The Incas Members: Pamela Garcia Kimberly Lopez

Development The Incas were people of a powerful empire that ruled part of South America in the 1400s and 1500s. They were not the first culture to develop in the Americas. Their huge empire was Machu Picchu, was located in the Andes which it stretched through what are now the countries of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

Machu Picchu Machu Picchu is built atop a mountain that is almost completely encircled by the Urubamba River, which the Inca named the Vilcamayo. Machu Picchu was built around 1450, at the height of the Inca Empire. The construction of Machu Picchu appears to date from the period of the two great Incas, Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui. It was abandoned just over 100 years later, in 1572, as a belated result of the Spanish Conquest.

Machu Picchu

Growth of The Empire The Incas settled in small villages on a high plateau in the Andes, this village was named Cuzco(means “center” in the Incan language), which became its capital city. Incan rulers had a complex system of gathering knowledge about events that happened hundreds of miles away from their capital city.

Government The Incan ruler was called Sapa Inca, or the “emperor”. The people believed that their emperor was related to the sun-god. The emperor and only he, owned all the land and divided it among those under his ruled. Under the Sapa Inca was the noble class. Officials used a census, or an official count of the people, to keep track of everyone’s responsabilities. The census helped to make sure that everyone paid taxes.

Achievements They constructed thousands of miles of paved roads, massive walls, and mountaintop buildings. They contructed it with only stone hammers and bronze chisels. Constructions without mortar, or cement also allowed the massive stones to move and resettle during earthquakes without damaging the wall.

Incan Taxes The Incas didn’t use money. Villages had to pay taxes on their harvest and herts, they gave one third of their crops and animals to the empire. They could also pay their taxes by having their people to special work, for this reason every village sent a few young men and woman to work for the empire.

THE DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE In the 1530s a spanish conquistador named Francisco Pizarro arrived in South Africa, he had heard of the wealthy Incan Empire and he wanted to explore the region and conquer its people. After the Incan people welcomed them, he prepared a trap for them. Later, because of the Spanish people a lot of diseases came to the Incas, to which they had never been exposed.

Diseases SmallpoxMeasles

Religion In the heterogeneous Inca Empire several polytheistic religions were practiced by its different people. Most religions had common traits such as the existence of a Pachamama and Viracocha. The Incas controlled religion to give the empire cohesion by having conquered peoples add the Inca deities to their pantheon.

Most important Incan gods Hanan Pacha: the celestial realm in the sky. Uku Pacha: the inner earth realm. Cay Pacha: the outer earth realm, where humans live. Uku Pacha: was the domain of Pachamama, the Earth mother, who is universal to Andean mythologies. Kanopa: was the God of Pregnancy. Con-Tici Viracocha Pachayachachic: the first god, creator of the three realms and their inhabitants, was also the father of Inti.

CLOTH