, Tupaq Amaru I, the last emperor of the Inkan
dynasty was defeated, captured and executed cutting his head off in
Qosqo's Main Square.
In 1650 the city was badly affected by a violent earthquake that
destroyed almost every colonial building . Later in 1780 the city
was once again shaken but this time by a social-quake: the Tupaq
Amaru II rebellion (today, traditionally the Spanish form of his
name is used; originally it was Jose Gabriel Thupa Amaro Inga, as it
was signed by himself) He fought for the Peruvian emancipation but
unfortunately was betrayed, defeated and then executed as well as
his whole family and followers in the same city's Main Square.
Between 1814-15, Mateo Pumakawa who was the chief of the village of
Chinchero and in his youth had fought against Tupaq Amaru II; began
once again another rebellion in order to emancipate the country
along with the Angulo brothers and some other Peruvians. They were
defeated and later executed by the Spanish army. In 1821 Peru got
finally its independence from Spain at the end of a long, cruel and
bloody process developed in all the countries of Hispanic America.
In 1933 the 25th Congress of Americanists performed in Ciudad de la
Plata, Argentina, declared Qosqo City as the " Archaeological
Capital of South America". In 1950 another bad earthquake of 7° in
the Mercalli scale had shaken the old Inkan Capital that left just
one quarter of its buildings standing. In 1978 the 7th Convention of
Mayors of the World Great Cities, performed in Milan, Italy,
declared Qosqo as " Cultural Heritage of the World". In Paris, on
December 9, 1983, the UNESCO declared Qosqo as " Cultural Patrimony
of Humanity". On December 22, 1983, by means of Law Nº 23765 the
Peruvian government declared the city as " Tourist Capital of Peru"
as well as " Cultural Patrimony of the Nation". Today Qosqo is
capital of the department having the same name and at the same time
the seat of the Inka Region formed along with the departments of
Apurimac and Madre de Dios. The 1993 Peruvian Constitution declares
Qosqo as the Historic Capital of the country.
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