Ollantaytambo
Ollantaytambo was one of the royal estates of Inca Pachacuteq. It is also the site to which Manco Inca retreated after his defeat by the Spanish at Sacsayhuamán in 1536. In 1537, Hernando Pizarro arrived at Ollantaytambo with 70 cavalry and 30 foot soldiers to put down Manco's rebellion. However, Manco's forces were prepared for the assault. From the terrace walls above, they showered the Spanish with arrows, rocks, and boulders. They then released water through prepared irrigation channels flooding the plain below and miring the Spanish horses in mud up to their bellies. The Spanish were forced to concede their first defeat to the Incas and retreated to Cusco. Later that year, with a cavalry force more than quadruple in size, a Spanish expedition returned to Ollantaytambo to challenge Manco Inca. Faced with the overwhelming force of cavalry, which still baffled and terrified the Inca warriors, Manco Inca and his followers fled to the jungle stronghold of Vilcabamba.
Ancient Peru was the seat of several prominent Andean civilizations, most notably that of the Incas whose empire was captured by the Spanish conquistadors in 1533. Peruvian independence was declared in 1821, and remaining Spanish forces defeated in 1... ... read more 
