The Pucará of Tilcara (now the name of the local Indigenous community and archeological site of the old city) was one of the most important and strategic political and military towns during Inca rule, at one point housing over 2,000 people who developed advanced architecture and farming methods. The town was originally built over 10,000 years ago by the Omaguaca tribe before the Incan empire took over to use it as an outpost in the late 15th century until the Spanish conquest, officially founding the city of Tilcara in 1586. Tilcara and the province of Jujuy remains to be one of the few areas in Argentina with a thriving indigenous Andean community unique to the region, while also baring an Argentine identity. 

 

In Tilcara, tourism and globalization has found its way into different pockets of its culture while other towns I visited like Iruya and San Isidro strive to preserve their own way of life.