The Inca city of Cusco was traditionally planned in the shape of a puma. The animal was sacred in Andean religion and represented strength, rulership, and the living power of the capital.
The proposed outline runs through major features of the city and its surroundings. Sacsayhuamán is often identified with the puma’s head, while the urban core forms much of the body. The exact boundaries are debated, however, and archaeologists caution that Cusco also developed organically over time rather than being laid out as a perfect animal-shaped map.
Cusco was more than a symbolic image. Under Inca rule it was divided into the complementary sectors of Hurin Cusco and Hanan Cusco. Four major roads linked the capital with the empire’s four regions, or suyus: Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Qullasuyu, and Kuntisuyu.
Pachacuti is traditionally credited with rebuilding and reshaping Cusco as the centre of Tawantinsuyu. The puma interpretation is therefore best understood as a powerful traditional reading of the city’s sacred and political design, not as an uncontested modern survey result.