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46-695: Vilcabamba may refer to: Vilcabamba, Peru , capital and last stronghold of the Neo-Inca state from 1539 to 1572 Vilcabamba, Ecuador , town in the province of Loja in southern Ecuador Vilcabamba District, La Convención , one of eleven districts of the La Convención Province in the Cusco Region in Peru Vilcabamba mountain range , 85 kilometres (53 miles) long mountain range in

92-583: A center of commercial exchange between the people of the lowland jungle and the inhabitants of the Andean highlands. The lost city of Vilcabamba features as a location in the educational computer game series The Amazon Trail , the action-adventure video game Tomb Raider , and the role-playing video game Shadow Hearts: From the New World . It also appears in the books Evil Star and Necropolis by British thriller author Anthony Horowitz . The city

138-635: A penetration of that land. It can be done only with very heavy expenditure." The Spanish would not attempt another major military expedition into Vilcabamba until 1572. As the two Spanish raids demonstrated, Vitcos was accessible to the Spanish and Manco developed Vilcabamba as a more remote refuge. In the years following the Spanish raids, the Incas and the Spaniards maintained uneasy diplomatic relations with visits back and forth between Vilcabamba and Cuzco,

184-576: A place of residence because of its higher elevation (2,980 metres (9,780 ft)) than Vilcabamba (1,450 metres (4,760 ft)). Vitcos has a cooler climate and the environment was more similar to the highland home of the Incas. Spanish attempts to conquer Vilcabamba floundered because of internecine warfare among the Spaniards. A group of seven Spanish renegades, included the assassin of Francisco Pizzaro , took refuge with Manco Inca. In 1544, they murdered him in Vitcos in an attempt to win back favor with

230-408: A trail through the jungle and two days later he found Inca ruins at a place called Espiritu Pampa. He found artificial terraces, stone houses, including a rectangular building 192 feet (59 m) long, a fountain, Inca pottery, and a stone bridge. But Bingham was running out of supplies and only spent a short time at Espiritu Pampa. Based on his brief observations, Bingham concluded that Machu Picchu

276-443: Is a terrace wall, below which is the lower group of buildings. This group is made up of a dozen or more buildings arranged around an open courtyard. The exact number of buildings in this group is unclear, as it is in considerably worse condition than the upper group. Bingham measured the royal residence as being 245 feet long by 43 feet wide, and stated, "There were no windows, but it was lighted by thirty doorways, fifteen in front and

322-588: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Vilcabamba, Peru Vilcabamba was the capital of the Neo-Inca State from 1539 to 1572. The Neo-Inca State was the last refuge of the Inca Empire until it fell to the Spaniards and their indigenous allies in 1572, signaling the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule. Subsequently, Vilcabamba

368-599: Is located on the Pampaconas River, a tributary of the Vilcabamba River, which is a tributary of the Urubamba River . Hurtado was a brutal administrator, offering encomiendas to Spanish soldiers and making the local indigenous people virtual slaves. Many of them died, or abandoned their homes and fled elsewhere. Silver deposits were discovered nearby and the town enjoyed a brief boom, although

414-403: Is made up of eight large rooms, arranged in four pairs of two rooms back to back, all joined by a common outer wall. The common wall has doors that lead to passages between the pairs. Each room has three doors to the exterior of the common wall, but no doors to either the room behind it of the passageways between the four pairs. Each pair of rooms had a common roof. To the north of the upper group

460-766: Is the most wild and rugged country, in no way suitable for horses." What they discovered was a city built "for about a thousand fighting Indians, besides many other women, children, and old people" filled with "four hundred houses." After the fall of Vilcabamba, the Spanish pursued and captured Túpac Amaru , the last Inca monarch, and beheaded him in Cusco on September 24, 1572. In 1572, the conqueror and governor of Vilcabamba, Martin Hurtado de Arbieto, founded San Francisco de la Victoria de Vilcabamba, also known as Vilcabamba la Nueva ("the New"), 5 kilometres (3.1 miles) west of Vitcos. It

506-529: The 22nd century. An episode of the TV Series In Search of... (1976-1982) titled "Inca Treasures", highlights the expedition taken by professor Edmundo Guillén to explore the ruins of Vilcabamba. The second episode of Michael Wood 's 2000 documentary series Conquistadors visits the site of Vilcabamba while telling the story of the fall of the Inca and retreat of Manco and his followers to

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552-608: The Chontabamba River, a tributary of the Urubamba River . The Inca capital has often been referred to as Vilcabamba the Old to distinguish it from the town of Vilcabamba the New , of Spanish origin and 35 kilometres (22 miles) in straight-line distance southwest of Old Vilcabamba. In 2010, items belonging to the Wari culture and radiocarbon dated to about 700 AD were found at Espiritu Pampa. This discovery indicated that

598-593: The Cusco Region of southern Peru "Vilcabamba" (short story) , 2010 science-fiction story by Harry Turtledove Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Vilcabamba . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Vilcabamba&oldid=904460807 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Place name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

644-457: The Incas . He cited contemporary Spanish and Inca accounts of Vilcabamba as evidence. Titu Cusi Yupanqui said that Vilcambamba had a "warm climate," unlike Vitcos which was in "a cold district." This statement is consistent with the elevation of the two places: 1,450 metres (4,760 ft) for Espiritu Pampa and 2,980 metres (9,780 ft) for Vitcos. Moreover, both the conqueror of Vilcabamba, Hurtado de Abierto, and chronicler Martín de Murúa cited

690-424: The Incas fought a battle at Huayna Pukara (Huayna Fort), west of Vitcos and about 22 kilometres (14 miles) from Vilcabamba. Several Spaniards and indigenous enemies were killed, but Manco again escaped. Pizarro stayed in the region for more than two months searching for Manco unsuccessfully, but capturing Manco's principal wife Cura Ocllo . The Spaniards wrote of the region that "great resources are needed to undertake

736-430: The Incas fought a battle at Huayna Pukara (Huayna Fort), west of Vitcos. Several Spaniards and Indians were killed, but Manco again escaped. Pizarro stayed in the region for more than two months searching for Manco unsuccessfully, but capturing Manco's principal wife. The Spaniards wrote of the region that "great resources are needed to undertake a penetration of that land. It can be done only with very heavy expenditure." As

782-808: The Incas were familiar with the region when Inca emperor, Manco Inca Yupanqui , won the Battle of Ollantaytambo against the Spanish and their Indian allies in January 1537. Despite the victory Manco was under intense pressure from the Spanish. He decided that Ollantaytambo was too close to Cusco , which was controlled by the Spanish, so he withdrew westward to Vitcos. Almagro sent his lieutenant Rodrigo Orgóñez in pursuit with 300 Spaniards and numerous Indian allies. In July 1537, Orgoñez occupied and sacked Vitcos taking many prisoners, but Manco escaped. Manco Inca survived another Spain raid in 1539 by Gonzalo Pizarro , 300 Spanish soldiers, and Indian allies. The Spanish and

828-497: The Spanish capital. The murder of a Spanish envoy by the Incas persuaded Viceroy of Peru Francisco de Toledo to conquer the Vilcabamba region and end Inca rule. On June 24, 1572, a Spanish army, led by veteran conquistador Martin Hurtado de Arbieto, made a final advance on the Incas' remote jungle capital. "At 10 o'clock," wrote Hurtado in his account of the campaign, "they marched into the city of Vilcabamba, all on foot, for it

874-512: The Spanish crown. The Spanish fled, but Manco's guards pursued and killed them. The decades following Manco's death were mostly peaceful as the Incas survived in the remote remnant of their empire while the Spanish were consolidating their conquest elsewhere. In 1570, relations between the Spanish and the Incas were sufficiently friendly that two Roman Catholic friars were allowed to settle in villages near Vitcos. The friars repaid their hosts by leading their congregation in an attack which damaged

920-519: The area was difficult and would hinder Spanish efforts to destroy the last outposts of the Inca Empire. The Incas had occupied the Vilcabamba region since about 1450 AD, establishing major centers at Machu Picchu , Choquequirao , Vitcos , and Vilcabamba. Thus, the Incas were familiar with the region when Inca emperor, Manco Inca Yupanqui , won the Battle of Ollantaytambo against the Spanish and their indigenous allies in January 1537. Despite

966-485: The claim that Choquequirao was Incan Vilcabamba based on his studies of writings by Spanish chroniclers of the 16th century. Romero identified the village of Puquiura as the site of Incan Vilcabamba. In 1911, Hiram Bingham was on the expedition which resulted in him bringing to a wider world attention the Incan ruin of Machu Picchu . Romero pointed him toward Puquiura as the site of Vilcabamba, and Bingham discovered there

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1012-568: The death of Tupac Amaru ." Catholic clerics had built a church and a monastery in the town. The location of the Incan Vilcabamba was forgotten during the 17th century by the few remaining inhabitants of the region. In 1710, an explorer, Juan Arias Diaz , found Choquequirao , 70 kilometres (43 miles) southwest of Vilcabamba, and identified it as the Incan capital. Later historians and explorers identified Choquequirao as Vilcabamba. In 1909, Peruvian historian, Carlos A. Romero, debunked

1058-591: The definitively accepted site of the historical Vilcabamba. On 16 June 2006, a museum in Cuzco unveiled a plaque that commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the 1976 Vilcabamba findings. In 2011 was discovered the tomb of a king in Espíritu Pampa, which is estimated to date to the Wari period. The discovery testifies that the Vilcabamba site was inhabited since ancient times and that was almost certainly used as

1104-423: The eastern flank of the hill between Vitcos and Chuquipalta. Amongst these are kalankas (meeting houses), several qollqa (storehouses), and a large usnu (religious observation platform), as well as terraces and built-up trails. Vitcos stands on the northern side of the hill between the modern villages Huancacalle and Pucyara, and is the principal portion of a complex that covers the entire hill and portions of

1150-404: The intention of staying and resting there for a few days. My father had a house built for his sleeping quarters, for the houses that were already there belonged to my ancestors Pachacuti Inca , Topa Inca Yupanqui , Huayna Capac , and others, whose bodies we had put there. -Titu Cusi Yupanqui, son of Manco Inca The Vilcabama region in which Vitcos is located is extremely rugged, occupying

1196-476: The invasion of Vilcabamba by two armies totaling more than 300 Spaniards and 2,000 allies, including 500 Cañari , long-time allies of the Spaniards. In June 1572, the Spanish force was successful, capturing Vitcos, Vilcabamba, and Emperor Tupac Amaru and ending the Neo Inca state. The location of Vitcos was forgotten in the centuries following the conquest of the Incas. In his 1911 expedition Hiram Bingham III

1242-402: The last city of the Inca. Knowing roughly where in relation to Vitcos he might find Vilcabamba, he continued on what he believed was, and actually was, the road to his goal, and he both rediscovered and correctly identified both Vitcos and Vilcabamba. In the 1980s, Vincent Lee's work in the Vilcabamba led to his finding and description of more than thirty buildings and engineered structures on

1288-468: The main ruin of Espiritu Pampa was 700 yards (640 m) distant. Savoy found 50 or 60 houses and 300 houses at Espiritu Pampa. Savoy concluded that Espiritu Pampa was Vilcabamba, contradicting Bingham. Savoy's 1970 book Antisuyo brought the site to even wider attention. Researcher and author John Hemming also concluded the Espiritu Pampa was Incan Vilcabamba in his 1970 book The Conquest of

1334-602: The north-eastern slopes of the Andes and sloping down to the Amazon Basin . The terrain includes snow-covered mountains, forest, lowland jungle, and rivers running through deep canyons. Access and transportation within the area was difficult and would hinder Spanish efforts to destroy the last outposts of the Inca Empire. The Incas had occupied the Vilcabamba region since about 1450 CE, establishing major centers at Vitcos, Machu Picchu , Choquequirao , and Vilcabamba. Thus,

1380-411: The production of the mines was meager and by the early 17th century Vilcabamba the New and the Vilcabamba region was no longer of much interest to the Spanish. Hiram Bingham visited the town in 1911, noting that, "Instead of Inca walls or ruins, Vilcabamba has three score solidly built Spanish houses...due to the prosperity of gold diggers, who came to work the quartz mines which were made accessible after

1426-591: The progress of the invasion and what they found in Vilcabamba. Comparison between the letters' contents and the ruins provided additional proof of Espiritu Pampa as the location of Vilcabamba. In 1981, the party of American explorer Gregory Deyermenjian reached and photographed parts of the site, soon thereafter generating a popular article concerning the site and its history. Later extensive archeological work by Vincent Lee, and especially his exhaustive study, his 2000 book Forgotten Vilcabamba , gave further and even more precise confirmation that has made Espíritu Pampa

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1472-525: The remote region as the last surviving remnant of the empire. Vitcos Vitcos was a residence of Inca nobles and a ceremonial center of the Neo-Inca State (1537–1572). The archaeological site of ancient Vitcos, called Rosaspata , is in the Vilcabamba District of La Convención Province , Cusco Region in Peru . The ruins are on a ridge overlooking the junction of two small rivers and

1518-411: The ruins known to local Peruvians as Rosaspata ( Quechua : Rusaspata ) as ancient Vitcos. The ruins of the Inca ceremonial center of Ñusta Hispana (the "White Rock") are about 1 kilometre (0.62 miles) south of the Inca palace that is the outstanding feature of Rosaspata. After our arrival at Vitcos, a town thirty leagues away from Cuzco , we people who had accompanied my father took a break with

1564-594: The ruins of Rosaspata. He correctly identified Rosaspata as the Incan Vitcos rather than Incan Vilcabamba. Drawn by rumors of another lost Inca ruin in the lowland forest, Bingham ignored tales of a hostile plantation owner and dangerous native peoples and proceeded onward. After a difficult three days of foot travel, he found the plantation. Its owner and the Asháninka or Campa indigenous peoples working there were friendly and helpful. They assisted him in cutting

1610-401: The shrine of Ňusta Hisp'ana. One of the priests was expelled. The other one was killed by the Incas, accused of killing by poison Emperor Titu Cusi Yupanqui, son of Manco Inca. Titu Cusi's brother Tupac Amaru became emperor. Tupac Amaru was much more hostile to the Spaniards than Tuti Cusi and his supporters killed an envoy sent by Vicerory Francisco de Toledo . In response Toledo ordered

1656-564: The site was occupied long before it became the Inca capital in 1539. As of 2013, archaeological investigations of the site were incomplete and the ruins of Espiritu Pampa were inaccessible by vehicle. La Convención province in which Vilcabamba is located is extremely rugged, occupying the north-eastern slopes of the Andes and sloping down to the Amazon Basin . The terrain includes snow-covered mountains, forest, lowland jungle, and rivers running through deep canyons. Access and transportation within

1702-409: The tropical crops-- coca , cotton , and sugar cane —grown near Vilcabamba and that the city lay in a "hot country" unlike most Inca cities. The Inca preferred to live in the high, cool climate of the Andes . Hurtado also described Vilcabamba as being in a valley with "pastures for cattle," unlike Machu Picchu which is on a steep ridge. Finally, Hemming cited Spanish sources indicating that Vilcabamba

1748-427: The two Spanish raids demonstrated, Vitcos was accessible to the Spanish and Manco developed Vilcabamba as a more remote refuge. However, throughout the decades that the Neo-Inca state survived, Vitcos would continue to be the residence of many royal Incas and the site of many religious ceremonies, especially at the nearby shrine of Ñusta Hisp'ana (Yurak Rumi, also called the "White Rock). The Incas preferred Vitcos as

1794-467: The valleys to the south and east. South of the hill there is Ñusta Hispana, also called Chuqip'allta and the White Rock, a giant carved stone said to have been an Inca oracle, and a series of terraces that stretch along the eastern side of the hill within the valley, which are believed to have been decorative or ceremonial gardens. The palace itself consists of two groups of buildings. The upper group

1840-536: The victory Manco was under intense pressure from the Spanish. He decided that Ollantaytambo was too close to Cusco , controlled by the Spanish, so he withdrew westward to the Inca center of Vitcos . Almagro sent his lieutenant Rodrigo Orgóñez in pursuit with 300 Spaniards and numerous indigenous allies. In July 1537, Orgoñez occupied and sacked Vitcos taking many prisoners, but Manco escaped. Manco Inca survived another Spanish raid in 1539 by Gonzalo Pizarro , 300 Spanish soldiers, and indigenous allies. The Spanish and

1886-495: The village of Pucyura. The Incas had occupied Vilcabamba, the region in which Vitcos is located, about 1450 CE, establishing major centers at Machu Picchu , Choquequirao , Vitcos, and Vilcabamba . Vitcos was often the residence of the rulers of the Neo-Inca state until the Spanish conquest of this last stronghold of the Incas in 1572. The location of Vitcos was later forgotten until 1911 when explorer Hiram Bingham identified

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1932-403: Was abandoned and its location forgotten. In 1911 explorer Hiram Bingham mistakenly identified the abandoned ruin of Machu Picchu as Vilcabamba, but he also visited a ruin called Espiritu Pampa by local Peruvians. In 1964, Gene Savoy identified Espiritu Pampa as the fabled Vilcabamba, a designation widely accepted by archaeologists and historians. Vilcabamba or Espiritu Pampa is located near

1978-523: Was northeast of Vitcos—unlike Machu Picchu which is west of Vitcos. Thus, Bingham's claim that Machu Picchu was Incan Vilcabamba and other claims that Vitcos was Vilcabamba were discredited. In 1976, Professor Edmundo Guillén and Polish explorers Tony Halik and Elżbieta Dzikowska continued to explore the ruins at Espiritu Pampa. Before the expedition, Guillen visited a museum in Seville where he discovered letters from Spaniards, in which they described

2024-417: Was searching for Vilcabamba, the last capital of the Incas. Following descriptions left by various conquistadors, he came upon a site called "Rosaspata" by local villagers. Through the same descriptions that had led him there, he was able to determine that he was in fact at the palace of Vitcos and oracle of Ñusta Hisp'ana, also called Chuqip'allta. After cursory mapping of both sites he continued on in search of

2070-406: Was the Incan Vilcabamba. That opinion went largely unchallenged for 50 years. In 1964, Peruvian explorer Antonio Santander Caselli visited Espiritu Pampa and later claimed the discovery that Espiritu Pampa was the Incan Vilcabamba. In the same month, American explorer Gene Savoy reached Espiritu Pampa. He discovered that Bingham had only seen a minor part of the ruin at Eremboni Pampa and that

2116-647: Was the location of British writer Colin Thubron 's 2002 novel, To the Last City , which was short-listed for the Man Booker Prize , and tells the story of a group of people who set off to explore the ruins of the Inca city in what has been described as a "Heart of Darkness narrative" in a "Marquezian setting". The science fiction story " Vilcabamba " (2010) by Harry Turtledove is a self-referential allegory of Vilcabamba as an alien invasion story set in

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