Apurímac

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Apurímac

Apurímac, a major river draining the southern Peruvian Highlands into the Amazon basin. The Apurímac is one of the principal headwater tributaries of the Amazon River and forms a nearly impassable natural boundary. In Inca times the river was spanned by a rope suspension bridge made famous in modern times by the American writer Thorton Wilder in the novel The Bridge of San Luis Rey. The Incas held the river to be sacred and its name, Apurímac, can be translated from Quechua as "Great Oracle" or "Revered Speaker."

See alsoAmazon River .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Burr Cartwright Brundage, The Empire of the Inca (1963) and The Lords of Cuzco: A History and Description of the Inca People in Their Final Days (1967).

Additional Bibliography

Benavides Estrada, Juan Augusto. Atlas del Perú. Lima: Editorial Escuela Nueva, 1995.

Contreras Ivarcena, Eduardo. La violencia política en Apurimac: Su impacto social y económico. Cusco: Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos "Bartolomé de las casas, 1991.

Giddgings, Calvin J. Demon River Apurimac: The First Navigation of Upper Amazon Canyons. Utah: University of Utah Press, 1996.

                                 Gordon F. McEwan

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