| The
Valley
of Cusco in Pre History :
The
plains, slopes and mountains that form the Cusco valley, was product
of a great tectonic upheaval that defines the profiles of the
mountainous territory of the Andes. Later, the valley became the
bed of a gigantic glacial lake, that when it emptied toward the
south, left a fertile land for those who would later occupy this
territory.
Many
nomadic tribes of shepherds lived here 10.000 years ago. About
3.000 years ago, the women who accompanied these nomadic shepherd
groups had already discovered agriculture and decided to be
based in the Cusco valley, thus begining the first human settlements.
Successive cultures occupied the valley, and archaeology knows
them as the Markavalli or the Chanapata, whereas history refers
to the descendants of these as Alcavisas, Wallas or Sawasiras.
In any case they were tribes that had developed a great social
organization, based on the principles of solidarity and the
respect to their elders. They had a profound control of the
territory based on their ancient knowledge of ecology and
the harmonic interactions between living beings and their
surroundings. They had also developed a certain economic stability
based on the old tradition of shared work (AYNI). |
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The
successive villages that occupied the Cusco valley also found
the way enjoin themselves with neighboring villages incorporating
elements of their beliefs, knowledge and technology, a form of
progress, thus they permanently enriched their knowledge and culture
and became wiser.
The Wari, the first political PAN-ANDEAN organization, on the
verge to becoming a true empire, saw the importance of the Cusco
valley. They built a great city 30 kilometers to the east, known
today as Pikillaqta
The
Sacredness
of Qosqo.
The
relationship of Man with God takes place through the interpretation
of natural forces and the energies that are present in places
believed to be sacred. Qosqo was by nature a sacred place,
house of Gods. Its old name therefore indicates it. Qosqo
is equivalent to Vital Center, or Solar Plexus in our language
(quechua) which means the center of corporal energy where
feelings reside. Qosqo is also sacred because it is surrounded
by sacred mountains: Twelve guardian mountains, APUS, superior
spirits surrounding the scene where the life in the most important
city of pre-Columbian America takes place.
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Its position as a center for pilgrimages is for a millenia a recognition
to the sacredness of this city, thus, from times immemorial, men
and women arrived to Qosqo, not only to nourish themselves with
its sacredness, not only to render hommage and worship, but give
of themselves, their knowledge, their technologies, in a process
of an technological interchange which would be called the Mitimaes.
The energies that nourish their inhabitants, born of their ancient
stones and mountains is multiplied when new people bring new faith.
Spanish Cusco becomes new center of evangelism and its sacred
value increases. Cusco passes on to be the center of evangelism.
The
Cusco of the Inkas
| Legend
holds that Manko Qhapaq and the tribe that accompanied him,
received a divine mandate when they left the sacred lake Titikaka
to look for the promised land where there, the gold staff
given to him by his father the Sun, would sink in the ground
as a sign of fertility. The followers of Manko were somehow
descendent tribes of a great civilization, The Tiahuanaku,
who had achieved great advances in astronomy, agriculture,
architecture, and had inhabited the surrounding areas of lake
Titikaka. They were superior villages that had a civilizing
mission, and who were also carrying an ancient Religious tradition
based on the principles of AYNI, that is, the capacity to
share. |
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The tribes that occupied the Cusco valley,
and who made their pakarina (mythical place of sacred origin)
on the hill, Huanakauri - the place where the gold staff given
by the Sun had sunk - lived for many years in a process of convocations,
calling on the villages, sharing their culture, teaching their
traditions. Thus, strengthening their dominion on the following
centuries, reaching the moment that was indispensable to confront
their power with the neighboring tribes of the Apurimac valley,
who had tried to invade Cusco. This period in history it is known
as "the war against the Chankas"
The
political project
of Pachakuteq
Inka
Yupanqui, son of Wiracocha was an exceptional young man of
precocious intelligence who had understood the ancestral principles
of Ayni. He was concerned about the unity of the territories
inhabited by villages of different cultures, with different
degrees of development, but which nevertheless occupied diverse
territories of great ecological variety.
The Young Inka Yupanqui had traveled and had observed that
beyond the mountain valleys were snow-covered summits and
inhospitable plateaus, tropical valleys, high plateaus, fertile
coastal valleys and torrid territories of impenetrable forests.
That is to say, the lands that surrounded Cusco constituted
a very important wealth because of its variety and potential
for production.
He foresaw that it was imperative to unite the territories
under one single authority and achieve that the four parts
of the world (coastal, mountains, jungle, plateau) begin to
constitute one single territorial unit, by sharing technologies,
sharing human and natural resources, could fulfill a primary
dream, to take civilization to all of the then known world.
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To
initiate the civilizing process was a dream that could not become
reality without confrontations, and these took place when the
sacred city of Cusco was attacked by the followers of Uscovilca,
chief of the Chanca Nation who was determined to take over the
Inkan territories.
Inka Yupanqui organized an army, established alliances, made use
of diverse war tactics, from the formally recruited armies to
the women guerrillas commanded by Chanancoricoca. When the Inkas
of Cusco finally won, they recognized the leadership of new Inka,
who from then assumed his new name, "Pachakuteq Inka Yupanqui".
Under the paradigm "Unite to govern" Pachakuteq, the
transformer of the World began to develop new relationships, new
geo-political equilibriums, new alliances, and overall the villages
that populated all of the known territories began to organize
themselves into the great Tawantinsuyo, the Empire of the four
parts of the World: Thus the North, predominantly of interandean
valleys and ragged mountains, became Kuntisuyo. The West, formed
by coastal valleys and deserts became what would be Chinchaysuyo.
Towards the South was the high plateau that surrounded lake Titikaka,
which was called Qollasuyo. Finally the Eastern zone, towards
the Amazones took the name of Antisuyo.
That way, a unifying political project in the heart of the Andes,
took a different view than the western paradigm that preached
"Divide to Reign". From there began the development
of the greatness of Tawantinsuyo, with its capital city, Cusco.
Something that characterized Pachakuteq, was his deep respect
for the traditions of the conquered villages. The symbols of the
conquered peoples were venerated at Korikancha and at Sunturwasi,
and some of their traditions and customs were assimilated by the
Inka civilization.
Cusco,
the Puma city
Cusco,
the sacred city, center of pilgrimages and worship, had to be
a city worthy of its importance. Therefore, Pachakuteq the transformer,
decided to reconstruct it and to place in her great splendor.
| The
city's architects decided its shape, one of a crouching feline,
a puma. The astronomers planned a complex system of sanctuaries
carefully aligned with the stars, to correspond to a gigantic
calendar, that would also have functions of social and festive
organization. The hill was transformed and molded. The higher
part corresponded to the great head of the puma, became Saqsaywaman,
a multifunctional fortification that was at the same time,
a temple, refuge, observatory, and center for great and massive
reunions. The spine of puma was delineated by the street of
Pumakurko. In that way, as the spine, flowed the Life of the
Empire conducting the orders from the head to the different
parts of the body. The plaza, a palpitating heart of the city
was where feelings and the beating of civil life resided.
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The two rivers that bordered the city unite
in Pumaqchupan (the tail of the puma). There Qorikancha, which
shined in splendor, its temples of stone and gold contained a
garden of gold where the plants, animals and other offerings were
made of gold, silver and precious stones. It was thus a city of
fable. But more than its wealth or its architectural wonder in
the city of Cusco, its overflowing sacred value, and its political
importance, because from here, was governed a great territory
as big as the Roman Empire, and from her palaces and streets a
society was developed with balance and justice.
Cusco
in the encounter
of two worlds
| When
the bearded men came from the sea and arrived at Cusco, they
were fascinated by her wealth, and wrote in their chronicles,
giving account to the King for such greatness. Perhaps they
never understood the magnitude of their discoveries, they
tried to cover with stone and plaster the ancient structures.
But on the other hand, overwhelmed by the greatness of Cusco,
they decided to make it greater. Thus Cusco becomes the most
important center of evangelism in the Americas. Few have reflected
that perhaps there will never again be in the history of humanity
such an impressively rich encounter. |
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The Inkas of the 16th century were without
doubt, the expression of the greatest genius that pre-columbian
America produced. A social and technologicaly harmonious development,
an empire of contented men and on the other hand, Spain was the
most important power in Europe, having been enriched by 400 years
of Arab domination. Consequently, the science, and architecture
of the Moors came to America.
The encounter of both worlds of the planet which had developed
the most, produced a mestization whose wealth was very difficult
to assimilate. We, the proud Cusqueños, can say that the best
of America and of the West had its crucible in this land.
Carlos
Milla Vidal
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