The Cusco History
The fame achieved by archeological Cuzco can be found beyond the Inca Age since the Cuzco Culture began about 1000 years before Christ when the Marcavalle Culture was in force. From there, Chamepata was originated, the history of this contemporary culture of Pucara in Puno is lost at the beginning of our Age until Wari conquered the zone including it in the Wari's Empire. After Wari, the region re-established its potential and started growing, first together with the Killke Culture and then with the Inca Culture. The city of Pikillacta comes from Wari Culture and from times of Killke, Sacsayhuaman itself and the foundations of Cuzco city.
The Pre-Incas Cultures
Over the course of 1400 years, pre-Inca cultures settled along the Peruvian coast and highlands. The power and influence of some civilizations was to hold sway over large swaths of territory, which during their decline, gave way to minor regional centers. Many of them stood out for their ritual pottery, their ability to adapt and superb management of their natural resources; a vast knowledge from which later the Inca empire was to draw.
The first Peruvian civilization settled in Huantar (Ancash) in around (1200 - 1000 BC). The power of the civilization, based on a theocracy, was centered in the Chavin de Huantar, temple, whose walls and galleries were filled with sculptures of ferocious deities with feline features.
The Paracas culture (200 AD - 600 BC) rose to power along the south coast, and was to craft superb skills in textile weaving. The north coast was dominated by the Moche civilization (200 AD - 600 BC). The culture was led by military authorities in the coastal valleys, such as the Lord of Sipan. The Moche pots which featured portraits, and their iconography in general were surprisingly detailed and showed great skill in design.
The highlands saw the rise of the Tiahuanaco culture (200 AD) based in the Collao region (which covered parts of modern-day Bolivia and Chile). The Tiahuanaco were to bequeath a legacy of agricultural terracing and the management of a variety of ecological zones.
The Nasca culture (300 AD - 900 BC) were able to tame the coastal desert by bringing water through underground aqueducts. They carved out vast geometric and animal figures on the desert floor, a series of symbols believed to form part of an agricultural calendar which even today baffles researchers.
The Wari culture (600 AD) introduced urban settlements in the Ayacucho area and expanded its influence across the Andes. The refined Chimu culture (1100 - 1500) crafted gold and other metals into relics and built the mud-brick citadel of Chan Chan, near the northern coastal city of Trujillo.
The Chachapoyas culture (800 AD) made the best possible use of arable land and built their constructions on top of the highest mountains in the northern cloud forest. The vast Kuelap fortress is a fine example of how they adapted to their environment.
The Incas
The Inca empire (1200 - 1500 BC) was possibly the most organized civilization in South America. Their economic system, distribution of wealth, artistic manifestations and architecture impressed the first of the Spanish chroniclers. The Incas worshipped the earth goddess Pachamama and the sun god, the Inti. The Inca sovereign, lord of the Tahuantinsuyo, the Inca empire, was held to be sacred and to be the descendant of the sun god. Thus, the legend of the origin of the Incas tells how the sun god sent his children Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo (and in another version the four Ayar brothers and their wives) to found Cuzco, the sacred city and capital of the Inca empire.
The rapid expansion of the Inca empire stemmed from their extraordinary organizational skills. Communities were grouped, both as families and territorially, around the ayllu, their corner of the empire, and even if villagers had to move away for work reasons, they did not lose their bond to the ayllu. The Inca moved around large populations, either as a reward or punishment, and thus consolidated the expansion while drawing heavily from the knowledge of the cultures that had flourished prior to the Incas.
The Inca's clan was the panaca, made up of relatives and descendants, except for the one who was the Inca's successor, who would then form his own panaca. Sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers recorded a dynasty of 13 rulers, running from the legendary Manco Capac down to the controversial Atahualpa, who was to suffer death at the hands of the Spanish conquerors. The Tahuantinsuyo expanded to cover part of what is modern-day Colombia to the north, Chile and Argentina to the south and all of Ecuador and Bolivia.
The members of the panaca clans were Inca nobles, headed by the Inca sovereign. The power of the clans and the Inca was tangible in every corner of the empire, but the might of the Incas reached its peak in the architecture of Cuzco: the Koricancha or Temple of the Sun, the fortresses of Ollantaytambo and Sacsayhuaman, and above all the citadel of Machu Picchu.
The encounter between two worlds
The encounter between the Inca culture and Hispanic culture got underway as a result of the Spanish conquest in the early sixteenth century. In 1532, the troops of Francisco Pizarro captured Inca ruler Atahualpa in the northern highland city of Cajamarca. The indigenous population was to dwindle during the first few decades of Spanish rule, and the Vice-regency of Peru was created in 1542 after a battle between the conquerors themselves and the Spanish Crown.
Spain's foothold in the New World was consolidated in the sixteenth century when Viceroy Francisco de Toledo laid down a set of rules governing the colonial economy: the mita system used indigenous labor to operate the mines and produce arts and crafts. These activities, together with a monopoly over trade, formed the basis of the colonial economy. But the changeover in the dynasty and the Borbon reforms in the eighteenth century sparked dissent among many social sectors. The main indigenous uprising was led by Tupac Amaru II, which was to set rolling the Creole movement that led to independence of Hispanic America from the Spanish crown in the early nineteenth century.
Until the seventeenth century, the Peruvian vice- regency covered an area stretching from Panama down to Tierra del Fuego The missionary work of the Catholic priests blended with ancient Andean beliefs, forging a fusion of beliefs that still exists today. The Spaniards also brought along African slaves, who together with Spaniards and the indigenous population, form part of the social and racial fabric of Peru. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Peruvian intellectual writings and colonial art contributed to Spanish tradition
The birth of the Peruvian State
Peru was declared an independent nation by Jose de San Martin in 1821, and in 1824 Simon Bolivar put an end to the War of Independence. However, despite efforts to organize the young Peruvian republic, in the nineteenth century the country had to face up to the cost of the struggle: a tough economic crisis and a tradition of military strongmen who gave civilians little chance to govern.
By 1860, thanks to income from guano, cotton and sugar, Peru was able to do without enforced labor imposed on the indigenous population and African slaves alike. Chinese and European immigrants swelled the workforce and integrated with Peru's society. The country was linked up by a railway network, and during the mandate of President Manuel Pardo, Peru organized its first civilian government. The first Japanese immigrants were to arrive at the end of the nineteenth century.
But in 1879, the country found itself at war with Chile. Peru was defeated and left bankrupt. After another spell of military regimes, Peru returned to civilian rule, giving rise to a time called "the Aristocratic Republic". The economy was dominated by the land-owning elite, and an export-oriented model imposed. The success of the rubber boom lent fresh splendor to the myth of El Dorado.
