Who Built The City Of Cusco?

Cusco was founded by Manco Capac around 1200 AD.  Cusco (also Cuzco or Qosqo) was the religious and administrative capital of the Inca Empire which flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1534. The Incas controlled territory from Ecuador (Quito) to Chile (Santiago), making theirs the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the world at that time. Cusco, which had a population of up to 150,000 at its peak, was laid out in the form of a puma and was dominated by fine buildings and palaces, the richest of all being the sacred gold-covered and emerald-studded Coricancha complex which included a temple to the Inca sun god Inti. Cusco is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

Other nearby Inca sites are Pachacuti's presumed winter home Machu Picchu which can be reached by a lightly maintained Inca trail, or the train, the "fortress" at Ollantaytambo, and the "fortress" of Sacsayhuaman which is approximately two kilometers from Cusco. Other less visited ruins include Inca Wasi, the highest of all Inca sites at 3,980 m (13,134 feet), Old Vilcabamba the capital of the Inca after the capture of Cusco, the sculpture garden at Chulquipalta (aka Chuquipalta, Ñusta España, The White Rock, Yurak Rumi), as well as Huillca Raccay, Patallacta, Choquequirao, Moray, and many others.

The surrounding area, located in the Huatanay Valley, is strong in agriculture, including corn, barley, quinoa, tea and coffee, and gold mining.