Location
Andean Area in the south of Peru, 11,151 feet (3,399 m.) above sea level.
Distances
From Lima 724 miles (1,165 km) (by Nazca)
From Arequipa 388 miles (625 km)
From Puno: 241 miles (389 km)
The city of Cusco is located in the western part of the valley of the river Watanay, at a height of 3,350 meters and is considered one of the highest cities of the world. Situated in the Peruvian Andes, Cuzco developed, under the Inca ruler Pachacutec, into a complex urban centre with distinct religious and administrative functions. It was surrounded by clearly delineated areas for agricultural, artisan and industrial production. When the Spaniards conquered it in the 16th century, they preserved the basic structure but built Baroque churches and palaces over the ruins of the Inca city.
Cusco is supported by more than 3000 years of age to be considered as The Oldest Existing City of America. Cusco, and its cultural and geographical diversity, has suffered and enjoyed different events through the years that have turned it into a historical study center and the most important tourist core of the country.
There is some uncertainty about the correct name of the city. According to some chroniclers, in the first centuries of the existence of this most important city in pre-Columbian South-America, its name was Akamama that according to Guaman Poma de Ayala means "chicha's mother" (chicha is a fermented corn beer). Possibly it was Aqhamama -in the modern Quechua spelling- or "chicha mother". Surely that name became useless by the beginning of the Inkan development. When this was the ancient Capital of the Tawantinsuyo, it was named as Qosqo, word that is translated as "navel" or "center". That is the regular name for any Quechua speaking Andean Man. After the Spanish invasion in 1533 the name was transformed into Cuzco, word that according to the Spanish language dictionary is contemptuous, meaning "hypocrite", "humpback" and "small dog". This was a way to minimize or satirize the name of the city. Later the name was changed into Cusco.
There are many legends about the origin of the Twantinsuyo (the Inca). One of them tells how, Manco Cápac and his sister and wife Mama Ocllo, half gods and children of the Inti father (the god of the sun), emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca with the mission to found a new Kingdom that would improve the conditions of life in the towns.
