Flag of Cusco

The flag of Cusco is the official flag of Cusco, Peru. It is a rainbow flag, also associated with the Tawantinsuyu.

There is historical reference to an Inca or Tawantinsuyu flag or banner since the early 1920s; specialists suggest that there are chronicles and some references that support the idea of a banner attributable to the Inca, but the idea does never specify the rainbow design. In 1534 during the invasion and occupation of the city of Qusqu today Cusco, the Spaniards found the first resistance of qhishwa-ayrnaras and saw between the multitude, objects similar to the flag of strips and pictures of seven colors of the rainbow. The existence and the use of this emblem probably has been from the same creation of Tiwanaku for more than 2000 years.

This rainbow flag has been associated with the Tawantinsuyu and displayed as a symbol of Inca heritage by some groups in Peru and Bolivia. According to Peruvian historiography, the Inca Empire never had a flag. María Rostworowski, a Peruvian historian known for her extensive and detailed publications about Peruvian Ancient Cultures and the Inca Empire, said about this: «I bet my life, the Inca never had that flag, it never existed, no chronicler mentioned it». Also the Congress of the Republic of Peru has determined that flag is unsubstantiated by citing the conclusion of National Academy of Peruvian History:

"The official use of the wrongly called 'Tawantinsuyu flag' is a mistake. In the Pre-Hispanic Andean World there did not exist the concept of a flag, it did not belong to their historic context".

According to an investigation performed by Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, the rainbow flag was created in 1973 by Raul Montesinos Espejo to commemorate the 25 anniversary of his radio station known as «Tawantinsuyo Radio» which operated in the city of Cuzco. The association with the tawantinsuyu spread when in 1978 the major of Cuzco adopted it as an official banner.

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Wikipedia