Cajamarca (Spanish pronunciation: [kaxaˈmaɾka]), also known by the Quechua name, Kashamarka, is the capital and largest city of the Cajamarca Region as well as an important cultural and commercial center in the northern Andes. It is located in the northern highlands of Peru at approximately 2,750 m (8,900 ft) above sea level in the valley of the Mashcon river. Cajamarca had an estimated population of about 226,031 inhabitants in 2015, making it the 13th largest city in Peru.
Cajamarca has a mild highland climate, and the area has very fertile soil. The city is well known for its dairy products and mining activity in the surroundings.
Among its tourist attractions, Cajamarca has numerous examples of Spanish colonial religious architecture, beautiful landscapes, pre-Hispanic archeological sites and hot springs at the nearby town of Baños del Inca (Baths of the Inca). The history of the city is highlighted by the Battle of Cajamarca, which marked the defeat of the Inca Empire by Spanish invaders as the Incan emperor Atahualpa was captured and executed here.
Etymology
The Quechua etymology of the toponym is relatively straightforward. Colonial spellings Caxamalca ~ Caxamarca match contemporary Quechua pronunciation Kashamarka (written here in contemporary Quechua orthography), where marka is a Quechua-Aymara word for 'town' or 'region', and kasha is a Central and Northern Quechua word for 'thorn' or 'thorny plant'; thus, the compound name meant originally 'town/ province of thorny plants'. Afterwards, a Spanish general sound change took place that transformed its voiceless postalveolar fricative into a velar one ʃ > x, thus generating contemporary Spanish pronunciation of the place name. Confusion about the etymology has mainly originated from a false etymology offered by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who was not familiar with Quechua dialects outside Cuzco. Trying to find an etymon for caxa, Garcilaso offered qasa ('frost', written here in contemporary Quechua orthography). Still nowadays, Cuzco-based Academia Mayor de la Lengua Quechua's dictionary writes the name as Qasamarka according to the Garcilaso etymology.
History
The city and its surroundings have been occupied by several cultures for more than 2000 years. Traces of pre-Chavín cultures can be seen in nearby archaeological sites, such as Cumbe Mayo and Kuntur Wasi.
Huacaloma is an archaeological site located 3.5 km southeast of the historic center of the city of Cajamarca (currently in the middle of the Metropolitan Area of Cajamarca). Its antiquity is calculated between 1500 and 1000 BC, that is to say, it belongs to the Andean Formative Period. It presents enclosures with bonfires, similar to those of La Galgada and Kotosh, but with simpler design. It was a ceremonial center where fire rituals were performed.
In 1986 the Organization of American States designated Cajamarca as a site of Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Americas.
Pre-Columbian Cajamarca
The Cajamarca culture began flourishing as a culture during the first millennium AD.
The unbroken stylistic continuity (i.e., autonomy) of Cajamarca art from its inception around 200–100 BC up to the Spanish conquest is remarkable, given the presence of powerful neighbors and the series of imperial expansions that reached this area. It is known essentially only from its fine ceramics made with locally abundant white kaolin paste fired at high temperatures (over 1,000 °C).
Cajamarca culture pottery has long been recognized as a prestige ware, given its distinctiveness and wide, if sporadic, distribution. Initial Cajamarca ceramics (200 BC to AD 200) are largely confined to the Cajamarca Basin. Early Cajamarca ceramics (AD 200–450) have more complex and diverse decorations and extensive distribution. They are found in much of the North Highlands as well as in yunka zones on both the Amazonian and Pacific sides of the Andes. In fact, at least one Early Cajamarca high-prestige burial has been documented at the Moche site of San Jose de Moro (lower Jequetepeque), and a set of imported kaolin spoons has been found at the site of Moche, the city capital of the Southern Moche polity.
Cajamarca ceramics achieved their greatest prestige and widest distribution during Middle Cajamarca subphase B (700–900), coinciding with Moche demise and dominance of the Wari empire in Peru. Middle Cajamarca prestige ceramics have been found at a great deal of Wari sites, as far as southern-frontier Wari sites such as the city of Pikillacta located in Cusco region. Moreover, the construction of the north coastal settlement of Cerro Chepen, a massive terraced mountain city-fortress in Moche territory is attributed to an apparent joint effort between Wari and Cajamarca polities to ruler over this area of Peru.
In 2004 a large building erected in Cerro Chepen mountain was excavated, said structure follows high-altitude Andean architectural models, which is tentatively interpreted as an elite residential structure. Excavations have shown an unexpected association between Late Moche domestic ceramics and fine ceramics from the Cajamarca mountains inside the patios, galleries and rooms that make up the structure. The evidence recovered in this building suggests the presence of highland officials in the heart of the Cerro Chepen Monumental Sector.
However, the rise of the Middle Sican state on the north coast around 900-1000 saw a notable reduction in the distribution of Late Cajamarca ceramics back to the extent seen during Moche Phase IV.
Analysis of settlement patterns in the Cajamarca Valley shows a significant reduction in the number of settlements during the Late Cajamarca phase (AD 850–1200). Scholars interpret this reduction in the number of settlements as the result of population reduction and/or dispersion, probably linked to the end of Wari influence in the region and the collapse of the EIP/MH regional polity organized around the center of Coyor in the Cajamarca Valley.
With the collapse of Wari influence in the Cajamarca region the number of settlements first dropped, but then gradually increased by the Final Cajamarca phase (1250–1532). Cajamarca maintained its prestige, as shown by the influence its ceramics still had on the coast. During the Final Cajamarca phase settlements like Guzmango Viejo or Tantarica in the western slopes of the cordillera to the coast, as well as Santa Delia in the Cajamarca Valley became particularly large (> 20ha). These centers have a larger number of clearly distinguishable elite residential units as well as a greater number of fine ceramics than any earlier sites. It is clear that they are top ranked settlements in the region. At least the centers of the upper sections of the coastal valleys to the west probably benefited from their strategic location in relation first to Sican and later to Chimu. Scholars interpret the changes of the Final Cajamarca phase as evidence of a renewed prosperity and integration of the region.
15th century - Inca Empire and Cuismancu Kingdom
During the period between 1463 and 1471, Capac Yupanqui and his nephew Tupac Inca Yupanqui, both Apuskispay-kuna or Inca generals, conquered the city of Cajamarca and brought it into the Tawantinsuyu or Inca Empire, at the time it was ruled by Tupac Inca Yupanqui's father, Pachacutiq. Nevertheless, the city of Kasha Marka had already been founded by other ethnic groups almost a century before its incorporation into the Inca empire, approximately in the year 1320.
Although Ccapac Yupanqui conquered the city of Cajamarca, the supply line was poorly made and controlled, as he traveled hastily to Cajamarca without building or conquering on much of the journey from central Peru, Ccapac Yupanqui believed Inca army's supply line of troops and supplies wasn't optimal and thus put at risk the Inca control over the newly acquired city of Cajamarca. Ccapac Yupanqui left part of his troops garrisoned at Cajamarca, and then he returned to Tawantinsuyu in order to ask for reinforcements and conducted a more extensive campaign in the territories of central Peru, building a great quantity of infrastructure (such as tambos, qullqas, pukaras, etc.) along the Inca road. Incas remodeled Cajamarca following Inca canons of architecture, however, not much of it has survived since the Spanish did the same after conquering Cajamarca.
Colonial accounts tell of Cuismancu Kingdom, the historical counterpart of the Final Cajamarca archaeological culture. According to the chroniclers, Cuismanco, Guzmango or Kuismanku (modern Quechua spelling) was the political entity that ruled the Cajamarca area before the arrival of the Incas and was incorporated into the Inca dominion.
The kingdom or domain of Cuismanco belongs to the last phase of the Cajamarca Tradition and of all the nations of the northern mountains of Peru it was the one to achieve the highest social, political and cultural development.
Oral tradition records their title, Guzmango Capac – Guzmango being the name of the ethnic group or polity, while Capac signified a divine ruler whose forefathers displayed a special force, energy, and wisdom in ruling. By the time the Spaniards began to ask about their history, the polity's residents (called Cajamarquinos today) could remember the names of only two brothers who had served as Guzmango Capac under the Incas.
The first was called Concacax, who was followed by Cosatongo. After Concacax died, his son, Chuptongo, was sent south to serve the emperor, Tupac Inca Yupanqui. There he received an education at court and, as a young adult, became the tutor of one of Inca Yupanqui's sons, Guayna Capac. Oral history records that "he gained great fame and reputation in all the kingdom for his quality and admirable customs". It was also said that Guayna Capac respected Chuptongo as he would a father. Eventually, Tupac Inca Yupanqui named Chuptongo a governor of the empire.
When Guayna Capac succeeded his father as Sapan Inka, Chuptongo accompanied the new sovereign to Quito for the northern campaigns. After years of service, he asked Guayna Capac to allow him to return to his native people. His wish was granted; and, as a sign of his esteem, Guayna Capac made him a gift of one hundred women, one of the highest rewards possible in the Inca empire. In this way, Chuptongo established his house and lineage in the old town of Guzmango, fathered many children, and served as paramount lord until his death.
The struggle for the throne between the two half-brothers Huascar and Atahualpa, sons of Guayna Capac, also divided the sons of Chuptongo. During the civil war that broke out after Guayna Capac's death, Caruatongo, the oldest of Chuptongo's sons, sided with the northern forces of Atahualpa, while another son, Caruarayco, allied with Huascar, ruler of the south faction.
In 1532 Atahualpa defeated his brother Huáscar in a battle for the Inca throne in Quito (in present-day Ecuador). On his way to Cusco to claim the throne with his army, he stopped at Cajamarca.
Capture of Atahualpa (1532 A.D.); Colonial period
On reaching Cajamarca, Francisco Pizarro received news that Atahualpa was resting in Pultumarca, a nearby hot springs complex, Pizarro soon sent some of representatives under command of the young captain Hernando De Soto to invite the Inca to a feast.
After arriving at Atahualpa's camp, Hernando de Soto interviewed with Atahualpa. The Inca Emperor was seated on his gold throne or usnu, with two of his concubines on both sides holding a veil that made only his silhouette recognizable. Atahualpa, impressed by the Spanish horses, asked Hernando de Soto to do an equestrian demonstration. In the final act of his demonstration, Hernando De Soto rode on horseback directly up to Atahualpa to intimidate him stopping at the last moment, however Atahualpa did not move or change his expression in the slightest. Nevertheless, some of Atahualpa's retainers drew back and for it they were executed that day, after the Spanish committee returned to Cajamarca.
Atahualpa agreed to meet with Pizarro the next day, oblivious to the ploy Pizarro had prepared for him. The following day, Atahualpa arrives in procession with his court and soldiers, although unarmed, Spanish accounts tell of the splendor shown by Atahulpa's display, in addition to musicians and dancers, Indians covered the Inca road on which their king would travel with hundreds of colorful flower petals, moreover, Atahualpa's retainers marched in unison without speaking a word.