link here  | |  tools  |  share:
photo size: medium 640 new

Airton Morassi
recent  |  interesting  |  random  |  favorites  |  contacts  |  sets  |  tags:  
view large
Cusco stones walls - Peru
Cusco stones walls - Peru

Cusco was long an important center of indigenous peoples. It was the capital of the Inca Empire (13th century-1532). Many believe that the city was planned as an effigy in the shape of a puma, a sacred animal. How Cusco was specifically built, or how its large stones were quarried and transported to the site remain undetermined. Under the Inca, the city had two sectors: the urin and hanan. Each was divided to encompass two of the four provinces, Chinchasuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Kuntisuyu (SW) and Qullasuyu (SE). A road led from each of quarter to the corresponding quarter of the empire.

Each local leader was required to build a house in the city and live part of the year in Cusco, restricted to the quarter that corresponded to the quarter in which he held territory. After the rule of Pachacuti, when an Inca died, his title went to one son and his property was given to a corporation controlled by his other relatives (split inheritance). Each title holder had to build a new house and add new lands to the empire, in order to own land for his family to keep after his death.

According to Inca legend, the city was rebuilt by Sapa Inca Pachacuti, the man who transformed the Kingdom of Cuzco from a sleepy city-state into the vast empire of Tawantinsuyu. Archaeological evidence, however, points to a slower, more organic growth of the city beginning before Pachacuti. The city was constructed according to a definite plan in which two rivers were channeled around the city. Archaeologists have suggested that this city plan was replicated at other sites.

The city fell to the sphere of Huáscar during the Inca Civil War after the death of Huayna Capac in 1527. It was captured by the generals of Atahualpa in April 1532 in the Battle of Quipaipan. Nineteen months later, Spanish explorers invaded the city (see battle of Cuzco) and gained control because of their arms and horses, employing superior military technology.

© All Rights Reserved
Taken on: August 5, 2016
Sets appears in:   • Cusco stone walls - Peru   
Camera: Pentax K-30, f/11.0, 1/100 sec, 31mm (=46mm), ISO 800 (more info) (hide info)
Camera: Pentax K-30
Aperture: f/11.0
Exposure Time: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length: 31mm (35mm equivalent: 46mm)
ISO: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program: Landscape
Exposure Mode: Auto
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
White Balance: Auto
Scene Capture Type: Landscape
Contrast: High
Sharpness: Hard
Color Space: sRGB
Software: K-30 Ver 1.06
Show full info
Stats: 1,668 views
Cusco stones walls - Peru

go back

Link to this photo view:
Link to this photo large view: