Quick Facts ...About the Incas | > The most popuiar legend regarding the origin of the Incas is that of the ‘couple Manco Capac and Mama Ocilo who emerged from Lake Titicaca with e the mandate from the sun God to civilize the region, | > Prior to 1430, the Incas ruled only the valley of Cusco. Emperor Pachacut’s victory over the Chankas in the late 1430s marked the beginning of a rapid ‘expansion. Indeed, by 1490, the Inca Empire was at the height of its power. With Cusco as its religious, administrative and pottical center, it stretched from Columbia to Central Chile, ruling over diverse native people with a ‘common Quechuan language and a common way of fife. > The aival of conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1532 marked the end of the Inca Empire. The Spanish sought to capture the treasures and gold mines of the Incas. Pizarro took advantage of the civil war that opposed the ruling emperor Atahualpa and his haifbrother Manco Capac to divide and ‘conquer. In a matter of months, the Spaniards had taken control of Cusco and the attempts of the Incas to reconquer Cuzco proved urttuitul > For all its greatness, the Inca Empire existed for barely a century. +»/About Cusco (Will be visited on Day 1) > ‘The English transiaion of this Quechua name is ‘navel of the world’. Founded in the early 13" century, Cusco was home to the warlike local Incas for two centuries before becoming the political and religious center of the inca Empire in the 1430s. » Today, Cuzco conveys an incomparable atmosphere in the way it blends inca foundations with Spanish colonial facades. While its steep and narrow roads and quaint plazas have an undeniably European touch, its inhabitants are, for the most part, the Quechua-speaking descendants of the Incas.> is wonders also refiect this hybrid heritage: within the city, the impressive 16" century Cathedral rivals with its European counterparts while the Sacsahuaman ruins that dominate the city are pristine remnants of the Inca Empire. e .-About the Sacred Valley (Wil be visited on Day 2) » To the north west of Cusco, the “Vicamayo” or Sacred Valley winds in a broad alluvial valley floor. The ruins of Ollantaytambo and Pisac, sites often ‘compared to smalier Machu Picchus, dominate it > The Valley has also been a cradle of feriity for centuries to the Incas who ‘grew most of their crops there. Today, its lands are stil cuttvated and some of Peru's largest markets can be found in its vitages. > These markets are ideal to find examples of traditional, refined clothes and artifacts typical of the region. ...About Machu Picchu (Wil be visited on Day 3 - 4) > In July 1914, a young North American expedition leader from Yale a University, Hiram Bingham, announced that he had found “The lost city of the Incas”. » At 8,200 feet above sea level and covering above five square miles, the Machu Picchu ruins overlook a lush rainforest in the heart of the Peruvian Andes. They are a unique testament of the Inca Empire at the height of its power and have attracted thousands of visitors since their discovery. > The reasons for this endured attractiveness are probably to be found in the site's extraordinary harmony between its natural and cuttural elements. This association is a tribute to the respectful conception the Incas had of Mother Nature, “Pachamama’. But perhaps the natural poetry that emanates fromthis exceptional site stems from the enduring impression that the towering Andes are so close to the clouds that earth and skies seem to meet. +». About Lima (Wil be visited on Day 5) > Lima's historical center was founded in 1535, and was initially called “City of Kings" by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. ‘It was then the capital of the ‘Viceroyalty of Peru, the most important city on the Pacific and the greatest metropolis in South America. > By the end of the sixteenth century, the Viceroyalty and Lima had become consolidated, and a flourishing commerce extended to Europe. A wealth of new buildings mirored the Renaissance, Plateresque, Gothic, and Moorish styles from southem Spain. > The city of Lima grew, and by the end of the seventeenth century its population totaled 40,000, a mix of Spaniards, natives and mestizos generally leaving in peaceful coexistence. Architecture flourished in the more Urresaned splendor of baroque an rococo ses. The Church ed the way with kourious cathedrals and convents. > Later, during the eighteenth century, local architecture underwent the more restrained influences of Austria and France, and rococo was slowly replaced by neoclassiciem.