AMERICAN EXPLORER AMERICAN Tx.1 Loktr September 1985 —Number 12
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NUMBER 12 JvJv/ I AMERICAN EXPLORER AMERICAN tX.1 LOKtR September 1985 —Number 12 EDITOR Don Montague EDITOR & LAYOUT Linda Rojas PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITOR Bob Ashe FINANCIAL MANAGER William Tuthill ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Eleanor Griffis de Zuniga Virginia Smith Kathy McFarland Judy Green Fiona Mullen Mary Lou Gore CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Dan Buck Sally Mathiasen Anne Meadows Robert Randall ART Tory Cusack Hartman Susan Montague Debra Taylor MAGAZINE PRODUCTION Aquiles Tomecich Bill Power LEGAL DEPT. J. Michael Dowling CLUB MANAGER Ethel Greene Anne Bolín ADVISORY BOARD Joanne Omang, Dan Doherty, Jane Thomas, Ron Yates, David Smith, Homer Rosa, Paolo Greer, Bill Nye, Barbara Green, Tim Cahill. Deborah Begel, Marianne Sjoberg, Alberto Perazzo, William Leonard, Marcella Rosa, Maria Reiche, Judith Ennew, David Telfer, Doreen Gillespie, Don Griffis, Gerald Star buck, Bob Nevans, Cesar Rojas, Jaime Browder, Gary Oliver, Noel Dunn, Marianne Dunn, Barry Wallace, Hilary Bradt. Connor Nixon, Mary Nixon, Jim Bartle, Wayne Kilburn, Nancy Neu, Nathan Thompson, Nichole Maxwell. Peter Getzels, Urs Bigger, Doris Peterhans, Peter Frey, Max Gunter. Tom Jackson, Augusto Felipe Wiese, John Hemming, Teddy Ronalds, Guillermo Wiese. Lisa Mosczynski, Bernard Doyle, Ivan Augs- burger, Jerzy Majcherczyk, Patrick Porter, Norma Cannalte, Eleanor Lowe. Sally Foyle, Richard Womack, Heidi Van Genderen, Scott Van Genderen. L. Wayne Moss. Jr. When Neighbors COVER Quarrel (Part II) < Head of Andean Condor from "Nouveau receuil de planches Kevin Healey p. 16 coloriees d'Oiseaux" by C.J. Temminck and Baron M. Laugier, 1820-39. A fairly accurate rendition, though the beak is less sinuous than illustrated. The South American Explorer is the quarterly journal of the South American Explorers Club, a non-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation, located at 1510 York Street, Denver, CO 80206; Tel: (303) 320-0388. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent of the publisher. All statements in contributed articles and advertisements are those of the author and advertiser and do not necessarily represent the views of the South American Explorers Club or its journal, the South American Explorer. Copyright ©1985 by the South American Explorers Club. Correspondence to the South American Explorers Club, registered in Lima. Peru, can be sent to either the U.S. (see above) or Lima, Peru: Casilla 3714. Lima 100, Peru (Street Address: Avenida Rep. de Portugal 146. Brena, Lima, Peru. Tel: 314480. Vílcabamba Revisited By Gregory Deyermenjian have always had a fascination and researched The Conquest of the This was, and still is, an I for little-known and long Incas, have shown, one must con extremely rugged country of forgotten places. Such a place is clude that the Incan last Refuge' forested hills, deep gorges, snowy Vilcabamba, often referred to as of Vilcabamba lies elsewhere. 1 peaks and swamps. Flat land is the 'Lost City or 'Last Refuge' Actually, 'Vilcabamba' refers rare — narrow trails twist and of the Incas. not only to the legendary city turn along the hillsides overlook When Hiram Bingham discovered (and to the town of 'Vilcabamba ing the rivers. Well above 2,000 Machu Picchu in 1911 many believed the New,' founded by Spaniards in meters in altitude, the air seems this magnificent and mysterious the late 16th century), but to an 'thin' to outsiders, the nights ruin to be Vilcabamba where the entire region of Peru northwest of uncomfortably cold. last remnant of the Incan Empire Cuzco and beyond Machu Picchu. As the history of this region found refuge from the Spaniards. Geographical features make Vilca gradually came to light, so did This belief, still common, is bamba a sort of 'inland island' the ruins of the city of Vilcabam propagated by Peruvian travel pos cut off from the rest of the ba. New information available this ters which proclaim: 'At this country: bordered by the Urubamba century adds the following chapter mountain top citadel, the very River on the east, the high peaks to the history of the conquest. last Inca raised his eyes to the of the Cordillera Vilcabamba on sun and disappeared forever.' the southeast, the Apurimac River ABOVE: The Yurac Rumi ('white However, as Gene Savoy's exciting to the south and west, and to the 1 rock ) near Víteos was sacred to Antisuvo: The Search for the Lost north by the Cosireni and Alto Urubamba Rivers where dense forest the Inca. PHOTO by Edward Ranney Cities of the Amazon and John from Monuments of the Incas, by Hemming's definitively detailed falls away to the Amazon Basin. John Hemming and Edward Ranney. aving captured and executed the rebellious Inca took on the Some form of settlement, per H the Inca Atahualpa, the intensity of a 'quest,' the greedy haps even a commercial center for Spanish conquistadores under Fran Spaniards paused to plunder, and jungle produce, may have already cisco Pizarro entered the sacred Manco disappeared into deep existed here. Manco now trans city of Cuzco in late 1533 and forests.* formed it totally. At 1,340m (far installed the native prince Manco Manco regrouped when the in below that of any other Incan as Inca. It took two years for vaders left Vitcos and set out city), he built his capital city, Manco to rebel against the again to find a secure stronghold replete with palaces, temples, Spaniards. In the 'Great Rebel in Chachapoyas, over 150 km to the stone dwellings, streets, canals, lion' of 1536 his forces laid northwest. Remote Chachapoyas bridges, fountains and squares. siege to Cuzco and even threatened possessed a well-fortified site Spanish-style roofing tiles atop Pizarro's distant new city of known as Cue lap. But Manco soon some of its buildings show that Lima. Manco set up headquarters changed his mind. Heading back this was an Incan city partly during the first year of his re towards Vilcabamba, he took the built after contact with the bellion at Calca, in the Yucay time to instigate rebellion, European invader. Valley north of Cuzco. He then attack various Spaniards and In April 1539 a Spanish force moved to the massive fortifica revenge himself upon tribes which under Gonzalo Pizarro reached Vit tions of Ollantaytambo just north had collaborated with the Euro cos, but the harsh topography west of this valley. Manco soon peans. These acts, together with realized, however, that proximity forced them to abandon their renewed uprisings in the Lake horses as they marched west over to Cuzco made Ollantaytambo vul Titicaca area in 1539, signalled nerable to the Spanish cavalry. the pass of Colpacasa and on down the beginning of Manco's 'Second through the Concevidayoc Valley. In mid-1537 he sought out a less Rebellion.' accessible refuge. After an On a hillside traverse at a place unsuccessful attempt to reach a Spaniards in Peru had long been called Chuquillusca, some 22 km fortress known as Urocoto, thought embroiled in their own civil wars, southeast of the city of Vilcabam to lie far to the southeast in the but by 1539 their military ba, they waiked into a trap: forests east of Lake Titicaca, he successes had put an end to native native warriors on the hills above led his forces in retreat over the hopes of pushing the Christians to rolled great boulders down upon Incan road which ran from Ollan the sea. Manco returned to Vilca them, inflicting heavy casualties. taytambo to the northwest, through bamba, determined to find a more Only by climbing higher were the the Panticolla Pass, and emerged secure refuge there. To this end Spanish able to out-flank their at the Urubamba near the present- he moved his headquarters to the attackers, capture Chuquillusca day town of Chaullay. The bridge far side of the watershed which and defeat Manco. Manco barely of Chuquichaca here formed the separates the Vitcos Valley to the escaped with his life by swimming principle entrance into the Vilca east from the Pampaconas Valley to across the Concevidayoc and hiding bamba region. Manco's force the west. Crossing the nearly in the deep forests. The Span crossed the bridge and followed 3,500m-high pass of Colpacasa, he iards captured Manco's wife and the road westward along the Vitcos continued down the valley of the various Incan nobles. They then (now known as the Vilcabamba) Pampaconas-Concevidayoc River and pressed on to the city of Vilca River, stopping at the fortified beyond into the deep forests to bamba, which they probably town of Vitcos. Vitcos occupied a the west-north-west. Here, in an occupied briefly. area now known as Espiritu Pampa, ridge at 2,850 meters overlooking The Spaniards' invasion cost Manco established his 'Last the valley of the Vitcos River and them dearly, but civil strife Refuge,' his city of Vilcabamba. the town of Pucyura — the very continued. When the Spaniards center of the 'inland island' of historical Vilcabamba. RUINS engulfed by the roots of a giant tree. Manco considered this place secure and inaccessible. But when native forces neglected to fully destory the bridge of Chuquichaca, the conquistador Rodrigo Orgonez pursued the Inca all the way to Vitcos. Although the pursuit of * While Manco Led the Life of a fugitive, his half-brother PauLLu was hai Led as the new Inca by the Spaniards in Cuzco. Throughout Manco's present and future privations and struggles against Spanish power, PeulLu wouLd steadfastly support the cause of his half-brother's enemy, even Leading the Spaniards' native auxiliaries into battle ageinst his Incan brethren. O 6 miles «mi» Map by ti» Authar THE VILCABAMBA REGION left Vilcabamba, Manco Inca re in the main square of Vitcos while ba problem.' With the royalist turned to his city and set about he was playing a game of quoits ascendancy, however, this changed.