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Thehistory ofCusco (Peru), the historical capital of theIncas.

According to the legend collected by the"Inca" Garcilaso de la Vega,Manco Cápac andMama Ocllo migrated fromLake Titicaca on the advice of their father, thegod Sun. They threw a golden javelin; where it was nailed they founded a new town. The place chosen was called Cusco:

The first stop they made in this valley, said the Inca, was on the hill called Huanacauti, at noon of this city. There they tried to land the golden bar on land, which very easily sank them to the first blow they hit with it, which they saw no more. Then our Inca said to his sister and woman: In this valley our father the sun sends to stop and make our seat and abode, to fulfill his will, Therefore, queen and sister, it is convenient that each one for his part we will summon and attract these people for indoctrinating them and to do the good that our father the sun sends us.

The famous legend, written by Garcilaso, lacks archaeological evidence.^[4]

Due to archaeological and anthropological data, the true process of the occupation of Cusco has been studied. The consensus suggests that, due to the collapse of the kingdom ofTiwanaku, the migration of its people took place.^[5] This group of about 500 men would have gradually established themselves in theHuatanay River Valley, a process that would culminate in the foundation of the Cusco on the banks of the Saphy River. The approximate date is unknown, but thanks to vestiges it is agreed that the site where the city is located was already inhabited 3000 years ago.^{[citation needed]}

Ancient chronicles like those of the chroniclerPedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1530-1592) affirm the existence of ethnic groups in the valley of Cusco before the appearance of the Inca Empire. This author mentions theGuallas, theSahuasiray and theAntasayas as the oldest settlers; while theAlcavistas,Copalimaytas andCulunchimas are considered more recent inhabitants.^[6] It is also known that theAyarmacas inhabited the region, being the only ones that were not crushed by the Incas, becoming their main rivals in the domain of the region.^[6]

Cusco was the capital and seat of government of the Kingdom of the Incas and continued to be at the beginning of theimperial era, becoming the most important city in theAndes andSouth America. This centralism gave it rise and became the main cultural focus and axis of religious worship.

ThePachacuti ruler is credited with making Cusco a spiritual and political center. Pachacuti came to power in 1438, and he and his sonTúpac Yupanqui dedicated five decades to the organization and conciliation of the different tribal groups under his domain, including theLupacas and theCollas. During the period of Pachacuti and Túpac Yupanqui, the Cusco domain reachedQuito, to the north, and to theMaule River, to the south, culturally integrating the inhabitants of 4500 km of mountain ranges.

It is also believed that the original design of the city is the work ofPachacuti. The map of ancient Cusco is shaped like acougar, with the central Haucaypata square (in the place of the Plaza de Armas) in the position that would occupy the animal's chest. The head of the feline would be located on the hill where the fortress ofSacsayhuamán is.

The city of Cusco was designed as the seat of power and its internal organization corresponded to a traditional Inca urban division, it was located in a strategic central point of the empire, whose centrality converges the four roads that linked thesuyos.

TheSpanishconquistadors knew from their arrival in what is now Peruvian territory, that their goal was to take the city of Cusco, capital of the Inca empire.

Three weeks after the death of the IncaAtahualpa, they began their march towards Cusco. On August 11, 1533,Francisco Pizarro began his trip from Cajamarca to Cusco accompanied byTúpac Huallpa and, although Garcilaso points out that it is another character, the warriorChalcuchimac.^[9] the Spaniards agreed in Xaquixaguana, near the city of Cuzco, to makeManco Cápac asindigenous sovereign, son ofHuayna Capac, 20 years old,^[10] fromCharcas. The young prince was eager to collaborate with the expulsion of Cusco from the troops of the Inca generalQuizquiz,Atahualpa's trusted man and defender of a rivalpanaka. To this end, he supplied the Spaniards and gathered a strong contingent ofCusco citizens,Cañaris andChankas willing to besiege the capital of the empire. In November of 1533, the troops of Quizquiz, fearing to be sieged, left the city and were persecuted until Anta, where they presented battle, but were defeated, fleeing their leader toParuro.

According toCristóbal de Molina (1553),Francisco Pizarro took possession of Cusco on November 15, 1533,^[12] among acclamations of the Cusco citizens for having defeated Atahualpa, the usurper of the throne. However, soon the excitement turned into discontent, when theconquistadores broken into the monuments and sacred places of the Incas, obtaining a city's treasure that according to the scribe of Pizarro,Francisco Xerez (1534), had a total of"580 thousandpesos ingold and 215 thousandmarks insilver". They stripped of jewels and rich ornaments from the royal mummies that rested in theCoricancha temple.^[12] In a cave near the city they found a large number of vessels of pure gold with figures of snakes, locusts and other animals,^[12] also sacked gold life-size staues of women and llamas.^[12]

AtChristmas, believing to be the object of a compliment of the Spaniards,Túpac Manco, already invested with themascapaicha with the name ofManco Inca, naively accepted the "requirement" protocol demanded byCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor, recognizing him as supreme sovereign of their domains. He also arranged for his army, some 10,000 soldiers, to leave the city accompanyingHernando Pizarro's expeditions toHuamanga (Ayacucho city).

While Cusco was under the authority ofJuan andGonzalo Pizarro, Francisco's brothers,Manco Inca created a plan to escape and gather a new army. The first flight was frustrated, but the second, on April 18, 1536, allowed him to take refuge inYucay. There he managed to gather, according to the chroniclers, about 100,000 men, with whom on May 3, 1536, he sieged Cusco,^[13] sending a similar army toLima,^[13] in command from his brotherQuizu Yupanqui.

Within the city, 200 conquerors commanded byHernando,Juan andGonzalo Pizarro withNicaraguans and no more than 1,000Cañaris andChachas at their service, were reduced to a desperate situation within the framework of the Aucaypata square and which ended with themiracle of Suturhuasi. On May 14, there was a desperate battle for the capture of the fortress ofSacsayhuamán, famous because the Inca captainCullash, also known as Cahuide, jumped from the top of one of its towers.^[14] Manco Inca conducted four offensives to capture Cusco. The last one in August 1536, forced him to withdraw from the project because the time of sowing in the surrounding fields had arrived and it was necessary to avoid the hunger that could occur if the lands were abandoned.

In September, preparing a second siege of Cusco,Tiso Yupanqui, main general ofManco Inca, successfully led several clashes against the Spaniards. The main one happened in front ofOllantaytambo in January 1537. According to an anonymous chronicler from 1539, in that battle Tiso Yupanqui captured"several dozen" of Spaniards and "made them slaves", while also adorning the fortress with"200 heads of Christians and 150 horse leathers".

Failedthe expedition to Chile,Diego de Almagro returned to Cusco on May 8, 1537 and imposed his authority over the brothers of Francisco Pizarro, whom he imprisoned them for a few weeks. Then he undertook the campaign againstManco Inca, giving him a severe defeat inVitcos, a mysterious place that some researchers, such asJuan José Vega (1992), suspectMachu Picchu has been. Then, the rebel Inca fled toVilcabamba, where he would be killed in 1542 by some Spanish fugitives to whom he gave asylum.

Diego de Almagro, willing to forcefully defend the territories he considered his own, left Cusco to face the troops led fromLima byHernando Pizarro, but was defeated inBattle of Las Salinas on April 6, 1538.^[16] He returned chained and imprisoned to the old imperial capital, being surprisingly sentenced to the death penalty by to begarroted in his own cell.^[16] Produced the execution on July 8, 1538, his beheaded body and his head were exhibited in the main square of Cusco.^[16] Only then the royal decree of January 8, 1537 was implemented, which had established Cusco as the seat of the first bishopric, starting with BishopVincente de Valverde on September 8, 1538.^[17] On June 19, 1540, a royal decree granted Cusco the status of city, coat of arms and the title of"cabeza de los reynos del Perú" (head of the Kingdoms of Peru) and "muy noble, leal y fidelísima gran ciudad del Cuzco" (very noble, loyal and very faithful great city of Cuzco). The banner of the conquest, granted byCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor inToledo, in 1529, was preserved in theconvent of Santo Domingo, in Cusco.

There were still some important battle facts that shook the region. In 1554,Francisco Hernández Girón took up arms; in 1542,Diego de Almagro II was captured and executed in Cusco, a fugitive after the defeat of theBattle of Chupas;^[16] in 1548, there was therebellion of the encomenderos led byGonzalo Pizarro, also executed (by death penalty) in the city; In 1572, the last of the Inca rebels,Túpac Amaru, whose death would give rise to the myth ofInkarrí, was executed in the Plaza Mayor of Cusco.

The firstviceroy,Blasco Núñez Vela (1544-1546), who ruled Peru during the reign ofCharles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1516-1556), was the bearer of laws that cut the power and the sistem of theencomenderos and these were not accepted by them.^[18] In Cusco,Gonzalo Pizarro rebelled against the Viceroy, obtaining the support of theReal Audiencia of Lima and thecabildos, for which he exercised power as sovereign of the viceroyalty between 1544 and 1548. Backing him fromPanama,Hernando de Contreras proclaimed himself as the "King of Peru".^[19] The king of Spain's envoy as peacemaker,Pedro de la Gasca (1546-1551) defeated theencomenderos in theBattle of Jaquijahuana on April 9, 1548.^[18][20]

Achieved pacification, Cusco acquired great economic importance throughout the Andean area. It was the knot of the most important roads, such as the one that arrived inBuenos Aires fromLima, after climbing theAndes through theHuancavelica,Huamanga (Ayacucho),Andahuaylas, Cusco,Puno,La Paz,Potosí,Salta,Tucumán andCórdoba. Themining boomed in the Andes thanks to the Cusco-born with the surname Hualca discovered thePotosí mines inUpper Peru. That same year,Huancavelica's mercury mines were discovered, an event as important as the previous one, since thensilver was obtained by amalgam of its minerals withmercury. Thus,Potosí orHuancavelica were two reciprocal riches and Cusco was a compulsory bridge between the two, although the Huancavelica-Chincha-Pisco-Arica-Potosí route was also used, where the Pisco-Arica section was made by sea navigation and the remaining ones on horse/mule back. To supply the population dedicated to mining; textile works, agriculture for food and transportation of goods were booming throughout theCusco region.

In 1560, the year in which the viceroyalty acquires effective tranquility, the youngmestizo writerGómez Suárez de Figueroa, later known asInca Garcilaso de la Vega departed toSpain^[4] in search of better horizons. In 1609, he published inMadrid his memories and investigations about the history of the Incas and the Conquest: theComentarios Reales de los Incas. Also in 1560, Viceroy Toledo imposed important changes in the political administration of the rural economy with thereductions of Indigenous, special areas of agricultural activity where native communities produced for their own benefit. He set up the community funds of the distributions, savings funds of the naturals themselves, managed by thecorregidor, the doctrinero and thecacique. And in 1576, a royal decree forced thehacienda owners to give the Indians land for bread crops andwages in exchange for work offered on the haciendas, also promoting work and commercial activities within thecorregimientos. The purpose of these measures was to encourage consumption and currency management among the Indians, and Cusco was the main scope of application of such sistem.

One of the first "born in the Indies" bishops was the canon FriarLuis de Quesada (1553-1594), a Cusco-bornCriollo named bishop of his hometown in 1593, but who failed to exercise his position-title for having died on the return journey from the canonical consecration in Madrid.

In 1598 theRoyal College Seminary of San Antonio el Magno was founded in the city of Cusco, by BishopAntonio de la Raya. In 1619, the Jesuits established theCollege of San Bernardo.^[17] TheUniversity of San Antonio Abad, founded by royal decree of 1692, came into operation in 1696.

In 1546 the construction of thecolonial hospitals of Cusco began. That year, the first hospital de Nuestra Señora de la Piedad was inaugurated, which would later be renamed as hospital de San Bartolomé and, as of the 17th century, ashospital de San Juan de Dios after the arrival of theBrothers Hospitallers of Saint John of God. In 1558 thehospital de Naturales was founded. Both were the main hospitals in the city. At the end of the 17th century theHospital de la Almudena would be established, administered by theOrder of the Brothers of Bethlehem.^[23]

The reform that eradicated theencomienda system had notable exceptions in Cusco. Some of them were allowed to preserve the right ofmajorat and the collection of taxes on the towns within their jurisdiction. Such was the case of themonastery of Santa Clara in Cusco, which owned the encomienda ofJuliaca and retained it until the 18th century. Other notable case was the encomienda of theMarquises of Oropesa (Urubamba) assigned byPhilip II of Spain in 1618, to the noblemestiza womanñustaAna María García Qoya de Loyola, daughter of thehidalgoMartín García de Loyola and theñustaBeatriz Clara Qoya, daughter ofSayri Túpac, Inca "rebel" who took advantage of the peace offers of the Viceroy (she also was the niece ofTúpac Amaru), whose privilege ofmajorat affected the regions of San Benito de Alcántara, San Bernardo, Santiago de Oropesa (Urubamba),Yucay and Huayllabamba. The transportation of goods and the flourishing trade allowed the appearance of wealthy criollo landowners, such asDiego de Esquivel y Jaraba, a native of Cusco, who thanks to his fortune could becomeMarquis of Valleumbroso in the mid-17th century.

A devastatingearthquake in Cusco on March 31, 1650,^[27] allowed bold plans to renovate the city, and Spaniard BishopManuel de Mollinedo y Angulo was the animator andpatron of many important works of art and buildings. He patronaged the construction of thechurch of la Almudena, which included a beautiful effigy of the Virgin made byJuan Tomás Tuyro Túpac; It also facilitated the construction of thechurch of San Pedro, the headquarters of theUniversity of Saint Anthony the Abbot, in 1669, and thechurch of San Sebastián (1678). He was the protector andarts patron of the development of theCusco School of painting, which had the QuechuaDiego Quispe Tito as one of its prominent representatives. The famous pulpit ofchurch of San Blas, as a tribute, carries the shield of this prelate. Bishop Mollinedo also made possible the constructions of churches inMaras,Juliaca,Paucartambo,Ayaviri,Lampa and Mañaz.

TheCusco Cathedral began to be built in 1538, but due to the effects of theearthquake of 1650, the works were interrupted and it was completed and consecrated in 1735. Theconvent of Santo Domingo, erected on what was the IncaInti temple ofCoricancha, it was erected in the first years of the conquest, but it had to be rebuilt after the earthquake of 1650. The same happened with theconvent of Las Nazarenas (Casa de Serpies), built on theYachaywasi (school) of the Incas. This same circumstance forced to rebuild thechurch of la Compañía de Jesús, one of the most beautiful in the Americas (theJesuits did an important social and educational work, but wereexpelled from Peru and the entire Spanish Empire in 1767); Thebasilica of La Merced, thechurch of San Sebastián and themonastery of Santa Catalina de Siena were also rebuilt. Themonastery of Santa Clara is one of the few that remained intact after that earthquake. The experience of the earthquake of 1650, allowed to purify the techniques of monumental building, giving rise to portentous religious and secular buildings ofAndean Baroque style, as firm as admirable.

Cusco was the most important city of theviceroyalty of Peru until the end of the 17th century when it was eclipsed by the capitalLima.^[27]

During the colony, Cusco also suffered many epidemics. Between April and November 1720, a terriblefeverish wave caused 40,000 deaths in the provinces of the same Bishopric while, 20,000 in the city of Cusco,^[30] in some days in Cusco, such as August 10 of that year, up to 700 deaths. Even today it has not been possible to clarify what disease that was. The chronicles of the time speak of amalarial fever called tabardillo.^[30] Faced with so many dead, it built a cemetery of a ravine was later called Ayahuayco. The tragedy inspired an anonymous wall painting in the church ofCatca, inQuispicanchi.

The rise of mining activity inHuancavelica andPotosí generated an important migration ofmita mineworkers for the work and the transportation of goods, whose the latters the center of operations was Cusco.Alonso Carrió de la Vandera says in hisLazarillo de ciegos caminantes desde Buenos Aires hasta Lima (1773)^[31][32] that Cusco, throughout the 18th century, was "a very populated city, of great human movement and sustained transportation of goods".

As a result of theBourbon Reforms and, also because of thePotosí'smita system of mandatory unpaid personal services and abuse ofcorregidores and judges toward mineworkers, in 1780 the city of Cusco was convulsed by the movement initiated by the caciqueJosé Gabriel Condorcanqui, better known asTúpac Amaru II, that rose against the Spanish administration. His uprising was suppressed after several months of fighting in which he put the viceroyalty authorities stationed in Cusco in check. Túpac Amaru II was defeated, taken prisoner and executed with almost all his family in the Plaza de Armas of Cusco. Even today, thechapel that served as prison to the hero remains on the side of thechurch of la Compañía de Jesús. This movement rapidly expanded throughout the Andes and influenced the South American emancipatory process. Under this revolution theReal Audiencia of Cusco was established and there was a migration of several noble families of Spaniards to the cities ofLima andArequipa fearful of indigenous reactions. These migrations, together with the commercial decay generated by the creation of theViceroyalty of the Río de la Plata that removed a leading role to the city as a crossing point for travelers and merchants,^[35] explain the decay suffered by the city in the 19th century.

The defeat of Túpac Amaru II did not diminish the libertarian concerns in Cusco. In 1805, conspired to undermine the Spanish mightGabriel Aguilar,Manuel Ubalde and other leaders. On October 9 and November 5, 1813, attempted to rise in arms in CuscoJosé and Vicente Angulo,Gabriel Béjar,Pedro Tudela andJuan Carvajal (Rebellion of Cuzco) seconded by Peruvian officers of the Royalist army linked to the Argentine patriotic army ofManuel Belgrano, who was fighting inUpper Peru. On August 3, 1814, they achieved their purpose, making thefirst proclamation of the independence of Spanish power and organized a military campaign in three fronts:Huamanga (Ayacucho),Arequipa and theUpper Peru, with BrigadierMateo Pumacahua as revolutionary military chief. After a successful advance of several months the libertarian effort was frustrated by the military expertise of theRoyalists, who defeated the insurgents in theBattle of Umachiri, on February 12, 1815. On April 21, in Cusco, Pumacahua and the main insurgent leaders were executed.

On the eve of theindependence, theIntendancy of Cuzco, formed in 1784, included the provinces of Cusco, Abancay, Aymaraes, Calca-Lares, Urubamba, Cotabambas, Paruro, Chumbivilcas, Tinta (originally called Canas-Canchis), Quispicanchi and Paucartambo. The population of the intendancy did not vary much in the independence era, from 216,282 inhabitants in 1796 (according to the census of ViceroyFrancisco Gil de Taboada, who ruled theViceroyalty of Peru during the reign ofCharles IV of Spain), to 216,382 in May 1822, on the occasion of the elections to thefirst Republican Congress.

• Atahualpa, the last Inca king

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHistory of Cusco.

• Cristóbal María Cortés y Vitas (1799).Atahualpa. Tragedia Premiada por la villa de Madrid (A Poetry) [Atahualpa. Tragedy awarded by the city of Madrid (A poetry)].

• Víctor Angles Vargas (1983).Historia del Cusco Colonial. Vol. II. Lima: Industrialgrafica .S.A.
• Jorge Basadre Grohmann (2005).Historia de la República del Perú. Lima: Diario "El Comercio".ISBN 9972-205-62-2.
• Juan Augusto Benavides Estrada (1991).Nuevo Atlas del Perú y el Mundo. Lima: Escuela Nueva S.A.
• Several authors (2003).Atlas departamental del Perú. Lima: Peisa S.A.ISBN 9972-40-257-6.
• Julio Villanueva Sotomayor (2002).El Perú en los tiempos modernos. Lima: Quebecor World Perú S.A.

• Cusco
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