Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire and is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the Americas. 'Qosq'o' as it is known in Quechua, the native language of the Inca, was founded by the first Inca, Manco Capac in the 12th century. This city still maintains a personality that is not found in many other cities. It is probably partly due to the location where the city is surrounded by Andean mountains and also because of its friendly people. Cuzco's past is not entirely forgotten either; architected like a Spanish town, Cuzco still shows remnants of its Inca past. The baroque churches around the city center (Plaza de Armas) and public buildings have been built by the Spanish by utilizing Inca stones they pillaged from the Inca palaces that existed in Cuzco as well as nearby Inca sites such as Sacsayhuaman. Whenever I looked at the churches, I only felt a sense of utter sadness and anger; although the churches are impressive in their own right, I couldn't help thinking what Cuzco would have looked like had the Spaniards not razed the amazing Inca palaces. The uncivilized acts of the so called 'civilized' Spaniards have destroyed a wealth of information that could have provided more answers to questions surrounding the Inca civilization. The crimes against humanity that the Spanish conquistadors perpetrated on the Inca can never be rectified.