shrines, and way stations of this westward route. Settlements located along this
road feature some of the most elaborate architecture in the empire; highlights
include: Tambocancha on the Pampa de Anta, perhaps a royal estate of Topa
Inca; the shrine and oracle of Marcahuasi (see Bridges); Sayhuite and its famed
sculpted boulder; and Vilcashuaman and its impressive, terraced ushnu, to name
just a few.
West of Vilcashuaman the road descended to the coast through the Pisco
valley, reaching the temple of Huaytará and, farther along, the adobe settlement
of Tambo Colorado, one of the best preserved Inca coastal installations, painted
in vivid hues of red and yellow ochre, and white. Just below Tambo Colorado,
the highland road connected with the coastal road, leading north to La Centinela
in the Chincha valley, seat of an important oracle and capital of the Chincha
people. Surrounded by lush fields watered by irrigation canals and flanked by a
bountiful sea, Chincha’s productive farmland and access to coastal guano
islands, used by coastal and highland farmers to fertilize fields, made it one of
the richest valleys in the empire. Indeed, Chinchaysuyu may have been named
after the Chincha polity.
Chinchaysuyu’s coastal road also connected to Pachacamac, on the central
coast, just south of modern-day Lima, one of the empire’s most powerful,
influential, and feared Andean oracles. Farther north lay the kingdom of Chimú
or Chimor, one of the largest and most sophisticated coastal societies to contest
Inca expansion (see Chronology, Pre-Inca). After the Inca conquest many
skilled Chimú metalsmiths were dispatched to Inca centers to create works in
metal for their new masters.
■ADRIANA VON HAGENCHRONICLERS, CONQUESTA handful of soldiers entered Tahuantinsuyu with Francisco Pizarro in 1532,
and later wrote accounts of their experiences, a genre referred to as “soldier’s
chronicles.” These men were eyewitnesses to the capture of Atahualpa in
Cajamarca in 1533 and the events leading up to the encounter between the
Spaniards and the Inca forces. Among them are Miguel de Estete, Cristóbal
de Mena, Diego de Trujillo, and Francisco López de Xerez.
Cristóbal de Mena was born in Spain and reached the Americas by 1519.
He joined Francisco Pizarro in 1531, commanding one of his ships. He has