Ollantaytambo Cusco

Ollantaytambo - Cusco Peru

Ollantaytambo (quechua: Ullantay Tampu) is a town and archaeological Inca site , capital of the District of Ollantaytambo (province of Urubamba), located south of Peru, about 90 km northwest of the city of Cusco.

During the Inca Empire Pachacuti conquered the region and built the town and a ceremonial Centre. At the time of the conquest it served as Fort of Manco Inca Yupanqui, Inca resistance leader. It is the only city of the Incas in Peru still inhabited. In Ollantaytambo are platforms of resistance (to prevent landslides), non-farm and in other archaeological sites of Cusco. Today is a major tourist attraction due to its Inca constructions and for being one of the most common starting points of the Inca road to Machu Picchu.

Ollantaytambo Location

Ollantaytambo is located outside the Patakancha River, close to the point where it joins with the Urubamba River. Located in the district of the same name, province of Urubamba, at about 60 km northwest of the city of Cusco at an altitude of 2,792 feet above sea level.

Origin of the name Ollantaytambo

According to the linguist Rodolfo Cerrón-Palomino Ollantay has an Aymara origin. According to it, would become of Ullantawi: the verbal root ulla-('view') deverberado by the morpheme - nta (action downward or inward) of by joint ullanta (look down,see) with the suffix - wi is donominalizado to "place of observation from the top”, i.e. atalaya or viewpoint.
Subsequently, quechua began to move to the aimarade area of Cusco, altering the name by the name apocopación without analogy in the new language (Ullantawi ? Ullantaw) then twist the end /w/ in/and / (Ullantaw ? Ullantay) phenomenon constantly repeated in this process of linguistic change.

Subsequently, with Inca rule, Viracocha Inca sends found a tambo in the new square conquered at the Cusco management comparision: Ullantay Tampu of Ollantay tambo. In the end, Ullantay was relegated to switch from the root tampu (pronounced as ['tam.bo] at the time of the conquest).
Some authors, such as the cuzqueño historian Victor Angles ensure without further argumentation Ollantaytambo name is given at the end of the 18th century, when put in scene a drama of inca argument whose protagonist was General Ollantay and the place where actions - have been developed according to the literary work - was the tambo downstream of Yucay, which since then started to generalize like Ollantaytambo, however, the name registered at more seniority documents in the writings of Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who after praising the greatness and magnificence of the ancient fortifications Tanpu, tells that were commanded to be built by Inca Wiraqucha, as well as the oldest and largest buildings that exist there.

Ollantaytambo History

According to Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa, a Spanish chronicler of the 16th century, the Inca Emperor Pachacuti conquered and destroyed Ollantaytambo to incorporate it in his empire. Under the Government of the Incas, the town was rebuilt with splendid buildings and the Valley of the Urubamba River was irrigated and supplied with terraces; the people served from hostel to the Inca nobility, while platforms were worked per yanaconas, servants of the emperor. After the death of Pachacuti, the region became the custody of their panaqa, their family group.

During the conquest, Ollantaytambo functioned as temporary capital for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance against the Spanish conquerors. Under his leadership, the town and its surroundings were severely fortified in the direction of the ancient inca capital of Cusco, which had fallen under Spanish domain. On the plain of Mascabamba, close to Ollantaytambo, Manco Inca defeated a Spanish expedition by blocking their progress from one set of platforms and flooded the plain. However, in spite of his victory, Manco Inca not considered viable stay at Ollantaytambo and withdrew to the thick forest of the zone of Vilcabamba. In 1540, the native population of Ollantaytambo was assigned to entrust to Hernando Pizarro.

Ollantaytambo Architecture

It's one of the most monumental architectural complex of the ancient inca Empire, commonly called 'Fortress' due to its enormous walls, was actually a Tambo or city-hosting, located strategically to dominate the Sacred Valley. The architectural type used, as well as the quality of each stone worked individually, make Ollantaytambo a peculiar and amazing artworks made the ancient Peruvians, especially the Temple of the Sun and its gigantic monoliths.

Temple of the Sun Ollantaytambo - Cusco Peru

Straight and narrow and picturesque streets today are fifteen blocks of homes that are located north of the main square of the city constituting in it a true historical legacy. Some colonial type houses are built on Inca walls beautiful polished with finesse. The stone tones are cheerful, a petrified, dark pink flower color. In the main square a large block of perfect edges fits into a double row 15 angles of Earth's star.