Inca capital

For our Geo Quiz we’re interested in the Peruvian highlands. The city we’d like you to name is located there. It once served as the capital of the Incan empire. That all changed with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

For our Geo Quiz head for the highlands. Highlands can refer to just about any mountainous region or plateau. The Scottish highlands, Tasmanian highlands or the Tibetan plateau all qualify but we’re interested in the Peruvian highlands.

That’s the region of Peru located along the Andes, the world’s longest mountain range. The city we’d like you to name is located there. It once served as the capital of the Incan empire. That all changed with the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

Tourism has kept this city’s culture and economy booming. It’s just a few hours by train from both the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the citadel of Machu Picchu, so the city is known as a gateway to Inca territory.

Geo Answer:

�and the answer is Cuzco. The World’s William Troop reports on the deal between Yale University and Peru to return artifacts taken by scholars from the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu almost a century ago:

A deal between Yale University and Peru may send thousands of Inca artifacts back to the South American country. Peru has been pressing Yale to return the artifacts for years now. The Peruvian government went so far as to sue the university to try to force the return.

But Yale defended its ownership of the relics, which include pottery, textiles and bones. It was Yale historian Hiram Bingham who discovered them nearly a hundred years ago.

The negotiations between Yale and the Peruvian government were contentious for years but now Yale has agreed to return the artifacts. Peruvian President Alan Garcia has thanked Yale for making the move and he said Peru recognises that Yale University preserved these items safe for almost a century.

�Otherwise,� says Garcia, �they would have been dispersed among private collectors across the world or maybe they would have disappeared.�

One crucial element of the agreement transfers the artifacts from Yale to another university dedicated to preserving and studying them. That’s the National University in Cusco, the ancient Incan capital. The news inspired celebrations in Cusco. One city resident expressed her joy to a Peruvian radio station.

�We thought all hope was lost,� she said, �and that we would never see those items returned from the United States.�

Yale Univeristy officials say the best items in the collection will be returned first. The goal is to have the artifacts in Peru in time for next year’s centennial celebration of Hiram Bingham’s rediscovery of Machu Picchu.