ABSTRACT
Cuzco, derived from the Quecha word qosqo or earth’s navel, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America. It was founded in the fifteenth century as the political, administrative and religious center of the Incan empire that extended nearly 4000 kilometers along the Pacific coast. Set within the Andes mountains, 3400 meters above sea level at the confluence of the Tullumayo and Huatanay rivers, the city was probably the largest city in the Americas when the Europeans arrived in the sixteenth century (Beltrán 1970: 3-11). The center of the city was originally Hawkayapata Square, which may have been four times as large as the present day Plaza de Armas.
