Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of PeruBingham, Hiram
History
Inca Land: Explorations in the Highlands of Peru
Bingham, Hiram
Incas; Peru -- Antiquities; Peru -- Description and travel
When the viceroy, Toledo, determined to conquer that last stronghold of
the Incas where for thirty-five years they had defied the supreme
power of Spain, he offered a thousand dollars a year as a pension
to the soldier who would capture Tupac Amaru. Captain Garcia
earned the pension, but failed to receive it; the "mañana habit"
was already strong in the days of Philip II. So the doughty captain
filed a collection of testimonials with Philip's Royal Council of
the Indies. Among these is his own statement of what happened on the
campaign against Tupac Amaru. In this he says: "and having arrived
at the principal fortress, Guay-napucará ["the young fortress"],
which the Incas had fortified, we found it defended by the Prince
Philipe Quispetutio, a son of the Inca Titu Cusi, with his captains
and soldiers. It is on a high eminence surrounded with rugged crags and
jungles, very dangerous to ascend and almost impregnable. Nevertheless,
with my aforesaid company of soldiers I went up and gained the
fortress, but only with the greatest possible labor and danger. Thus
we gained the province of Uilcapampa." The viceroy himself says this
important victory was due to Captain Garcia's skill and courage in
storming the heights of Guaynapucará, "on Saint John the Baptist's day,
in 1572."
The "Hill of Roses" is indeed "a high eminence surrounded with rugged
crags." The side of easiest approach is protected by a splendid, long
wall, built so carefully as not to leave a single toe-hold for active
besiegers. The barracks at Uncapampa could have furnished a contingent
to make an attack on that side very dangerous. The hill is steep on
all sides, and it would have been extremely easy for a small force
to have defended it. It was undoubtedly "almost impregnable." This
was the feature Captain Garcia was most likely to remember.
On the very summit of the hill are the ruins of a partly enclosed
compound consisting of thirteen or fourteen houses arranged so as to
form a rough square, with one large and several small courtyards. The
outside dimensions of the compound are about 160 feet by 145 feet. The
builders showed the familiar Inca sense of symmetry in arranging
the houses, Due to the wanton destruction of many buildings by the
natives in their efforts at treasure-hunting, the walls have been so
pulled down that it is impossible to get the exact dimensions of the
buildings. In only one of them could we be sure that there had been
any niches.
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FIGURE
Principal Doorway of the Long Palace at Rosaspata
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FIGURE
Another Doorway in the Ruins of Rosaspata
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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