PACHACUTEC The old Inca Viracocha announced his decision of lending the royal tassel to one of his heirs; the chosen one was a young prince called Inca Urco. After the announcement, the Inca retired himself to his palace in Calca, at the Yucat valley, and immediately Inca Urco started to take care of the affairs of the State. But Urco neglected the government and dedicated himself to the pleasures and vices, concurring assiduously to the recreation houses placed at the vicinity o the capital. The politic tension and the social discomfort that was beginning to sense at Cusco were aggravated by the arrival of alarming news: the Chancas -a confederation with great expansionist ambitions- had mobilized their troops and were prepared to assault the Inca's capital. In front of this terrible peril, never before experimented by the Cusco population, the old Inca decided to abandon Cusco with his sons Urco and Zoczo, their women and retinue, and take cover at the locality of Chita. When everything seemed lost, the figure of the young prince Cusi Yupanqui appeared who took the decision to stay in Cusco and defend the city. Converted into a resistance chieftain, the young prince asked for military help to the neighbor curacas of Cusco in exchange of lands and privileges. Meanwhile, the enemy forces were approaching. Getting informed of the resistance the young prince was organizing, with arrogant irony, the enemy said that they will wait for three months to get armed and supplied; then it would be more pleasant to destroy them. The prince decided to wait the invaders at Cusco. After the term, the alarm indicted that the moment of fight had already come. The Chancas throngs got down to the city, with their faces painted in black and ochre, with their long hairs oiled and braided. The invaders did not expect to find a so inflamed resistance at lines they attacked. Many of them fell into the large pits at the access roads to Cusco the defenders caved and covered with straws and mud. The prince Cusi throw himself into the attack with a small group of warriors, facing the thick Chancas' army. The hours went by as well as the battle. Although the Incas had already stopped the Chanca advance, they could not completely repel them. Cusi hastily headed himself toward the Chancas' idol. With great agility knocked down the guardians and took it. The invaders, totally confused, fled after hearing the victory shouts of the prince and founding themselves without protection of their idol. STRUGGLE BETWEEN BROTHERS The unexpected victory was celebrated with big revelry at Cusco. The prestige of the prince Cusi Yupanqui enormously grew and started to be called Pachacutec, which means "the one that transforms the world". According to the Incan military tradition, the triumph accomplished by Cusi had to be honored by the Inca, who will step over the war booty as a sign of acknowledgment. That is why the young prince went to look after the Inca Viracocha, but he refused to take over the goods brought by Cusi, insisting that Inca Urco should be the one to take possession of the victory's goods. This attitude made that the victorious prince decided to go back to Cusco. Understanding that his ascension in front of the confederation was endangered, Inca Urco proposed himself to kill Cusi, and with his father's help, he plotted and ambush, the one that was easily dismantled by 250 men from Cusi army. Despite this plot, Cusi did not keep rancor against his enemies and beg the Inca to return to Cusco. The proposal never was accepted by the old sovereign. Cusi chased the Chancas toward their territories, returning to Cusco victorious and with a considerably booty. Cusi Yupanqui sent some prisoners and war trophies to Viracocha with the hope that he recognizes his victory. On this occasion the Inca accepted the request of the prince and stepped over the enemies vanquished spoils; but he did not want to present himself at Cusco for the celebrations, adducing he was too old for such trips. Cusi decided then to forbid Inca Urco the entrance to the capital. They resolved also to take him away the royal tassel, in order to give it to the young Cusi Yupanqui. Finding himself rejected, Urco took as last measure the resolution to fight against Cusi, and tried to organize his troops at the Yucay valley. Finding out about the plans of the conspirator, Cusi went immediately toward his encounter. After a short but tenacious battle, Urco was hit at the throat by a stone launched by a warrior loyal to Cusi, making him to fall to the Urubamba River. The renegade Inca allow himself to be drifted by the flow, but was reached and killed by his enemies. PACHACUTEC BEARS THE MASCAIPACHA After the death of Urco, Cusi Yupanqui was the only candidate to assume the government of the confederation. Following the popular clamor, the arrangement for the ceremony where the prince will bear the mascapaicha. After a request made by Cusi, a cortege was send toward Calca looking after the Inca Vilcanota in order to beg him go to Cusco and give the mascapaicha to the new leader, emending the dishonor of have abandoned the capital. The awaited day arrived, and the Inca Viracocha proceeded to put the royal tassel upon the head of the young Cusi Yupanqui, naming him, from that moment, as Pachacutec Yupanqui Capac Intichurri, which means "the son of the Sun that transforms the earth". Once he was invested as Inca, Pachacutec determined that Viracocha will be the first in honoring him. To do that, the old Inca had to drink a pot full of chicha until the last drop. Viracocha carried out the order without complain and, when he finished, knelt down asking for forgiveness by deserting from Cusco. Pachacutec, always respecting the rank of the old man, helped him to stand up immediately. THE CONQUEROR EXPEDITIONS During the first months of the Pachacutec government, he had to submit many neighbor towns from Cusco. In contradistinction to the wars during the past reigns, these military campaigns represented a true effort to keep and consolidate a territorial unity, a predomination of the Cusco people over their neighboring. The numerous wars he would maintain in the future would let him acquire an enormous territorial extension. Dominated by the neighbor curacas, Pachacutec decided to organize an expedition to the Chancas territory. Commanding more than 40,000 men, transported inside a litter, the Inca traveled to Andahuaylas, and from there decided to invade the Soras territory. All resistance was easily destroyed. Then, he reached Huamanga, conquering every towns visited. The next target was Vilcashuaman, an important centre of the region; there, Pachacutec ordered the construction of a temple of the Sun and many other buildings. This way the settlement became an important administrative centre. Ten years since the Pachacutec coronation passed when he reengaged his expansionist military campaign, sending a group of soldiers to the frontier with the Collas, and keep advancing toward the Titicaca Lake zone. Pachacutec achieve the domination of the complete zone, leaving several garrisons and a general governor. His next destination was Arequipa. Because the legislative obligations of the Inca hold him at Cusco, the army had to leave commanded by the general Capac Yupanqui. But the Chancas conquered back some territories. Acknowledging this, Pachacutec could not hide his anger; he was afraid that after this incident, the Chancas could take courage and try to revolt again. His decision was very drastic: the Chancas reinforcement should be obliterated, otherwise Capac Yupanqui will suffer of the capital punishment. Capac Yupanqui moved forward, conquered the Huancas, reached the Lima coastal region, and kept advancing until Cajamarca and the northern Amazon forest of Peru. Nonetheless, he never got to capture the Chancas, whom fled far beyond his reaches, reason why he hung himself before being exposed to the embarrassment of the death sentence given by Pachacutec. THE REMODELING OF CUSCO After the raise of the population on the capital, including the new confederates, the demands were multiplied. In order to solve these problems, the Inca undertook a series of constructive and agricultural works: new neighborhoods were created, the lots were distributed and new houses were built. The agricultural production was intensified thanks to the canalization of the capital and a new water distribution, new storage systems were created and more cultivation terraces were constructed. His first great work was the reconstruction of the Sun Temple or Inticancha. The small and humble building made by his ancestors was transformed in an amazing temple filled with richness. Since then, the sanctuary changed its named for Coricancha (gold precinct). One of the more important changes made by Pachacutec was the new division of his domain in four "suyus", delimited by imaginary lines and roads that parted from the main square of Cusco and were projected over all the Tahuantinsuyu territory. The capital became the center or navel of the known world. At the east was the Antisuyu; at the west laid the Contisuyu; at the north we could find the Chinchaysuyu; finally, at the south remained the Collasuyu. Preoccupied in perpetuate his people's history, Pachacutec order a massive data collection about the Incan past, everything registered in quipus and drawings made over planks. The success of Pachacutec maintaining the territorial unity of the Tahuantinsuyu is explained in three major decisions of his government: the implementation of a developed public thoroughfare with the construction of roads, bridges and inns or tambos; the imposition of the quechua as the official language; and the establishment of a complex administrative organization that executed the orders dictated by the central power. These three dispositions allowed reaching the geographic, linguistic and state unification.