Tumebamba

Tumebamba, Tomebamba (hispanicized spellings), or Tumipampa (Kichwa for "Knife Field", Tumi: Knife, Pampa: Field) was a main regional city in the Inca Empire. Tumebamba was chosen by the Emperor Huayna Capac (ruled 1493–1525) to be the Inca northern capital. The city was largely destroyed during the Inca Civil War between Huáscar and Atahualpa shortly before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors in 1532. The Spanish city of Cuenca, Ecuador was built on the site of Tumebamba although a portion of the Inca city is preserved at the archaeological sites of Pumapunku and Todos Santos.

==History== thumb|right|250px|The ruins of Pumapunku near the Tomebamba River in Cuenca. 250px|thumb|Los Molinos, the site of the mills at Todos Santos The Tumebamba area prior to the conquest by the Incas was called Guapondelig. The ethnic Cañari people had lived in this area for at least 500 years before the arrival of the Incas. The Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui (ruled 1471–1493) incorporated this area into the empire after long and arduous campaigns against the Cañari. His son and successor, Huayna Capac, was probably born in Tumebamba and was responsible for most of the Inca construction in the city. Huayna Capac envisioned Tumebamba as the northern capital of the Inca Empire and modeled the construction on that of Cuzco, the Inca capital. Huayna Capac had a royal palace here.