The People of Cuzco City

In pre-Columbian times, anyone entering Cuzco was greeted with the phrase, “Ama sua, ama quella, ama lulla” – “Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t be lazy”, summing up what was important in this cooperative society. Laziness, in fact was a capital offense punishable by death. Everyone in an Incan community except for royalty and priests was required to work on projects such as roads, irrigation ditches and aqueducts owing to a philosophy that if all participated; all would take care of the finished product. When the Spanish took control of this country those cooperative projects – know as mingas, were replaced by forced labor. But they were not completely erased – today there are still mingas in the Peruvian highlands. Women begin preparing a community meal on minga day while the townspeople, regardless of age set to work.

At its peak, Cuzco was a city with sophisticated water systems, paved streets and no poverty. But its leaders were not all wise and competent. One Inca chief, Urco, perpetrated such atrocities that his name was erased from Incan history and his mention forbidden. Another hung his enemies along the roadsides in the empire’s cities. Yet another had the entire population of a nearby city executed for the rape of a virgin selected to dedicate her life to the sun cult. But these excesses fail to overshadow the magnificence of a civilization whose architecture could not be destroyed and whose feats could not be matched.