Civilization · 1438 – 1533
Inca Empire
The largest pre-Columbian empire in the Americas, stretching 4,000 km along the Andes.
Capital: Cuzco · South America
Overview
In under a century the Incas assembled an empire of ten million people from Ecuador to central Chile, governed without writing, wheeled vehicles or draft animals, on a road network of some 40,000 km.
Timeline
- 1438Pachacuti begins Inca expansion
- 1471 – 1493Reign of Topa Inca; empire reaches Chile
- 1532Pizarro captures Atahualpa
- 1533Execution of Atahualpa; Spanish rule established
Rulers
Empire-builder and Sapa Inca
Southern expansion
Northern expansion
Last independent emperor
Wars & conflicts
- Chanka War
- Inca Civil War (1529 – 1532)
- Spanish conquest
Architecture
Cyclopean masonry, terraces, Qhapaq Ñan road system, Machu Picchu.
Religion
Sun cult of Inti; Sapa Inca as living god; Pachamama earth reverence.
Economy
Mit'a labor tax, state storehouses (qollqas), redistribution.
Technology
Quipu accounting, suspension bridges, freeze-drying, bronze metallurgy.
Art
Textiles of vicuña wool, gold and silver figurines, aryballos ceramics.
Influence
Quechua remains one of the largest surviving Indigenous language families.
Decline
Civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa weakened the empire on the eve of Spanish arrival.
Key sites
- Machu Picchu
- Cuzco
- Sacsayhuamán
- Ollantaytambo
- Ingapirca