MacQuarrie - New York;Pérou;Peru;Vilcabamba Site;Vilcabamba (Pérou : Site archéologique);Vilcabamba

1492

Columbus lands in what is now called the Bahamas; this is the first of his four voyages to the New World.

1502

Francisco Pizarro arrives on the island of Hispaniola.

15021503

During his last voyage, Columbus explores the coasts of what will later be called Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

1513

Vasco Nez de Balboa and Francisco Pizarro cross the Isthmus of Panama and discover the Pacific Ocean.

1516

The future Inca emperor Manco Inca is born.

15191521

Hernando Corts conquers the Aztec Empire in Mexico.

15241525

Francisco Pizarros first voyage heads south from Panama and explores along the coast of Colombia. The trip is a financial failure. Pizarros colleague Diego de Almagro loses an eye in a battle with natives.

1526

Pizarro, Almagro, and Hernando de Luque form the Company of the Levant, a company dedicated to conquest.

15261527

Pizarro and Almagros second voyage. Pizarro makes his first contact with the Inca Empire at Tumbez.

c. 1528

The Inca Emperor Huayna Capac dies from European-introduced smallpox. His death sets off a civil war between his sons Atahualpa and Huascar.

15281529

Pizarro journeys to Spain, where he is granted a license to conquer Peru by the queen.

15311532

Pizarros third voyage to Peru. Pizarro captures Atahualpa.

1533

Atahualpa is executed; Almagro arrives; Pizarro captures Cuzco and installs seventeen-year-old Manco Inca as the new Inca emperor.

1535

Pizarro founds the city of Lima; Almagro leaves for Chile.

1536

Gonzalo Pizarro steals Manco Incas wife, Cura Ocllo. Manco rebels and surrounds Cuzco. Juan Pizarro is killed, and the Inca general Quizo Yupanqui attacks Lima.

1537

Almagro seizes Cuzco from Hernando and Gonzalo Pizarro. Rodrigo Orgez sacks Vitcos and captures Manco Incas son, Titu Cusi. Manco escapes and flees to Vilcabamba, the new Inca capital.

1538

Hernando Pizarro executes Diego de Almagro.

1539

Gonzalo Pizarro invades and sacks Vilcabamba; Manco Inca escapes but Francisco Pizarro executes Mancos wife, Cura Ocllo.

1540

Hernando Pizarro begins a prison sentence of twenty years in Spain.

1541

Francisco Pizarro is murdered by supporters of Almagro. One of his assassins, Diego Mndez, flees to Vilcabamba.

1544

Manco Inca is murdered by Diego Mndez and six renegade Spaniards. Gonzalo Pizarro rebels against the king of Spain.

1548

Battle of Jaquijahuana; Gonzalo Pizarro is executed by representatives of the king.

1557

The Inca Emperor Sayri-Tupac leaves Vilcabamba and relocates near Cuzco.

1560

Sayri-Tupac dies. Titu Cusi becomes Inca emperor in Vilcabamba.

1570

The Augustinian friars Garca and Ortiz attempt to visit the capital of Vilcabamba; Titu Cusi refuses to allow them to enter. The friars burn the Inca shrine at Chuquipalta, and friar Garca is expelled.

1571

Titu Cusi dies; Tupac Amaru becomes emperor.

1572

The Viceroy of Peru, Francisco Toledo, declares war on Vilcabamba. Vilcabamba is sacked and Tupac Amaruthe final Inca emperoris captured and executed in Cuzco.

1572

The Inca capital of Vilcabamba is abandoned; the Spaniards remove the inhabitants and relocate them to a new town they christen San Francisco de la Victoria de Vilcabamba.

1578

Hernando Pizarro dies in Spain at the age of 77.

1911

Hiram Bingham discovers ruins at Machu Picchu, Vitcos, and a place called Espritu Pampa, which local Campa Indians refer to as Vilcabamba. Bingham locates all three of these sites within four weeks.

1912

Bingham returns to Machu Picchu, this time with the sponsorship of the National Geographic Societyits first sponsored expedition.

1913

National Geographic dedicates an entire issue to Binghams discovery of Machu Picchu.

19141915

Binghams third and final trip to Machu Picchu. He discovers what is now called the Inca Trail.

1920

Hiram Bingham publishes his book Inca Land, in which he states that Machu Picchu is actually the lost Inca city of Vilcabamba, the final refuge of the last Inca emperors.

1955

The American explorer/writer Victor von Hagen publishes Highway of the Sun, in which he argues that Machu Picchu cannot be Vilcabamba.

1957

Gene Savoy arrives in Peru.

19641965

Gene Savoy, Douglas Sharon, and Antonio Santander discover extensive ruins at Espritu Pampa, which Savoy claims is the location of Vilcabamba the Old.

1970

Savoy publishes