Description
At the centre of the region stands Cuzco, meaning literally ‘The Navel’ to its founders, and today acknowledged as the archaeological capital of South The united states and a World Heritage Site. Within a single day’s drive to Cuzco are eight distinct climates and habitats; and the myths, beliefs and customs of the inhabitants of these areas are equality diverse. In the highlands, remote communities still farm llamas and alpacas in medieval style, at the same time as the islanders of Lake Titicaca use solar panels to generate their electricity. Beyond the gaze of eco-tourists, deep in safe reserves, the rainforests of Madre de Dios reinforce tribes of native Indians pursuing a stone-age existence.
Max Milligan has left virtually no stone unturned in his explorations; whether recording the icy source of the Amazon, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Fitzcarraldo’s trade routes or the cactus forests of Apurimac, his passion and determination to do his subject justice shine through. With its magical photography and energetic text, endorsed in the foreword by John Hemming (whose own definitive work The Conquest of the Incas was described in The Times as ‘superbly vivid history distinguished by formidable scholarship’), Realm of the Incas is, somewhat simply, the culmination of Max Milligan’s fifteen-year love affair with Peru’s fabled Inca Region.