Nazca

For the archaeological site, see Nazca Lines. For the culture it belonged to, see Nazca culture. For other uses, see Nazca (disambiguation).

Nazca Main Square Garden, at night

The city of Nazca

Nazca (sometimes spelled Nasca) is a city and a system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru, and the name of the region's largest existing town in the Nazca Province. It is also the name applied to the Nazca culture that flourished in the area between 100 BC and AD 800. They were responsible for the Nazca Lines and the ceremonial city of Cahuachi; they also constructed an impressive system of underground aqueducts named Puquios, that still function today.

The city of Nazca is capital of the Nazca Province of the Ica District Ica region.

On 12 November 1996 at 11:59 a.m. local time (16:59 GMT time) a heavy earthquake of 6.4 (the center of the earthquake was 7.7 in the sea) destroyed the city of Nasca and its surroundings almost completely. Because it occurred during the day there were only 17 fatalities, but 1,500 people were injured and around 100,000 left homeless. Almost all old houses in bricks were destroyed, but within 12 years Nasca has been completely rebuilt in colored houses with columns, now often multi-stored houses, with a small boulevard in the center.

Since 1997, Nazca has been the location of a major Canadian gold mining operation. The people who were living on the land for the previous 2000 years did not have title to the land, so they were displaced without legal problems. Since then, there have been some attempts to legalize poor citizens' ownership of their land and their fixed property, in response to Hernando de Soto's research on the poor.

Climate

Nazca is one of the driest places in the world with average annual precipitation up to a meager 25 millimeters. Nazca's weather is controlled by the Humboldt Current which carries water from Antarctica up the west coast of South America

This cold ocean water cools the marine air and limits the accumulation of moisture within clouds, as a result though clouds and fog are able to form there is little rain and the region is exceptionally arid.

Unlike Cuzco, Nazca temperatures range from 10˚ C to 32 ˚ C with an average daily high of 21˚ Celsius. Summers months (November to March) are characteristically dry, sunny, and hot, when it is normally raining in Cusco. During the winter (June to August) fog from the coast rolls over the hills to keep temperatures in the moderate range, however the intense sun makes daylight hours seem warmer than the registered temperature.

The Nazca culture is famous for their desert line drawings. On the ground level they cannot be discerned, but from a high elevation they form coherent nature drawings, usually of animals."Nazca lines" are geometric shapes kilometers of lines and large drawings of animal figures (some as big as a football field), built on the desert floor. They could be collected only from greater heights. About how they are created, more theories. Various researchers try to explain the technique of how these lines occur. That have been preserved due to the dry climate and the fact that they are built of red stone desert and the bright soil, which can be observed from a height. Drawings of the overall area of ​​approximately 500 km ², the largest having a diameter of up to 200 meters. What are the drawings serve is also under discussion. Some researchers say that they were created by the gods, others believe it was a kind of astronomical calendar, or a device for planting and harvesting pridelkov.Črte been studied by experts of various disciplines. Anthropologists, archaeologists and astronomers, but to date have not found conclusive evidence that any of the theories. Conquistador and chronicler Pedro de Cieza de Leon are first mentioned in the 1547th He described some signs drawn on the slopes, the form of which can be observed from the ground. In the modern era, the line was first observed in 1920, when flown Peruvian desert. In 1927, Toribio Mejia Xespe, a Peruvian doctor and anthropologist as scientist first began researching the phenomenon, which he called "great Incan artifacts memory." Systematic and scientific research lines started in 1930 under the direction of Paul Kosoka and Marie Reiche. Reichejeva line is investigated from 1946 until his death in 1998 and lobbied for the protection and preservation. After her thanks to the Nazca lines were added to the UNESCO list in 1995. [1]

Ever since the end of the 20th years of the last century, when the city of Lima and Arequipa južnoperujskim launched commercial flights, mysterious desert pictures, the so-called naskovski lynx, become public knowledge, confuse archaeologists, anthropologists, and all attracted by ancient American culture. Throughout this time, many scientists - and amateurs - offered different interpretations of these elevations. They lied to you now as Inca roads now as irrigation systems, image, to be admired from hot-air balloons, and the most funny as the runway for alien craft. After the Second World War, the German-born teacher Maria Reiche first investigated lines and characters - the so-called geoglife - not far from the nearby towns of Nazca and Palpa. Half a century, until his death in 1998, played a decisive role in their protection. But her favorite theory - that the line corresponding to the astronomical calendar and meaningful points on the horizon - it was more or less disproved. Determination, which guards against scratches unconsecrated are also taking their caregivers today, so scientists are difficult to gain access to the most famous images of animals on the plain, the so-called middle of nowhere, directly northwest of Nazca.

Nazca is one of the driest places in the world, with an average annual rainfall of 25 mm. Weather patterns Humboldt current that carries water from Antarctica along the west coast of South America. The cold water cools the air and reduces the accumulation of moisture in the clouds, a very common but the fog. Temperatures range between 10 ˚ C and 32 ˚ C, average daily around 21 ˚ C. The summer months (November to March) are dry, sunny and hot. In winter (June to August), the mist rises from the coast to the hills, so the temperatures are moderate.

Airport

Nazca has a small airport, the Maria Reiche Neuman Airport, used mainly for touristic flights over the Nazca lines.