Cusco

The ancient Inca capital at 3,400 meters, navel of the world/Everyday Places

Cusco (or Cuzco) in southeastern Peru was the capital of the Inca Empire, the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. Situated at 3,400 meters above sea level in the Andes, the Incas designed the city in the shape of a puma. The Inca stone walls that remain throughout the city feature precisely fitted polygonal stones with no mortar, so perfectly joined that a knife blade cannot fit between them. The famous Sacsayhuaman fortress above the city contains stones weighing up to 200 tonnes. The name Cusco (Qusqu) means 'navel of the world' in Quechua. The city was the starting point for all Inca roads radiating to the four quarters of the empire.