History of Machu Picchu: The Resistance

After the golden years during the reign of Pachacútec, Machu Picchu fell on hard times before the personal possessions of its successors. After Huayna Cápac, tenth Inca and grandson of Pachacútec, died due to the smallpox epidemic brought by the Spanish conquistadors, a civil war ensued between his sons Huáscar and Atahualpa, which the Iberians took advantage of in order to conquer the Incan Empire.

However, after being defeated, the Spaniards named a series of Inca puppets whose function was to try to be accepted by the indigenous people as their new leaders. One of them was Manco Inca, son of Huayna Cápac, who did not tolerate the mistreatment of the conquistadors and rebelled against the Spanish Crown establishing a resistance government in Vilcabamba, which lasted around 40 years.

The Incas of Vilcabamba and Machu Picchu

During the resistance, the Inca nobles exiled themselves to the Vilcabamba Valley utilizing the road that connects this city from Ollantaytambo, through which the nobles, descendants of Pachacútec, that lived in Machu Picchu also abandoned it, leaving behind a group of peasants to guard the lands waiting for their return.

However, the Inca rebels were never able to confront the Spanish military; the latter used the indigenous roads to transport entire armies and destroy cities. Thanks to the fact that Machu Picchu was abandoned by the royal family, it was never the scene of any battle.

First Spanish contacts with the citadel

During the era of the Incas of Vilcabamba, the region of Cuzco was convulsed by the great social changes that it lived through. Although some indigenous people had been assimilated into the Spanish culture, others resisted the conversion, which is why there was a climate of tension. Therefore, a lot of towns were unpopulated. However, there exists records that the town of Picchu was inside the economic region of Ollantaytambo, where tribute was collected once a year. Already in 1568, it was known that the curaca (magistrate) of Machu Picchu was an Indian named Juan Mácora, whose name indicates that he had already converted to Christianity.

In 1570, the Inca that most got nearer to the Spaniards, Titu Cusi Yupanqui, saw that it was necessary that his subjects begin to adopt the customs of the conquistadors in order to insure peace within the Empire. Therefore, he solicited the friars of the Augustinian order to evangelize the region of “Picchu”, the place where the remaining colonists that had, at one time, lived together with the royal family in Machu Picchu were found.

At their arrival, the monks decided that there were too many pagan idols in the place, which is why they torched the Templo del Sol (Temple of the Sun) to make the Indians understand that their religion had come to an end.

Years later, with the fall of the Rebel Incas of Vilcabamba, the citadel fell once again into oblivion.

Imagen: Sucesos Históricos, Plataforma Arquitectura

Tags Blogalaxia: Machu Picchu History Photos Peru Tourism Cuzco Incan Empire Pachacutec

History of Machu Picchu: The Resistance4.551

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