The area on Lake Titicaca was originally a settlement area of the Aymara Indians and the Incas. In and around the lake are the legacies of these cultures to find as well as on the approximately 100 acres Isla de la Luna (Moon Island), which is also known as Isla Koati. According to legend, on this "holy" island of the Incas, Wiracocha ordered the moon to ascend to heaven.
The most famous building is the Temple of the Sun Maidens, whose façade structure is reminiscent of the Moorish architecture. The young women housed here were probably trained in housekeeping to later work with distinguished Inca families.
On the northeastern shore of the island are the ruins of the Iñak-Uyo Palace (Temple of the Moon), which consisted of 35 rooms of different sizes.
During the 1940s, the island acted as Bolivia's main prison or concentration camp, after the coup d'état against President Villarroel in 1946, hundreds of insurgent peasants were interned there.
