Llactapata viewed from the Inca trail above.

Llactapata (also spelled Llaqtapata) is an ancient Incan village with a number of farming terraces. It is located on the Cusichaca river at roughly the entrance to the Vilcabamba jungle. The name of the town is Quechua for "town on hillside."^[1] Capital Cusco Official language Quechua Government Head of State Federal Empire Sapa Inca Establishment Dissolution 1250 (¿?) 1548 Area ~2. ... Vilcabamba was a city founded by Manco Inca in 1539 and was the last refuge of the Inca Empire until it fell to the Spaniards in 1572, signalling the end of Inca resistance to Spanish rule. ... Quechua (Runa Simi in Quechua; Runa, human + Simi, speech, literally mouth; i. ...

Llactapata was burned by Manco Inca Yupanqui, who destroyed a number of settlements along the Inca trail during his retreat from Cusco in 1536 to discourage Spanish pursuit. In part due to these efforts, the Spanish never discovered the Inca trail or any of its settlements.^[2] Manco Inca Yupanqui (b. ... Major highways of the Inca Empire The Incas were very usful people in there time. ... Cusco (also Cuzco, Qosqo, or Qusqu) is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley (Sacred Valley) of the Andes mountain range. ...

Hiram Bingham first discovered Llactapata during his excavation of Machu Picchu in 1912 and the described it as "the ruins of an Inca castle". He had little time to investigate the ruins thoroughly, however. They were not studied again for another 70 years. Hiram Bingham is the name of several people. ... View of Machu Picchu Machu Picchu (Quechua: Old Mountain; sometimes called the Lost City of the Incas) is a well-preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located on a high mountain ridge, at an elevation of about 2,350 m (7,710 ft). ...

One of the most comprehensive studies of the site was conduced by Thomson and Ziegler in mid-2003. The study concluded that Llactapata's location along the Inca trail suggests that it was an important rest stop and roadside shrine on the journey to the Machu Picchu. In fact, Llactapata may have have been a member of the network of interrelated administrative and ceremonial sites which supported the regional centre at Machu Picchu. It probably played an important astronomical function during the solstices and equinoxes.^[3] Diagram of the Earths seasons Solstice is an astronomical term regarding the position of the Sun in relation to the earths equator. ... An equinox in astronomy is the moment when the Sun passes over the equator. ...

References

1. ^ Szostak. Llaqtapata and Runkuraqay. Retrieved on 2006-03-18.
2. ^ Noland, David [2001-02-01]. Trekking. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0393320723.
3. ^ Malville, J. McKim, Hugh Thomson, Gary Zeigler (2004). "Machu Picchu’s Observatory: the Re-Discovery of Llactapata and its Sun-Temple". Revista Andina. (expanded English version)