First, the legend of Viracocha doesn't claim that he built the city, and it tells quite clearly where he came from. Viracocha was their god, and their legend about him is quite interesting. It says that he created the Earth and populated it with giants and evil people. He eventually flooded the entire world for 60 days to kill off the evil people, and afterwards recreated people out of mud by forming them and breathing life into them. He came to the Earth in bodily form to return civilization to them at Lake Titicaca and directed the people there to build the city (the lake has since moved, but when it was built the city was on the shoreline). Eventually other neighboring tribes grew angry at his peaceful ways and basically demanded that he leave or they'd kill them all. Rather than see his people killed, he hopped into a boat and sailed off into the Pacific, promising to return to his people one day.
There are many variations of the legend found in different cultures and at different times, but all basically follow that outline. Some versions claim that Viracocha was only one of several gods who showed up, and they eventually left after the people got sick of them fighting and drove them away.
As for his/their descriptions, it says that the god had skin like the snow, emerald eyes, a long white beard, and flawless white robes. Now, that could be translated as "caucasian", or it could be translated as simply meaning pure. The people who believed these legends lived in a time when the only truly clean thing they ever dealt with was snow (pure white), and the most valuable gem was emerald. Since the earliest versions of Viracocha describe him as the god of the sky, and since pure snow comes from the sky, it's very possible that their description of him had absolutely nothing to do with white people in Europe.
"It says that he created the Earth and populated it with giants and evil people. He eventually flooded the entire world for 60 days to kill off the evil people"
Man, that's straight out of the Book of Enoch, although the evil giants were most decidedly not part of the plan, but instead spawned as the result of interbreeding between the fallen ones, cast out because of their rebelliousness, and women of earth, against the will of God.
I've wondered before about reports of genetic engineering resulting in unintended side effects, one of which is gigantism, and tend to think of this apocryphal book whenever I've seen a reference.
Viracocha / Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl
The feathered serpent god is one of the great mysteries of ancient American cultures. He was called Kukulkan by the Mayas, Quetzalcoatl by the Aztecs, Viracocha by the Incas, Gucumatz in central America, Votan in Palenque and Zamna in Izamal.
He (and in some cases his ‘men’) was described as being a caucasian, bearded man in some writings, as someone with white skin, hair on the face and beautiful emerald eyes in others..
The supreme deity of the Incas: Viracocha
The Incas, which had a great technology when the Europeans are still barbaric nomads, said that their technology was taught to them by Viracocha who was described as a caucasian, bearded man.
Legends of the Aymara Indians say that the Creator God Viracocha rose from Lake Titicaca during the time of darkness to bring forth light. Viracocha was a storm god and a sun god who was represented as wearing the sun for a crown, with thunderbolts in his hands, and tears descending from his eyes as rain. He wandered the earth disguised as a beggar and wept when he saw the plight of the creatures he had created, but knew that he must sustain them.
Viracocha made the earth, the stars, the sky and mankind, but his first creation displeased him, so he destroyed it with a flood and made a new, better one, taking to his wanderings as a beggar, teaching his new creations the rudiments of civilisation, as well as working numerous miracles. Viracocha eventually disappeared across the Pacific Ocean (by walking on the water), setting off near Manta Ecuador, and never returned. It was thought that Viracocha would re-appear in times of trouble.
References are also found of a group of men named the suncasapa or bearded ones - they were the mythic soldiers of Viracocha, aka the ‘angelic warriors of Viracocha’ Note: Later one of the Inca Kings (the eighth Inca ruler) took on the name of Viracocha.
Gateway of the Sun The famous carved figure on the decorated archway in the ancient (pre-Incan) city of Tiahuanaco, known as the "Gateway of the Sun," most likely represents Viracocha, flanked by 48 winged effigies, 32 with human faces and 16 with condor's heads. This huge monument is hewn from a single block of stone, and some believe that the strange symbols might represent a calendar, the oldest in the world.
A huge monolithic figure, facing east in the direction of sunrise, stands as silent witness to an unknown civilization established about 2200 years ago.
Mayas: Kukulkan
Kukulkan is both a real person and a myth. The king Kukulkan lived about twenty centuries ago and was the founder of all empires in ancient America.
He came from heaven to earth, and because of that he was represented as a feathered serpent in all the majestic and enigmatic ruins of Mexico's archaeological sites. Half man and half god in one same being. The quetzal bird representing heaven, the serpent representing earth.
White-skinned and bearded, Kukulkan was also the god of life and divine wisdom.
He brought love, penitence, and exemption from the usual rituals of sacrifice and blood offering. He used to say: "ytzeen caan, ytzeen muyal," which in ancient Mayan means: "I am the dew and substance from heaven."
He was a mystical man who received people from distant places, and had the power to heal the sick and bring the dead back to life. When he departed for the east, traveling the ocean on a raft of serpents, he promised his followers to return in the year Cortes' expedition disembarked on the shores of Veracruz.
Aztecs: Quetzalcoatl
The deity Quetzalcoatl was the Lord of Intelligence and the Winds in Aztec mythology. The myth says that Quetzalcoatl had been humiliated and set off to the east.
The year is 1519. Hernand Cortes has been named commander of a force setting out from Cuba to find an unknown kingdom.
Meanwhile, the Aztecs of Mexico are thriving as a culture, the centre of this rich culture at Tenochtitlan, which has been established for nearly 200 years.
They had as an apocalyptic myth the coming of the feathered serpent god, Quetzalcoatl, and his army. The Spanish conquistadors filled the requirements for these myths and made them self fulfilling prophecies - the Aztecs believed that their own god had come to destroy them.
Maybe Motecuhzoma thought that, since the Spanish had come from the direction that Quetzalcoatl had last been seen, this strange conqueror may logically be the returning god. The date of the coming of the Spanish was strongly associated with Quetzalcoatl.
Conclusion
Both the Aztecs and Incas had cultures that were thriving and quite advanced in many ways. The architecture, calendars, and art of these peoples were at least to European standards, if not superior in quality.
The deity known as Viracocha / Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl was said to be responsible for giving these crafts to the Aztecs, Incas, Mayas... If this ‘deity’ was European (Could he have been a Viking? They seem to have travelled around a lot) how did he manage to impart his knowledge across such a vast area? Besides, let’s not forget the Incas and Aztecs were ahead of us at that time.
Viracocha / Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl is one of the many enigmas of our Earth's history.
This mystery could be explained by the man being an alien (or a group of aliens, since he seems to have been all over the place). Which could also explain the various references to this ‘deity’ arriving from the sky - but Viracocha / Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl could equally well be a mere legend. A bearded, Caucasian-type legend.
Select Bibliography
Brundage, Burr C. Lords of Cuzco. University of Oklahoma, Norman, 1967.
Townsend, Richard F. The Aztecs. Thames and Hudson, new York, 1992.
but did they not see the white clouds? I think they would recognize white when they saw it.