Manco Cápac

Legendary founder of the Inca dynasty, said to have emerged with his sister-wife Mama Ocllo from the islands of Lake Titicaca on a mission from the sun god Inti. His historicity is contested; what is clearer is that the Inca royal house traced itself in unbroken line from him through ten generations to Atahualpa. He founded the city of Cuzco, which would remain the imperial capital for the next three and a half centuries.