Cusco (Cuzco) was the historical capital of which Empire?
Cusco Cusco Cusco (, ; , ), often spelled Cuzco (), is a city in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. In 2013, the city had a population of 435,114. Located on the eastern end of the Knot of Cuzco, its elevation is around . The site was the historic capital of the Inca Empire from the 13th until the 16th-century Spanish conquest. In 1983 Cusco was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO with the title "City of Cuzco". It has become
Cusco city mayor signed an ordinance banning the traditional spelling and ordering the use of a new one, "Cusco", in municipality publications. Nineteen years later, on 23 June 1990, the local authorities formalized a new spelling related more closely to Quechan: "Qosqo". There is no international, official spelling of the city's name. In English-language publications both "s" and "z" can be found. However, the "Oxford Dictionary of English" recognizes "Cuzco" but not "Cusco"; the "Merriam-Webster Dictionary" has "Cuzco", with "Cusco" only as a "variant"; and in scholarly writings "Cuzco" is employed more often than "Cusco". The city's international airport code is