Geological studies carried out in the area show that it originally had a swamp,[1] crossed by the Saphy River (currently channeled and covered).

During the Inca Empire, this swamp was dried up and transformed into the administrative, religious and cultural center of the imperial capital.

After the Spanish conquest, it was transformed into a plaza (square) by the new rulers, who built Catholic temples and mansions on the ruins of the ancient Inca palaces.

In this square, Túpac Amaru II was executed in 1781 as well as the cacique Bernardo Tambohuacso, Mateo Pumacahua and several other heroes of the independence of Peru.

Today it is the central core of modern Cusco, surrounded by tourist restaurants, jewelry stores, travel agencies and the same Catholic churches built during the colonial period and which constitute two of the most important monuments of the city: the Cathedral of Cusco and the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (Church of the Society of Jesus).

Others like the North American traveler George Squier (whose expedition to Cusco was in 1863) assure that its name was Huacapata (in Quechua: sacred place).

When Manco Cápac arrived in the valley of Cusco, he settled in the surroundings of a swamp located between two streams (Saphy and Tullumayo) because that place was free from the threats of neighboring ethnic groups.

[10] Precisely these blocks and the Calle del Medio were crossed by the Saphy River (currently covered and made sewer), which divided the square into its two sectors already known.

[14] The Inca armies were received in the Plaza de Armas of Cusco, where the spoils were exhibited and the prisoners of war were trampled as a sign of victory.

In 1545 the chief magistrate Polo de Ondergardo ordered the removal of the beach sand that was on the floor of the square to use it in the construction of the Cusco Cathedral.

Occasionally the Plaza de Armas is the site of some free concerts, parades of delegations and some political rallies.