Inca Ruins at Ingapirca

The circular stone walls of a fortresslike structure mark the site of Ecuador’s only significant Inca ruins, which are found northeast of Cuenca. Some archaeologists believe that the site, known as Ingapirca (meaning “wall of the Inca”), had a religious function and that the oval-shaped structure served as a temple for rituals. The Inca ruled the indigenous peoples of Ecuador for about a century before the arrival of the Spanish in the early 1500s.

C.J. Collins/Photo Researchers, Inc.

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Ecuador; Inca Empire

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