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Updated: May 29, 2025
I believe them to be the ruins of the first Spanish settlement in this region, a place referred to by Ocampo, who says that the fugitives of Tupac Amaru's army were "brought back to the valley of Hoyara," where they were "settled in a large village, and a city of Spaniards was founded .... This city was founded on an extensive plain near a river, with an admirable climate.
Ocampo's new "Vilcabamba" was not in existence when Friar Marcos and Friar Diego lived in this province. If Calancha wrote his chronicles from their notes, the term "old" would not apply to Espiritu Pampa, but to an older Vilcabamba than either of the places known to Ocampo. The ruins are of late Inca pattern, not of a kind which would have required a long period to build.
Principal Doorway of the Long Palace at Rosaspata Another Doorway in the Ruins of Rosaspata Most interesting of all is the structure which caught the attention of Ocampo and remained fixed in his memory. Enough remains of this building to give a good idea of its former grandeur. It was indeed a fit residence for a royal Inca, an exile from Cuzco. It is 245 feet by 43 feet.
But although the papers had the royal signature, Ocampo declared that he had had his orders from the officers of the colony at San Domingo, and that he must carry them out; that they would protect him if he was doing anything illegal. In vain did Las Casas storm and plead. It was all of no use.
It may be here mentioned that the province of Maquegua was partitioned anew among the conquerors after the death of Villagran; the principal part of it being assigned to Juan de Ocampo, and another large share to Andreas Matencio. But, in consequence of its recapture by the Araucanians, they reaped very little advantage from their commanderies.
They said they would consider; and they considered so long that it soon became useless to talk about recalling Ocampo, for it was too late to reach him. They discovered, also, another way to prevent Las Casas from going on. They found a ship master, engaged in the slave trade, who was only too glad to help them by declaring the clerico's vessel unseaworthy; and he was not allowed to use it.
After the mines which attracted Ocampo and his friends "petered out," or else, with the primitive tools of the sixteenth century, ceased to yield adequate returns, the Spaniards lost interest in that remote region. The rude trails which connected Pucyura with Cuzco and civilization were at best dangerous and difficult.
The walls were built rather hastily and are not noteworthy, but the principal entrances, namely, those leading to each hall, are particularly well made; not, to be sure, of "marble" as Ocampo said there is no marble in the province but of finely cut ashlars of white granite.
From this place he sent Gonçalo de Ocampo to St Stephano, or Istevan del Puerto, to inquire if the garrison would submit to his authority. They sent him a favourable answer; but, by means of an ambush, they made forty of his cavalry prisoners, alleging that they had come unwarrantably to usurp the government which belonged to another.
In 1514 and 1515, settlements were established at what is now Santiago, at Sancti Spiritus, Trinidad, and Batabano. The latter was originally called San Cristobal de la Habana, the name being transferred to the present city, on the north coast, in 1519. It displaced the name Puerto de Carenas given to the present Havana by Ocampo, who careened his vessels there in 1508.
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