COLLASUYU
The largest of all the suyu divisions, Collasuyu extended southward from Cuzco,
embracing the southern highlands, Lake Titicaca, the temperate and tropical
regions to the east of the lake, and down into what is today Chile, as far south as
Santiago, and into northwestern Argentina. Collasuyu, along with Cuntisuyu,
formed the hurin, or lower, half of Tahuantinsuyu, the Inca Empire. The city of
Cuzco was also divided into four suyus, and the main plaza served as the axis of
these territorial divisions as well as the nexus of the four roads leading to the
territorial divisions. Collasuyu was also one of the four divisions of the valley’s
ceque system, the system of imaginary lines that radiated out from the
Coricancha, the Sun temple. The huacas, or shrines, located along the 328 or so
ceques were ranked accordingly.
Incallacta in Bolivia was part of Collasuyu, the empire’s southern quadrant. It
contains one of the largest single-room roofed buildings ever built by the Incas,
seen here in the center of the photograph flanking a large double plaza. Lawrence
S. Coben.