Cusco

Cusco
City
Cusco or Cuzco Qosqo or Qusqu (Quechua)
Plaza de Armas with Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús in the background Sacsayhuamán Qorikancha Cusco Cathedral San Blas Historic Centre
Flag Coat of arms
Nickname(s):  La Ciudad Imperial (The Imperial City), El Ombligo del Mundo (The Navel of the World)
Anthem: Himno del Cusco Qosqo yupaychana taki (English: "Anthem of Cusco")
Districts of Cusco
Cusco Location within Peru Show map of Peru Cusco Location within South America Show map of South America Cusco Location within Earth Show map of Earth
Coordinates: 13°31′30″S 71°58′20″W / 13.52500°S 71.97222°W / -13.52500; -71.97222
Country	Peru
Region	Cusco
Province	Cusco
Founded	March 23, 1534[1]
Founded by	Francisco Pizarro
Government
• Mayor	Víctor G. Boluarte Medina
Area
• Total	385.1 km2 (148.7 sq mi)
Elevation	3,399 m (11,152 ft)
Population  (2017)
• Total	428,450
• Estimate  (2015)[2]	427,218
• Density	1,100/km2 (2,900/sq mi)
Demonym(s)	cuzqueño/a, cusqueño/a
Demographics [a]
• Ethnic groups	64.0% Indigenous 63.0% Quechua 0.8% Aimara 0.1% Amazonian[b] 0.1% Other indigenous groups [c] 31.0% Mestizo (mixed White and Indigenous) 1.9% White 0.8% Other 2.3% No answer
GDP (PPP, constant 2015 values)
• Year	2023
• Total	$4.2 billion[3]
Time zone	UTC-5 (PET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-5
UBIGEO	08000
Area code	84
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	City of Cusco
Location	Latin America and the Caribbean
Criteria	Cultural: iii, iv
Reference	273
Inscription	1983 (7th Session)

Cusco or Cuzco^[d] (Spanish: [ˈkusko]; Quechua: Qosqo or Qusqu, pronounced [ˈqɔsqɔ]) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Sacred Valley of the Andes mountain range and the Huatanay river. It is the capital of the eponymous province and department. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; in 2017, it had a population of 428,450. Its elevation is around 3,400 m (11,200 ft).

The city was the capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th century until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983, Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO with the title "City of Cusco". It has become a major tourist destination, hosting over 2 million visitors a year and providing passage to numerous Incan ruins, such as Machu Picchu, one of the Seven modern wonders of the world and others. The Constitution of Peru (1993) designates the city as the Historical Capital of Peru.^[4] The city is often dubbed the ''Rome of America'' ^{[citation needed]}.

The indigenous name of this city is Qusqu. Although the name was used in Southern Quechua, its origin is found in the Aymara language. The word is derived from the phrase qusqu wanka ('rock of the owl'), related to the city's foundation myth of the Ayar siblings. According to this legend, Ayar Awqa (Ayar Auca) acquired wings and flew to the site of the future city; there he was transformed into a rock to mark the possession of the land by his ayllu ("lineage"):^[5]

Then Ayar Oche stood up, displayed a pair of large wings, and said he should be the one to stay at Guanacaure as an idol in order to speak with their father the Sun. Then they went up on top of the hill. Now at the site where he was to remain as an idol, Ayar Oche raised up in flight toward the heavens so high that they could not see him. He returned and told Ayar Manco that from then on he was to be named Manco Capac. Ayar Oche came from where the Sun was and the Sun had ordered that Ayar Manco take that name and go to the town that they had seen. After this had been stated by the idol, Ayar Oche turned into a stone, just as he was, with his wings. Later Manco Capac went down with Ayar Auca to their settlement...he liked the place now occupied in this city Cuzco. Manco Capac and his companion, with the help of the four women, made a house. Having done this, Manco Capac and his companion, with the four women, planted some land with maize. It is said that they took the maize from the cave, which this lord Manco Capac named Pacaritambo, which means those of origin because...they came out of that cave.^{[6]: 15–16}

The Spanish conquistadors (Spanish soldiers) adopted the local name, transcribing it according to Spanish phonetics as Cuzco or, less often, Cozco. Cuzco was the standard spelling on official documents and chronicles in colonial times,^[7] though Cusco was also used. Cuzco, pronounced as in 16th-century Spanish, seems to have been a close approximation to the Cusco Quechua pronunciation of the name at the time.^[8]

As both Spanish and Quechua pronunciation have evolved since then, the Spanish pronunciation of 'z' is no longer universally close to the Quechua pronunciation. In 1976, the city mayor signed an ordinance banning the traditional spelling and ordering the use of a new spelling, Cusco, in municipality publications. Nineteen years later, on 23 June 1990, the local authorities formalized a new spelling more closely related to Quechua, Qosqo, but later administrations have not followed suit.