Cusco - History

Manco Capac was the founder and first Inca of Cusco (Qosqo), but before this there were various groups of people living in this area that were quickly absorbed by the Incas due to their superiority and higher development. The Inca Empire extended further than any other culture in South America and throughout its history it had 13 Incas or Kings who were Manco Capac, Sinchi Roca, Lloque Yupanqui, Mayta Capac, Capac Yupanqui, Inca Roca, Inca Tupanqui, Wiracocha, Pachaqutec, Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Guayna Capac, Huascar y Atahuallpa. The strongest of these was Pachacutec who took control after an extremely bloody battle with the Chancas. It is said that during Pachacutec’s reign there were a lot of natural disasters such as droughts and earthquakes in spite of this Pachacutec rebuilt Cusco and his empire, the city took on a new face with new and different neighbourhoods, during this time the empire extended greatly and achieved great power. The following Incas were Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Guayna Capac, Huascar y Atahuallpa.

Cusco was the capital of Inca empire from its beginning in the 14th century until the spanish conquest in 1533 , when Francisco Pizarro , the intrepid native of Extremadura ,conquered the promising land of Perù following a long and difficult voyage through Panama and over the Andes . And what a crowning glory it was , with its gold mines that flooded the Spanish metropolis with riches , and brought about such an economic transformation throughout Europe that it led to a whole new historical era.
Cusco was designed in the form of a puma with the legendary 15th century fortress of Sacsahuaman as the head , the confluence of the Huatanay and Tullumayo rivers was canalised and straightened to form the tail .The hearth of the city ,and the puma, was the Huacaypata, it was the main square of Inca Cusco, it was located in the same place as the modern city square but twice the size. A gravel covered area ,surrounded by the palaces of past Inca kings and was the site of important ceremonies in the Inca calendar.

When Francisco Pizarro arrived to Peru he found the empire at civil war between the brothers Huascar and Atahuallpa, the Spaniards took advantage of the frail situation existing in the empire and this is how after the death of Atahuallpa the Spaniards conquered the empire.

The Incas continued fighting against the Spanish dominium, in 1536 Manco Inca began the long and cruel war against the European invaders. After 36 years of war the last emperor of the dynasty of the Incas Tupac Amaru was defeated and captured in Vilcabamba; he was executed in the Plaza de Armas of Cusco.

In 1650 the city was affected by a violent earthquake that destroyed almost every colonial construction then again in 1780 the city suffered another earthquake but this time a social one; Tupac Amaru II’s revolution for emancipation, he was betrayed, defeated and executed along with his entire family in the Plaza de Armas of Cusco.

Between 1814-1815 Mateo Pumakawa an authority from Chincheros who had fought with Tupac Amaru II as a youth revolted in Cusco along with the Angulo brothers among others with the purpose of the emancipation of Peru, they were defeated and executed by the pro-Spaniard army. In 1821 Peru finally obtained it’s independence from Spain after a long, cruel and bloody war that took place all over South America.