Recent findings
In 2001, the Italian archaeologist Mario Polia discovered the report of the missionary Andres Lopez in the archives of the Jesuits in Rome. [1] In the document, which dates from about 1600, Lopez describes a large city rich in gold, silver, and jewels, located in the middle of the tropical jungle called Paititi by the natives. Lopez informed the Pope about his discovery. [2] Lopez's report and its discovery were widely publicized, though its content is third-hand and far from reliable, Lopez himself having never reached Paititi but only having heard about it from the natives. It focuses on the story of a miracle performed at the court of the king of Paititi by a crucifix taken there by a group of baptized Indians. Many other historical sources of the Colonial period (16th to 18th centuries) refer to Paititi, to its possible locations and to expeditions searching for it. Some of the most informative of these documents include those of Juan Álvarez Maldonado [ es ] (1570), Gregorio Bolívar (1621), Juan Recio de León (1623–27), Juan de Ojeda (1676), Diego de Eguiluz (1696).
In 2001, two researchers from the University of Helsinki, Dr. Ari Siiriäinen [ fi ] (archaeologist) and Dr. Martti Pärssinen (historian), put forward a hypothesis relating the Paititi legend to the Inca expeditions into the Amazonian jungle and to the possible Inca military presence in the region of the Beni and the Madre de Dios rivers. [3] In order to test this hypothesis, a joint Finnish-Bolivian archaeological expedition in 2001–2003 investigated the fortified site Las Piedras near the town of Riberalta in Eastern Bolivia. Some fragments of imperial Inca ceramics were found during the excavations, but the presumed Inca origin of the site remains questionable. [4]
Historian and anthropologist Vera Tyuleneva has contributed to the idea of the non-Peruvian origin of the name "Paititi" and its original locale; she has made expeditions to northern Bolivia and provided extensive and detailed written reports on her findings. [5] [6] [7]
On 29 December 2007, members of a local community near Kimbiri, Peru, found large stone structures resembling high walls, covering an area of 40,000 square meters; they named it the Manco Pata fortress. [8] [9] Researchers from the Peruvian government's Cusco-based National Institute of Culture (INC), however, disputed suggestions by the local mayor that it could be part of the lost city of Paititi. [10] Their report identified the stone structures as naturally formed sandstone. In 2008, the municipality of Kimbiri decided to promote it as a tourist destination. [11]
Recent historical work by the explorer Andrew Nicol examined primary historical texts and concluded that a jungle city or remote Inca outpost, such as the city described by the Paititi legend, could theoretically exist within the Peruvian Amazon Basin. Nicol references the existence of the sites of Vilcabamba, Peru and Mameria as the chief sources of evidence supporting this theory. [12] Parts of this region discussed in Nicols' research are referred to as Antisuyu, one of the four regions into which the Inca empire was divided.
In 2016, French researcher Vincent Pélissier published an online article and subsequent video on YouTube claiming to have found the lost city of Paititi. Pélissier claims to have made the discovery in July 2015. The article presents a first-hand account of Pélissier's research and details the evidence that he uses to make his case. His article expounds upon prior research, including that of Thierry Jamin. One of Pélissier's significant pieces of evidence is an interpretation of petroglyphs at Pusharo as a map to Paititi. These petroglyphs are located on the south shore of the Palatoa River. However, the petroglyphs have not been confirmed to be of Inca origin. In his article, Pélissier makes extensive use of Google Earth screenshots that include coordinates and a hand-created overlay that highlights rivers, mountain ranges, and supposed Inca roads. Pélissier asserts throughout the article that he believes he has found the lost city of Paititi. He also includes details of experiences that he claims to have had (i.e. being hacked, burgled, etc.) as a result of his research. [13]
Cusco or Cuzco 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).
Machu Picchu is a 15th-century Inca citadel located in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Peru on a mountain ridge at 2,430 meters (7,970 ft). Often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas", it is the most familiar icon of the Inca Empire. It is located in the Machupicchu District within the Urubamba Province above the Sacred Valley, which is 80 kilometers (50 mi) northwest of the city of Cusco. The Urubamba River flows past it, cutting through the Cordillera and creating a canyon with a subtropical mountain climate.
Manco Cápac, also known as Manco Inca and Ayar Manco, was, according to some historians, the first governor and founder of the Inca civilization in Cusco, possibly in the early 13th century. He is also a main figure of Inca mythology, being the protagonist of the two best known legends about the origin of the Inca, both of them connecting him to the foundation of Cusco. His main wife was his older sister, Mama Uqllu, also the mother of his son and successor Sinchi Ruq'a. Even though his figure is mentioned in several chronicles, his actual existence remains uncertain.
The Aymara or Aimara, people are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. Approximately 2.3 million Aymara live in northwest Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The ancestors of the Aymara lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca Empire in the late 15th or early 16th century, and later of the Spanish in the 16th century. With the Spanish American wars of independence (1810–1825), the Aymaras became subjects of the new nations of Bolivia and Peru. After the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile annexed territory with the Aymara population.
Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, also called Pachacútec, was the ninth Sapa Inca of the Chiefdom of Cusco, which he transformed into the Inca Empire. Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca site of Machu Picchu was built as an estate for Pachacuti.
Madre de Dios is a department and region in southeastern Peru, bordering Brazil, Bolivia and the Peruvian departments of Puno, Cusco and Ucayali, in the Amazon Basin. Its capital is the city of Puerto Maldonado. It is also the third largest department in Peru, after Ucayali and Loreto. However, it is also the least densely populated department in Peru, as well as its least populous department. It has one of the lowest poverty rates in Peru.
Vilcabamba or Willkapampa, often called the Lost City of the Incas, is a lost city in the Echarate District of La Convención Province in the Cuzco Region of Peru. Vilcabamba, in Quechua, means "sacred plain". The modern name for the Inca ruins of Vilcabamba is Espíritu Pampa.
Manqu Inka Yupanki (Quechua) was the founder and monarch of the independent Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba, although he was originally a puppet Inca Emperor installed by the Spaniards. He was also known as "Manco II" and "Manco Cápac II". He was one of the sons of Huayna Capac and a younger brother of Huascar.
The Inkarri myth is one of the most famous legends of the Inca. When the Spanish conquistadores executed the last ruler of the Inca people, Atahualpa, he vowed that he would come back one day to avenge his death. According to the legend, the Spaniards buried his body parts in several places around the kingdom: His head is said to rest under the Presidential Palace in Lima, while his arms are said to be under the Waqaypata in Cusco and his legs in Ayacucho. Buried under the earth he will grow until the day that he will rise, take back his kingdom and restore harmony in the relationship between Pachamama and her children.
Antisuyu was the eastern part of the Inca Empire which bordered on the modern-day Upper Amazon region which the Anti inhabited. Along with Chinchaysuyu, it was part of the Hanan Suyukuna or "upper quarters" of the empire, constituting half of the Tahuantinsuyu, the "four parts bound together" that comprised the empire.
Mameria is an area of high-elevation jungle to the northeast of the Paucartambo range in southeast Peru, drained by the Mameria River, an affluent of the Nistrón River. Until the 1960s this remote and sparsely populated area would have been considered a part of the Callanga jungle area. Machiguenga peoples, fleeing the slavery that they were subject to along the Yavero River, fled to this area which acquired its current name from the Machiguenga observing that "mameri," which means "there are none," regarding the lack of fish in the river.
Llaqtapata (Quechua) llaqta place, pata elevated place / above, at the top / edge, bank, shore, pronounced 'yakta-pahta', Hispanicized Llactapata) is an archaeological site about 5 km (3.1 mi) east of Machu Picchu. The complex is located in the Cusco Region, La Convención Province, Santa Teresa District, high on a ridge between the Ahobamba and Santa Teresa drainages.
PeruRail is a railway operator providing tourist, freight, and charter services in southern Peru. It was founded in 1999 by two Peruvian entrepreneurs and the British company Sea Containers.
A previously unknown Inca settlement, Quriwayrachina or Quri Wayrachina, was found in the Willkapampa mountain range in the Cusco Region of Peru in 2001. The site lies in the Santa Teresa District of the La Convención Province, north of the archaeological site of Choquequirao and west of the mountains Kiswar and Quriwayrachina (Corihuayrachina), on a mountain named Victoria. Close to nearby ancient Inca mines, the surrounding hills are covered with the littered stones from more than 200 structures in this Inca outpost.
The official flag of Cusco has seven horizontal stripes of color: red, orange, yellow, green, sky blue, blue, and violet. This rainbow flag was introduced to Peru in 1973 by Raúl Montesinos Espejo, in recognition of the 25th anniversary of his Tawantinsuyo Radio station. As the flag's popularity grew, Cusco mayor Gilberto Muñiz Caparó declared it an official emblem in 1978. Since 2021, the official flag has also featured the golden Echenique's sun.
Gregory Deyermenjian is a psychologist and explorer. In 1981 he visited the ruins of Vilcabamba la Vieja at Espíritu Pampa, and then turned his attention to the northeast and north of Cusco, Peru. Since the mid-1980s he has made numerous expeditions to Peru investigating Paititi, a legendary lost city that is part of the history and legend of the western Amazon basin. He is a long-term Fellow of The Explorers Club.
The Petroglyphs of Pusharo constitute a unique and extensive ancient rock art archaeological site in southeastern Peru's Manú National Park, an expanse of rain forest that still contains unexplored and little known areas, and for which an official government permit is required for entry.
Jacek Pałkiewicz is a Polish journalist, traveler and explorer. Fellow of the prestigious London-based Royal Geographical Society and numerous other such societies, he is best known for his discovery of the sources of the Amazon River.
Thierry Jamin is a French explorer and pseudohistorian known for his research about Paititi and the presence of the Incas and pre-Inca civilization in the Amazonian rainforest.
Agustín Lizárraga Ruiz was a Peruvian explorer and farmer who discovered Machu Picchu on 14 July 1902, nine years prior to American explorer Hiram Bingham.
