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Asia, Africa and the Americas in the 13th centuryPolitics and state

Founding of Cusco in Inca tradition

According to tradition, the first Inca, Manco Cápac, led his kin into the Cusco Valley and founded a city there — the center of a small state that more than two centuries later grew into the Inca Empire.

Date
c. 1200year known, approximate
Place
Cuscotoday: Cusco, Peru · Latin America
Participants
Manco Cápac, Kingdom of Cusco
Threads
Asia, Africa and the Americas in the 13th century
Also known as
Королевство Куско; Манко Капак; Основание Куско

The beginnings of Cusco are known only from legends recorded by Spanish chroniclers in the 16th century: in one version, Manco Cápac and his sister and wife Mama Ocllo emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca; in another, Manco and his brothers and sisters came out of a cave near Pacaritambo. Historians regard Manco Cápac as a largely legendary figure.

The rise of the Kingdom of Cusco is usually placed around 1200, at the beginning of the 13th century. The date is conventional: the Incas had no writing, and the chronology of the rulers before Pachacuti is reconstructed from late traditions. Through wars and alliances the state subdued its neighbors in the valley, and under Pachacuti, from 1438, it became an empire.

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The same period

12th century

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (English): Kingdom of Cusco
  2. Wikipedia (English): Manco Cápac
  3. Wikipedia (Russian): Королевство Куско
  4. Wikipedia (Russian): Манко Капак
  5. Bauer B. S. Ancient Cuzco: Heartland of the Inca. — Austin: University of Texas Press, 2004.