Vilcabamba was a city founded by Manco Inca in 1539 and was the last refuge of the Inca Empire until it fell to the Spaniards in 1572, signalling the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule.
History
After the Incan empire fell, the city was burned and the area swiftly became a remote backwater of Peru. The location of Vilcabamba was forgotten.
The ruins of the city were rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911 in a remote forest site 130 km west of Cuzco called Espiritu Pampa, but he failed to realize its significance, preferring to believe that Machu Picchu, which he also rediscovered, was the fabled "Lost City of the Incas". It wasn't until the explorations and discoveries of Antonio Santander and Gene Savoy in the 1960s, however, that many came to see this site at Espiritu Pampa as the real Vilcabamba of legend.
In 1976 Prof. Edmundo Guillen and Polish explorers Tony Halik and Elżbieta Dzikowska again found the ruins. However, before the expedition in a museum in Seville Guillen discovered letters from Spaniards, in which they were describing the progress of the invasion and what they found in Vilcabamba. Comparison between the letters' content and the ruins provided additional proof of the location of Vilcabamba.
Later archeological work by Vincent Lee and research by John Hemming gave further confirmation that Espiritu Pampa was generally accepted as the historical Vilcabamba.
On 16 June 2006 in a museum in Cuzco a plaque that commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the Vilcabamba discovery has been unveiled. Among others there are the names of the "first proof expedition": Guillen, Halik and Dzikowska.
Location
In Popular Culture
The lost city of Vilcabamba features in the educational computer game series The Amazon Trail, the Tomb Raider video game and its remake ', and the book Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz. Vilcabamba is also a playable level in the Playstation 2 role-playing game '.
Gallery
Image:Vilcabamba tree.jpg|Tree over structure. Image:Vilcabamba 1.jpg|Vilcabamba view. Image:Vilcabamba 2.jpg|Vilcabamba Inca water fall view. Image:Vilcabamba water.jpg|Vilcabamba Inca water fall view.
See also
- Spanish conquest of Peru
- Tupac Amaru
- Amazon Trail
- Tomb Raider
-
History-of-Peru
Other pages about History of Peru
-1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis -2004 South American Summit -Acaray -Agricultural history of Peru -Alto de la Alianza -Amazonas in the Colonial Epoch -Apu Mallku -Aspero -Atacama border dispute -Barrios Altos massacre -Battle of Sipe-Sipe -Bolivar's War -Cenepa War -Chinchay Suyu -Colombia-Peru War -Cultural periods of Peru -Demographic history of Peru -Diego Fernandez -Diego Lopez de Zuniga y Velasco -Ecuadorian-Peruvian war -Expedicion Libertadora del Peru -Felipillo -Francisco Gil de Taboada -Francisco Pizarro -Fray Martin de Murua -Frecuencia Latina bombing -Gabriel de Aviles y del Fierro -Garci Manuel de Carbajal -Gonzalo Pizarro -Guaman Poma -Guayaquil conference -Hernando Pizarro -History of Lima -History of Peru -History of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian territorial dispute -History of the Incas -Huaca de la Luna -Inca Garcilaso de la Vega -Inca road system -Indigenous peoples in Peru -Inti Raymi -Japanese embassy hostage crisis -Jiskairumoko -Joaquin de la Pezuela -Jorge Basadre -Jose Antonio de Areche -Jose Baquijano -Jose Quinones Gonzales -Jose de la Mar -Jose de la Serna e Hinojosa -Juan de Saavedra -La Cantuta massacre -Lanzon -List of DNA tested mummies -List of Norte Chico sites -List of Prime Ministers of Peru -Lope Garcia de Castro -Maitland Plan -Manco Inca Yupanqui -Manuel Arredondo y Pelegrin -Maria Rostworowski -Mariano Felipe Paz Soldan -Mariano Ignacio Prado -Max Uhle -Mercurio Peruano -Movimiento Etnocacerista -Ollantaytambo -Operation Chavin de Huantar -Operation Condor -Paquisha War -Pascual de Andagoya -Pedro Cieza de Leon -Peru-Bolivian Confederation -Peruvian Ancient Cultures -Peruvian Inquisition -Peruvian War of Independence -Peruvian inti -Peruvian nuevo sol -Peruvian peseta -Peruvian prison massacres -Peruvian real -Peruvian sol -Qoriwayrachina -Raimondi Stela -Ransom Room -Repartimiento -Republic of North Peru -Republic of South Peru -Rio Protocol -Royal Audience of Quito -Shining Path -Simon Bolivar -Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire -Tacna-Arica compromise -Tacnazo -Tarata bombing -Teodoro de Croix -Third Council of Lima -Timeline of Peruvian history -Toribio Rodriguez de Mendoza -Toro Submarino -Treaty of Lima -Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru) -Tumi -Tunnels of San Antonio -Tupac Amaru -Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement -Upper Peru -Vilcabamba, Peru
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Vilcabamba,_Peru
