Cusco Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, Cusco, Peru
Cusco Cathedral on the Plaza de Armas, Cusco, Peru (© sharptoyou/Shutterstock)
The crossroads of empires
Today, we're 11,000 feet above sea level in the city of Cusco, in the Peruvian Andes. Cusco is considered the historical capital of Peru, a designation that's even enshrined in the country's constitution. The city served as a capital for the Incan Empire in the three centuries before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century.
© sharptoyou/Shutterstock