1. The Incredible Incas:
Children of the Sun

2. Who Were the Incas?
The Incas were a small tribe of South American Indians who lived in the city of Cuzco, high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Around 1400 CE, a neighboring tribe attacked the Incas, but the Incas won. This was the beginning of the Inca Empire.
In only 100 years, the Inca Empire grew so big that it expanded into what are now the modern countries of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina.

3. Inca Government
One thing that helped the Incas grow so rapidly was their system of a strong central government. Everybody worked for the state, and in turn the state looked after everybody.
Sapa Inca: The head of government was the Inca, sometimes called the “Sapa Inca” (“the Only Inca”). The Sapa Inca was all-powerful. Everything belonged to the Sapa Inca. He ruled his people by putting his relatives in positions of power. Since punishment was harsh and swift, almost no one broke the law.
Teacher’s notes: The Sapa Inca was at the top of the pyramid. Next came the four members of the Supreme Council. Each member ruled one of the Four Quarters that made up the Inca Empire. Each quarter was divided into regions. Each region was divided again, and so on. Judges, army officers, top officials, and tax collectors were all relatives of the Sapa Inca.

4. Common People Had No Freedom
The Incas were very class conscious and were divided into nobles and common people. The nobles pretty much did what they wanted, while the common people were tightly controlled by the government.
Commoners could not own or run businesses. They could only do their assigned jobs. The law did not allow them to be idle. Even the amount of time they had to sleep and bathe was controlled by a government official.
Teacher’s notes: Workers were organized into family units. Each unit had 10–20 people. Their life was not all work: there were many joyous religious festivals. However, they could not do anything without the governments permission. They could not even walk along the roads without permission.
When the Inca made a new law, he told the top tax collectors. They told the tax collectors who reported to them, who told the next level down, and so on, until everyone in the empire heard the news. Since the workers could not vote or voice an opinion, that would then be the law until the Inca made a new decree.
NOTE: The Incas did not invent the alarm clock. It is used in this illustration for humor and to emphasis that every minute of every hour of every day was controlled by a government official. If caught wasting a single minute, a commoner could be severely punished.

5. Service Tax
Local officials kept an detailed census. A census is an official count of all the people in an area and how they each make a living.
Each common person was listed in the census. Each person listed had to pay a tax. The Incas loved gold and silver, but they had no use for money. The people paid their tax each year in physical labor—serving in the army, working in the mines, or building roads, temples, and palaces.
Teacher’s notes: Although the people had no freedom, everyone in the empire was well-fed, and no one was homeless. Everyone had warm clothes to wear. The common people were well treated because they were needed as workers. When times were tough or people retired, the state looked after them.

6. Harsh Government Controls
Laws dictated who should work where, and when.
Local officials had the power to make all decisions about the lives of the people they ruled. Inspectors visited frequently to check on things. Breaking the law usually meant the death penalty. Few people broke the law. Tight government controls kept the common people fed, clothed, and enslaved.
Teacher’s notes: For a number of reasons, the people never rose up and fought against this system of government: Local officials had the power to assign immediate punishment for crimes against the state—and all crimes were crimes against the state. If you were hoarding food, you were robbing the state. If you overslept, you were robbing the state. Every minute of every hour of every day was controlled.

7. Government Questions What was the service tax?
Who decided how much service tax was due?
Who was the head of Inca government?
What freedoms did the common people enjoy?
Answers:
The service tax was a tax imposed on all common people that was paid by hours of labor. (The nobles did not pay a service tax.)
The Sapa Inca or his local government officials
The Sapa Inca
None

8. Geography
Another thing that helped the Inca Empire grow so rapidly was its geography. The empire had three main geographical regions:
1. The Andes Mountains
2. The Amazon jungle
3. The coastal desert
Teacher’s notes:
Amazon jungle: The Incas must have entered the jungle occasionally, as they knew about the valuable things that could be found in the Amazon, such as wood, fruit, and natural medicines. However, they never established settlements there.
Coastal desert: Between the Andes Mountains and the Pacific Ocean is a coastal desert 2000 miles long and from 30 to 100 miles wide. However, it was not completely barren; a few fertile strips occur where small rivers and streams run from the Andes mountaintops to the sea. The Incas traded with the people who lived there.
Each was a natural barrier. The Incas made their home between the jungle and the desert, high in the Andes Mountains of South America.

9. Andes Mountains
The snow-capped Andes Mountains run north to south. They have sharp ragged peaks and deep gorges.
The Incas built bridges across the gorges so they could reach all parts of their empire quickly and easily. If an enemy approached, the Incas could burn the bridges. They made suspension bridges from rope, pontoon bridges from reed boats, and pulley baskets from vines.
Teacher’s notes: Pulley baskets were actual baskets. People climbed inside them and were pulled across deep gorges on a rope.

10. Inca Roads
High in the Andes Mountains, the Incas connected their empire with 14,000 miles of well-built roads. Some sections of road were over 24 feet wide. Some were even paved. Some roads were so steep that the Incas built stone walls along the edge to prevent people from falling off the cliff.
The roads belonged to the government. No one could travel the roads without special permission.

11. Who Used the Roads?
The army used the roads to move quickly and easily to any point in the Inca Empire. The army could quickly stop rebellions, protect people from intruders, and bring supplies to victims of natural disasters.
The Incas built hundreds of storehouses along the roads. These stored food, clothing, and weapons for the military. Some of the storehouses were so big that they could hold enough supplies and food for 25,000 men.

12. Who Used the Roads?
Llama caravans used the roads. The Incas never invented the wheel, so they did not use carts for transport. Llama caravans collected food from the farms and moved it to the city and to storerooms along the road.
Inns/rest houses: Rest houses were built every few miles. Travelers could spend the night, cook a meal, or feed their llamas.
Teacher’s notes: Inca roads were so well built that many are still in use today.

13. Who Used the Roads?
The Inca mailmen used the roads. Mailmen were specially trained runners who worked in relay teams. As one runner approached a relay station,
he would blow loudly on a conch shell until the next runner appeared. So it went from one end of the empire to the other. The Incas never created a written language. Each mailman had to tell the next runner the message he was carrying.
Teacher’s notes: Each runner ran about a mile before reaching the next relay station. Messages had to reach the Sapa Inca accurately. If it was discovered that a message was inaccurate, punishment was severe and was handed down to anyone who had a part in relaying the message.

14. Quipu
When messages were secret, runners carried a quipu, a secret message made of knots and colored string. The quipu would be handed from runner to runner until it reached its destination. There a special quipu reader would decipher the message.
The relay system of communication allowed the Sapa Inca and his assistants to run the empire effectively.
Teacher’s notes: The quipu was commonly used as a system of measurement. The color of the strings and the distance between knots all conveyed meaning. One of the specialized professions in the Inca Empire was that of quipu reader. Very few people were trained in this profession.

15. Expansion and Growth As soon as the Incas conquered a new tribe:
Roads were built to connect the new province to the rest of the empire.
A detailed count was made of every item in the conquered territory. Government officials counted the number of people, the amount of gold and silver, the number of vases, and so on. Everything was now the property of the Sapa Inca.
A governor was appointed to run the new territory.
Teacher’s notes: The conquered tribes had to learn to speak the Inca language, worship Inca gods, and follow Inca ways. Newly conquered people were moved about: Some might be sent to work on a state project, while others might go to live in a new community and farm the land. It was very difficult for these tribes to fit in and learn the Inca ways. It was especially difficult to adjust to the fact that every minute of their lives was now under control. Those that could not fit in were killed.
It was an effective way of handling a rapidly expanding empire. Since the roads were controlled, and no one could use the roads without special permission, the common people could not escape easily from the job to which they were assigned. Where would they escape to? Into the jungle? Into the desert? There was no place to go.

16. The Sapa Inca
Expansion was critical to the Inca way of life. The Incas believed that their ruler had to live in splendor. Their ruler was a god, a direct descendant of the sun god Inti.
The Inca lived in a palace. He ate from plates and drank from cups made of gold. He wore a gold fringe around his forehead as the emblem of his office. He wore a royal shield on his chest engraved with a picture of the sun god.
Teacher’s notes: Only the Inca could wear a headdress with his special fringe of gold and feathers. He wore heavy gold bracelets. His earrings were so heavy that they pulled his earlobes down until they rested on his shoulder pads. He wore shoes of leather and fur. His throne was a low stool, probably made of wood. Since wood was so scarce, the stool was valuable. His blanket was made of the finest wool although he slept on the floor on a mat, just as all people did the empire did.

17. The Sapa Inca What happened to the Inca after he died?
When a former Inca died, he was not buried. His body was mummified and returned to his palace, where his family and servants waited on him as if he were still alive. Servants brought him things. His family consulted him for advice on daily affairs.
Teacher’s notes: When the Inca’s clothes were removed each day, they were burned. The Inca only wore an outfit once, and no one else could wear it. This was true whether the Inca was alive or dead. It took a great deal of labor to make each day’s wardrobe.
On parade days, his mummy was carried through the streets.

18. The New Ruler
The new ruler inherited the Inca’s power, but had to find his own wealth. The new Sapa Inca would send his army off to conquer neighboring tribes in search of workers and resources.
The Inca Empire expanded rapidly. In a mere 100 years, it grew to be 2500 miles long, 500 miles wide, and was home to about 12,000,000 people.
Teacher’s notes: All the wealth stayed with the old Inca so that his family could continue to live as they had before. In the Inca Empire, the oldest son was automatically the heir. Any sons of the current Inca and his main wife were eligible to become the next Inca. All potential heirs to the throne were given special training to make sure they could outdo other boys in strength and endurance so the Incas could be proud of their new ruler. Out of those eligible, the most worthy son was selected by his father. Everyone knew in advance who the next Sapa Inca would be once the current Sapa Inca died.

19. Terrace Farming
Terrace farming: To feed the millions of people in the Inca Empire, the Incas invented terrace farming so they could grow crops on the steep mountain slopes.
Irrigation: They used systems of irrigation to catch the rainfall and the spring runoff from the snow-capped Andes mountaintops.

20. Food
Farmers: The three staple crops were corn, potatoes, and quinoa, used to make cereal, flour, and soups. They grew tomatoes, avocados, peppers, strawberries, peanuts, squash, sweet potatoes, beans, pineapples, bananas, peanuts, spices, and cocoa beans to make chocolate. They also kept honeybees.
Teacher’s notes: The Incas were the first civilization to plant and harvest potatoes. Corn was used in religious ceremonies, but it was also a staple eaten by all Inca people, rich and poor.
Quinoa is an annual herb (Chenopodium quinoa) of the goosefoot family that is native to the Andean highlands and is cultivated for its starchy seeds which are used as food and ground into flour. (Merriam-Webster.com)
Herders: The Incas did not have sheep, oxen, horses, chickens, goats, or pigs. They had llamas and alpacas for transportation, meat, and wool.

21. Food Storage
The Incas invented the first freeze-dried method of storage. They stamped on the frozen food to squeeze out the water. Then they left the stamped food in the sun to dry. When they wanted to prepare the dehydrated foods, they simply added water.
The Inca farmers grew more food than was needed. Some of their food was dried and stored in royal warehouses for times of war or famine.

22. Expansion Questions
What three geographic features acted as natural barriers to the Inca Empire?
What three things did the Inca government do when they conquered a new tribe?
Why did each new Sapa Inca find it important to expand the Inca Empire?
What crops did the Incas grow?
How did the Inca freeze-dry their food?
What was the purpose of terrace farming?
Answers:
The Andes Mountains, the Amazon jungle, and the coastal desert
They built roads to the new territory, counted everything there, and appointed a government official to run it.
The new Sapa Inca inherited the power of his office, but not the wealth. Each new Sapa Inca had to build his own wealth through conquest.
Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, etc. (See the slide titled, “Food.”)
They left it out in the cold to freeze, squeezed out the water, and left it to dry.
To be able to grow crops on the steep mountain slopes

23. Inca Calendar
The Inca calendar was important for religious reasons. Each calendar month hosted a different religious festival. The calendar was divided into 12 months. Months were divided into three weeks of ten days each.
The Incas used towers called "time makers" that told them when a new month was beginning. Time makers used the position of the sun to mark the passage of time.

24. Inca Religion
Gods and goddesses: The Incas worshipped the gods of nature. The sun god Inti was one of their most powerful gods. In a farming community, sunshine was an important element.
Signs: The Incas believed that their gods and their ancestors could communicate with them through dreams, omens, and other signs, to give them advice and help. Priests were powerful because they could read signs in just about anything.
Teacher’s notes: The Incas worshipped the gods of thunder, rainbows, stars, planets, the moon, and many more. They believed that every mountaintop were themselves different gods. The Incas also worshipped huacas (sacred places or objects). A huaca could be anything from a large building to a tiny statue that fit in the palm of one’s hand. Every family said daily prayers to their family huacas. Priests performed daily ceremonies at the temples, offering prayers to the huacas in their care.

25. Mummies and the Afterlife
The Incas believed in an afterlife. They mummified their dead, and priests held funeral ceremonies. The bodies and tombs of the dead were carefully tended.
Even the very poor could mummify their dead. They simply set the corpse out in the cold in aboveground tombs. The Incas could enter and reenter these tombs, leaving gifts of food and belongings. They could also retrieve these gifts if needed.
Teacher’s notes: The family of the deceased held a funeral for eight days. Women in mourning wore black clothes for about a year and also cut their hair very short.

26. Daily Life: The Nobles Members of the nobility led a life of luxury:
They were exempt from taxation
They could own land and llamas
They decorated their homes with paintings and gold and silver statues
They wore fine woven tunics
They were carried around on litters
Boys went to school
Some were given important government jobs
Teacher’s notes: Everyone dressed in a similar fashion in the Inca Empire. The quality of the cloth varied. The rich had soft clothes, heavily embroidered. The poor had coarse wool clothes. But the style was the same. Men wore sleeveless knee-length tunics, with ponchos or cloaks. Women wore long dresses and capes fastened with a pin of cheap metal or heavy gold, depending upon their status. Clothes were made of woven wool.

27. Daily Life: The Nobles
Hairstyles: Each noble family had a distinctive hairstyle that signified their social position. Since the Incas were class conscious, hairstyles for the men were most important.
Earplugs: Men wore earplugs of shell or metal. At the coming-of-age ceremony (held at age 14), a golden disk would be inserted in their newly pierced earlobes. Bigger disks, called earplugs, were continually added. Earplugs were so heavy that their earlobes stretched over time until they rested on their shoulders. This was considered stylish.
Teacher’s notes: When boys turned 14, a coming-of-age ceremony allowed the boys to demonstrate their physical and military skill. In a special ceremony, the boys had their ears pierced. Then they were presented to the sun god and took their place as adults. Boys from noble families wore special feathered clothes made especially for this ceremony. This was a chance for commoners to show a government official that they would be a good candidate for a specialized school that needed strong young men.

28. Daily Life: The Common People
The common people lived a life of work and obedience:
They paid taxes in labor hours
They could not own land or their home
They could not decorate their homes
They wore coarse tunics
They could not use the roads without special permission
They were not allowed to learn anything specialized other than how to do their assigned job
They had no voice in government

29. Daily Life: The Common People
Common people ate well: They ate two or three meals a day. They ate corn seasoned with herbs and chili peppers, thick vegetable soups, and hot bread made with cornmeal.
Children: No one looked after the children while the parents were in the fields. Children were left alone in cradles all day. Many Inca children died from neglect at a very young age.
Teacher’s notes: Commoners were required to marry. If an Inca common man had not married by the time he was 20, a wife would be chosen for him. Although the Inca royals had many wives, commoners could only have one wife.

30. Daily Life: The Common People
Homes: Commoners’ homes were made of sun-baked brick with thatched roofs. There were no windows. The doorway was covered with a hanging strip of leather or woven cloth.
Teacher’s notes: On cold nights, people slept on mats near the stone stove. In the morning, the family left to work the fields.
Goods were stored in baskets: The common people did not have many goods to store. They could only own practical things. It was against the law for them to decorate their homes.

31. Daily Life: The Common People
Religious festivals: Life was not all work in the Inca Empire. There were many religious festivals, some of which continued for days. At the major festivals, there was singing, dancing, games, parades, and food.
The Incas were deeply religious. The joy they experienced at festival time was part of their religion.
Teacher’s notes: Sacrifice was part of most festivities, usually the sacrifice of small animals. If something special was happening, like the crowning of a new emperor or a drought they wished to end, the Incas would include human sacrifice as part of the festival.

32. Specialized Professions
Some people did escape life on the farm to work in specialized professions. Some boys received training as craftsmen, storytellers, musicians, weavers, stonemasons, and builders. Others were trained to be the servants and temple assistants of the royals, nobles, and priests.
Some actually rose to rather high positions in governmental service, but they were the exceptions.
Teacher’s notes: For more information on Inca specialized professions, please see the mini-presentation titled, “Specialized Professions.”

33. Daily Life Questions
Why did the Incas wish to communicate with their ancestors?
Who looked after children while their parents worked in the fields?
Did the children of the common people go to school?
What were two specialized professions?
Why was a man’s hairstyle important?
What was the purpose of Inca earplugs?
Answers:
The Incas believed their ancestors could offer advice and could help them in their daily life.
No one; they were left unattended.
No, not unless they were being trained for a specialized profession.
Weaver, craftsman, temple assistant, stonemason, etc.
It showed his social class.
They were considered stylish. The heavier your gold earrings, the more wealth you had.

34. Cuzco, the Capital City
Cuzco: The capital city of Cuzco was the heart of the empire. It had palaces, temples, schools, houses, gardens, and a huge public square for ceremonies and gatherings. The streets were paved. Water was brought in by aqueducts.
The Temple of the Sun was in the center of the city. The temple had six chapels built around a central courtyard. The walls were made of stone covered with sheets of gold.
Teacher’s notes: The Incas built the best-planned cities in the ancient Americas. New cities were built all over the empire as centers of regional government. The Incas laid out each city in a grid system with a central plaza. Public buildings and temples surrounded the plaza. A palace was built for visiting Incas. There was housing for priests and nobles, as well as for common people.
Inca buildings were amazing structures. Doorways sloped inwards slightly at the top to better support a building’s structure during storms, high winds, and earthquakes. Roofs were also slanted.
Most Inca cities did not have walls surrounding them. Instead, the Incas built large stone fortresses near to or beside their cities. In times of danger, people could run inside the fortress for protection. The rest of the time, the fortress housed the local military.

35. Cuzco, a Busy Place
Cuzco, like all Inca cities, was a busy place. Messengers traveled back and forth with news from across the empire.
Soldiers, engineers, priests, and administrators arrived and left again, traveling to wherever in the empire they were needed. Llama trains arrived with loads of food and goods. There were religious celebrations every month.

36. The Forgotten City: Machu Picchu
Since the Incas never developed a system of writing, archaeologists must study myths, legends, and the artifacts they left behind for clues about the Inca people.
Archaeologists were excited when they found the Inca city of Machu Picchu in The city had never been destroyed by war. Explorers found ruins of temples, palaces, fortresses, a royal tomb, pottery, and terrace gardens. Today, Machu Picchu is Peru's top tourist attraction.
Teacher’s notes: Unfortunately, most of the ancient Inca cities were destroyed in civil wars, and when they arrived, the Spanish essentially leveled those that had survived. Machu Picchu is called the “Forgotten City” because it had not been destroyed in war—it had somehow been overlooked. Since it's not as big as a normal Inca city, some archaeologists believe Machu Picchu was a country estate; others believe it was a religious retreat. Damaged only by time, weather, and nature, the remains of this city have taught archaeologists a great deal about Inca daily life.

37. Fall of the Inca Empire
When the Spanish heard about the fabled cities of gold from the people who lived along the fertile strips of the coastal desert, Francisco Pizarro led his men into the Andes Mountains. The Spanish wanted three things:
To spread their religion (Christianity)
To conquer new lands for the King of Spain
To line their own pockets with gold
Teacher’s notes: At any other time, the Incas would have killed the Spanish when they first arrived. However, the Incas had just gone through a five-year civil war. The civil war started over a battle between royal brothers. The former Sapa Inca had died in office and had not selected a new Inca to replace him. His two sons, both eligible for the position of the new Sapa Inca, went to war.
The new Sapa Inca was overconfident from having just won the civil war. He wanted to play with the Spanish a bit before killing them. He let the Spanish leave and return to the coastline—a huge mistake. When the Spanish returned, they were much better prepared: Pizarro brought an army with him. The Spanish defeated the Incas in 1531.
After many fierce battles, the Spanish defeated the Incas in Descendants of the incredible Incas still live in the modern-day country of Peru.

38. Recap of Inventions Terrace Farming Freeze Dried Foods
Use of Gold and Silver
Marvelous Stonework
Wonderful Textiles
Aqueducts (the Incas were frequent bathers)
Hanging Bridges
Panpipes
Systems of Measurement (calendar, quipu)
Teacher’s notes: It’s important to remember that the Incas were only an empire for about 100 years. Prior to that, they had been one of many small tribes in the Andes Mountains.
The Incas did NOT invent the wheel or a writing system.

39. Achievements Important to the Success of the Inca Empire
Communication (roads, message runners)
Specialized professions (engineers, metal workers, stonemasons, other artisans)
Service tax (huge free labor force)
Technology (terrace farming, surplus crops, irrigation systems)
Strong central government (all-powerful Sapa Inca, strict laws, basic needs satisfied)
Teacher’s notes: Rather than a final quiz, we suggest the teacher ask the students if they agree that these achievements were important to the success of the Inca Empire. Why or why not? Geography, of course, played a hugely important part in the success of the Inca Empire. The Incas used geography—along with the achievements listed above—to their advantage to create a civilization that provided the nobles a life of luxury and the common people with little hope of escape from a government-controlled life of hard work and obedience.