The city of Cusco is built in the valley of the Huatanay River, in the southern sierra of Peru. "Cusco", from the quechua Qosco, means the "navel of the world", and refers to the fact that this city was long the center of a vast network of roads connecting each of the four parts of the world of Andean cosmology. Of course, Cusco is also a colonial city, with splendid churches and large houses. Many consider this mix of cultures the root of its charm.

It was during the reign of the Incas (1438-1532 A.D.) that Cusco's importance was at its height, but the origins of the city are shrouded in myth and legend. One of the most common stories, that has been handed down as part of the famous chronicles of the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, tells of Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo, the couple that magically emerged from the holy waters of Titicaca Lake around the eleventh or twelth centuries to found Cusco.

Cusco was the center of government of the four regions of the Inca empire, which covered large parts of what today are Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile. Inca society was fantastically organized, and had an impressive knowledge of architecture, hydraulic engineering, medicine and agriculture.

In the year 1534, the Spanish arrived under the command of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro and a Spanish city was founded on the site of the Inca Cusco, turning the Andean world—and its two thousand years of independent development—on its head. Many important Inca constructions were destroyed or served as the base for other new constructions, as can clearly be seen at many temple sites.

Despite the clash of cultures, the phenomenon of mestizaje, the mixing of European and indigenous races, began to dominate the city. Still, all was not peaceful, and the following centuries were characterized by fierce rebellions of native people against the Spanish. The most well-known of these struggles include the revolution led by José Gabriel Condorcanqui (Tupac Amaru II) in 1780, that of the Angulo brothers in 1813, and the uprising of Mateo Pumacahua in 1814.

In 1911, using information provided by local peasants, the American researcher Hiram Bingham discovered the legendary Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, which is today one of the main tourist destinations on the American continent, and is considered one of the world's most outstanding feats of architecture. Nestled between the mountains of Machu Picchu ("Old Mountain") and "Huayna Picchu" ("Young Mountain"), in the middle of the tropical jungle, it comprises military fortifications, squares, temples and terraces for cultivation. It is known that the site was the center of a cult, an astronomical observatory, and private property of the Inca Pachacutec and his family.