| Cuzco | |
| Native Name: | Departamento del Cuzco (Spanish) Qusqu suyu (Quechua) |
| Settlement Type: | Department |
| Coordinates: | -13.26°N -72.11°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | Peru |
| Subdivision Type1: | Subdivisions |
| Subdivision Name1: | 13 provinces and 108 districts |
| Subdivision Type3: | Largest city |
| Subdivision Name3: | Cusco |
| Seat Type: | Capital |
| Seat: | Cusco |
| Leader Title: | Governor |
| Leader Name: | Jean Paul Benavente García [1] |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Total Km2: | 71986 |
| Elevation Footnotes: | (Capital) |
| Elevation M: | 3399 |
| Elevation Max M: | 4801 |
| Elevation Min M: | 532 |
| Population Total: | 1205527 |
| Population As Of: | 2017 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Postal Code Type: | UBIGEO |
| Postal Code: | 08 |
| Area Code Type: | Dialing code |
| Area Code: | 0484 |
| Iso Code: | PE-CUS |
| Website: | www.regioncusco.gob.pe/ |
| Blank Name Sec1: | Principal resources |
| Blank Info Sec1: | Gold, maize, barley, quinoa, and tea |
| Blank2 Name Sec1: | Poverty rate |
| Blank2 Info Sec1: | 52.3% |
| Blank3 Name Sec1: | Percentage of Peru's GDP |
| Blank3 Info Sec1: | 4.4% |
| Flag Link: | Flag of Cusco |
Cusco, also spelled Cuzco (pronounced as /es/; Quechua: Qusqu suyu pronounced as /qu/), is a department and region in Peru and is the fourth largest department in the country, after Madre de Dios, Ucayali, and Loreto. It borders the departments of Ucayali on the north; Madre de Dios and Puno on the east; Arequipa on the south; and Apurímac, Ayacucho and Junín on the west. Its capital is Cusco, the historical capital of the Inca Empire.[2]
The plain of Anta contains some of the best communal cultivated lands of the Department of Cusco. It is located about 3000m (10,000feet) above sea level and is used to cultivate mainly high altitude crops such as potatoes, tarwi (edible lupin), barley and quinoa.
According to the 2007 Peru Census, the language learnt first by most of the residents was Quechua (51.40%), followed by Spanish (46.86%). The Quechua variety spoken in this department is Cusco Quechua.
The following table shows the results concerning the language learnt first in the Department of Cusco by province:[3]
| Province | Quechua | Aymara | Asháninka | Another native language | Spanish | Foreign language | Deaf or mute | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acomayo | 22,262 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 3,117 | align="right" | - | 52 | 25,449 |
| Anta | 36,512 | 42 | 3 | 10 | 15,248 | 8 | 132 | 51,955 | |
| Calca | 43,008 | 101 | 4 | 117 | 18,128 | 13 | 142 | 61,513 | |
| Canas | 32,790 | 31 | 6 | 11 | 2,910 | align="right" | - | 40 | 35,788 |
| Canchis | 53,695 | 107 | 5 | 7 | 37,702 | 2 | 120 | 91,638 | |
| Chumbivilcas | 64,087 | 102 | 9 | 1 | 6,063 | 2 | 104 | 70,368 | |
| Cusco | 63,675 | 781 | 94 | 306 | 282,610 | 1,521 | 466 | 349,453 | |
| Espinar | 40,594 | 120 | 8 | 1 | 18,116 | 6 | 71 | 58,916 | |
| La Convención | 62,145 | 276 | 2,802 | 9,278 | 81,111 | 120 | 318 | 156,050 | |
| Paruro | 26,707 | 53 | 5 | 1 | 2,192 | 1 | 42 | 29,001 | |
| Paucartambo | 35,996 | 95 | 15 | 207 | 5,682 | 9 | 65 | 42,069 | |
| Quispicanchi | 57,587 | 152 | 11 | 12 | 18,562 | 20 | 86 | 76,430 | |
| Urubamba | 27,523 | 104 | 4 | 9 | 25,075 | 823 | 68 | 53,606 | |
| Total | 566,581 | 1,976 | 2,968 | 9,964 | 516,516 | 2,525 | 1,706 | 1,102,236 | |
| % | 51.40 | 0.18 | 0.27 | 0.90 | 46.86 | 0.23 | 0.15 | 100.00 | |
Many of the toponyms of the Department of Cusco originate from Quechua and also Aymara. These names are overwhelmingly predominant throughout the region. Their Spanish-based orthography, however, is in conflict with the normalised alphabets of these languages. According to Article 20 of Decreto Supremo No 004-2016-MC (Supreme Decree) which approves the Regulations to Law 29735, published in the official newspaper El Peruano on July 22, 2016, adequate spellings of the toponyms in the normalised alphabets of the indigenous languages must progressively be proposed with the aim of standardising the naming used by the National Geographic Institute (Instituto Geográfico Nacional, IGN) The National Geographic Institute realises the necessary changes in the official maps of Peru.[4]
The Ministry of Culture additionally proposes to the municipalities of the provinces to recover ancient indigenous toponyms and that these names should be spread by the local and communal authorities on posters and other signage.[4]