Tumebamba

Tumebamba, Tomebamba (hispanicized spellings) or Tumipampa (Kichwa) was a former city-state in the Inca Empire, held by the ethnic Cañaris people; roughly translating to "plain of knives". Because of its high quality architecture, it was given to Atahualpa when the empire was divided between the two brothers after the death of Huayna Capac in 1527. At that time, the city was the most important of the northern part of the empire, known as Chinchay Suyu. The center of Tomebamba was Pumapunku (Kichwa for "puma door", hispanicized Pumapungo) from where the administration of the region was performed.