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Ollantaytambo
"In this place they had the Inca a big force of the strongest of all their dominion, seated among some rocks that few people were enough to defend of much. Among these rocks they were some sliced rocks that made unassailable the place: and for the low thing it is full with big platforms that seem walls, some above others: in the width of which sowed the seeds that they ate."
Cieza of León, columnist Spanish XVI century.
The occupation of Ollantaytambo is as old as some of its formidable stones. The complex presents residence groups, temples, platforms, colcas (deposits) and diverse enclosures whose function has not still been possible to determine accurately. It is thought that it is an unconcluded group for the time of the conquest.
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Fortaleza de Ollantaytambo |
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Historical dates
According to the linguist Rodolfo Cerrón Palomino, the name Ollantay comes from the aimara ulla-nta-wi that he/she means "place to see down", that is to say, watchtower. The one added of tambo and their linking with the character of the literature are later. The testimonies of indigenous villagers, picked up by the columnist Pedro Sarmiento of Gamboa (1570), they show that deep hostilities existed against the Inca, even in the near tribes to the city of Cusco. Their informants counted that Pachacútec demanded to their ancestros the payment of tributes. In reprisal for the negative to obey the real orders, a powerful army attacked and it destroyed the town. Then Pachacútec claimed the area like own and it sent to build the magnificent buildings that today lasts. |
For brought it manpower of the Collao, the near area to the lake Titicaca and Tiahuanaco. Sarmiento also revealed that the children of Chuchi Cápac, the great general of the Collas - conquered and murdered by the Inca - they had to work as manufacturers. The noble youths decided to rebel and to escape. Only after many confrontations and a great spill of blood, the Inca was able to silence the violent rebellion.
The celebrated battle
The history of Ollantaytambo is inseparably bound to that of Inca Cripple, one of the most famous heroes in the indigenous resistance who after maintaining the walled Cusco per months and when seeing that its forces were diluted by the alliances among aboriginal towns, he/she retired to Ollantaytambo. The Inca had self teach in western techniques and it had narrowed knots with mitimaes seated in the enormous county of Vilcabamba. For this reason he/she stayed very informed and I list to face to the army of Hernando Pizarro. Eleven staggered platforms, they allowed him a closed defense. After a bloody combat and taking advantage of the night, Pizarro prepared the retreat. It was a great victory for the Inca.
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calle de Ollantaytambo |
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The Inn of Ollanta
"Oh, litte bird! Abstain from eating
My princess's crop.
Don't steal him
The corn that is their food
Tullallay! Tullallay!
The fruit is white
And their tender leaves;
Up to now they are delicate,
I fear you to settle in them.
Tullallay! Tullallay!
They will cut you the wings,
They will pull up your fingernails,
And you will be captured
And tightly caged.
Tullallay! Tullallay! "
(I break into fragments of the Drama of Ollantay.
Of: Ollantay, 1938)
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Ollantaytambo (or Inn of Ollanta) it is also bound to the Peruvian literature through the drama of Ollanta, to who owes their name. It is a text written in the XVI century with thematic Incan but with models literary Spaniards. The history narrates the conflicting love between the general Ollanta and Cusi Coyllor, the daughter of Pachacútec. After rebelling before the Inca, for not accepting the romance, Ollanta escapes to the town Tambo where it resists per years the imperial attacks. After the death of Pachacútec, Ollanta is taken prisoner by the successor Túpac Yupanqui. Posteriomente is forgiven and noted its general. The Inca discovers that his sister, the princess Cusi Coyllor, was prisoner per years and he/she decides to liberate it to surrender it to Ollanta and to allow the marriage of both.
The Spanish Conquest
When it happens the Spanish conquest the year of 1532, and after the murder of the Inca Atahualpa at the hands of the Conquerors, Inca Cripple was crowned by these with the intention of manipulating it. But when noticing the Inca of the situation, he/she rebels and it begins a war that would only finish later 50 years. One of the most dramatic chapters in the history of those years is when I Maim it sieged and the Cusco set on fire, but he/she could not take it because their troops, conformed by peasants, returned to their works for the crop.
I maim he/she decides then to settle down in Ollantaytambo where it is attacked by the Spanish troops (compound mostly for Indian cañaris, chachapoyas and wancas) under the control of) Conquering Hernando Pizarro. Both armies face in the plain of Mascabamba, lasting the battle the whole day and being defined the victory for Cripple when their soldiers deviated the course of the river Vilcanota and they flooded the plain, making impossible that the Hispanic chivalry outside of utility. But in spite of their victory, Cripple abandons the town and he retires forest inside toward Vilcabamba, with that which Ollantaytambo didn't take in falling in Spanish hands. This way, the King from Spain rewards Hernando Pizarro giving him the town like it commends, with that which the Indians of the place should pay a tribute to the agent.
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