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c. 1537Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Manco Inca Retreats to Vilcabamba and Founds a Rump State

Defeated at Cuzco, the last crowned Inca withdraws into the jungle and rules an independent state the Spanish cannot reach

On the timeline · around c. 1537 · Resistance at VilcabambaCivil War and the Spanish ConquestResistance at VilcabambaManco Inca Retreats to Vilcabamba and Founds a Rump State153215361538154015421544154615481550

Quick facts

Founder
Manco Inca
Location
Vilcabamba, Urubamba Valley
Duration of resistance
About four decades (to 1572)
Common misconception
Not the same site as Machu Picchu

What happened

Forced from Cuzco after his failed sieges, Manco Inca withdrew south into the remote, forested Vilcabamba region beyond the Spanish-controlled highlands, where he established an independent Inca state that World History Encyclopedia describes as resisting Spanish control for another four decades through Manco Inca and his successors. Machu Picchu, once mistakenly believed to be this last refuge after its 1911 rediscovery, was in fact a separate, older site: the true final capital was located further downstream in the Urubamba Valley at Vilcabamba itself, distinct from Pachacuti's earlier royal estate.

Why it matters

Vilcabamba's survival meant Inca sovereignty, however reduced in territory, did not formally end with the fall of Cuzco in 1533, and the Spanish crown's inability to eliminate it for nearly forty years shows the practical limits of Spanish control even after their conquest of the imperial heartland was complete.

How we know

The identification of Vilcabamba as the genuine final Inca capital, correcting the earlier popular belief that this was Machu Picchu, comes from 20th-century archaeological and historical investigation, discussed in World History Encyclopedia's entry on Machu Picchu alongside the site's actual purpose as Pachacuti's estate.

Sources

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Part of a timelineThe Inca Empire26 events · How a highland kingdom without writing, wheels, or iron built the largest empire the Americas ever saw, then lost it in a single generationView all →