Cusco

13.5320°S, 71.9675°W.

Capital of the Inca Empire from approximately 1200 to 1532 CE, situated at 3,399 metres in the Peruvian Andes at the confluence of the Saphi and Tullumayu rivers. The city plan was laid out in the form of a puma; the great fortress of Sacsayhuaman occupies the head, with the central plaza Huacaypata at the heart. Inca masonry at Sacsayhuaman includes limestone blocks weighing up to 200 tonnes, fitted without mortar to tolerances measured in millimetres. The Coricancha, the Inca temple of the sun, was lined entirely in gold sheet at the time of Spanish contact; the Dominican Convent of Santo Domingo was built directly on its foundation walls. From Cusco, the Inca road network (Qhapaq Ñan) extended approximately 40,000 km along the Andean spine.

The Spanish destroyed the gold and built churches on the foundations — the foundations are still load-bearing.