User:Aga Khan (IT)/sandbox/kancha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A kancha is an Inca rectangular or trapezoidal walled enclosure composed of single-room buildings that face onto a common open courtyard or inner patio in the middle of the enclosure. Kanchas are widespread in the Inca Empire and normally have only one entrance gate. An Inca kancha includes constructions intended for a single function:[1] housing, temples, palaces. In Cusco, the capital of the Empire there existed many kanchas, among them the Coricancha, the Sun temple, the Hatunkancha that housed aqllawasi the house of the acclas (chosen women of the sun) and Amarukancha, the large hall facing the main square called Huakaypata. Other notable kanchas are found in Ollantaytambo and Patallaqta[2]: ch. 4 .
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Kanchas could have quite different sizes ranging from a large city block to a small enclosure. Also the number of buildings within a kancha varies, including up to eight or more structures.[3] Kanchas were sometimes laying side by side forming a larger unit, or a block. These were generally surrounded by streets or alleys and the entrances to single kanchas would lay on different sides.
While remains of kanchas are found in all the settlements in the territory of the Inca Empire, the best preserved examples are found in Ollantaytambo which, although modified, are still inhabited.[1]: 195
The origin of kanchas may have derived from pre-Inca coastal architecture, especially from the Chimú culture, which flourished between 900 CE and the conquest by the Inca emperor Topa Inca Yupanqui around 1470[1]: 81–84 or from the Wari culture which developed in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 CE.[3]: 17
The name kancha is a Quechua term meaning patio or courtyard bordered by a wall.[4]: kancha In modern Spanish the term cancha refers to a sport playground such as for football or tennis, recalling the enclosed space.[5]: cancha