Quilmes Ruins

Dating from 850 AD, this impressive citadel, built into the mountainside, was once home to up to 5,000 members of the Quilmes people, one of the Diaguita tribes of Tucuman province. They fiercely resisted conquest by the Incas but, despite early successes against the Spaniards, they eventually capitulated in 1667 and the 2000 survivors were deported to an enclave in Buenos Aires on foot, causing many to die en route. The ruins are all that is left of the largest pre-Columbian settlement in the country.