Incan Civilization and Culture

The Incan Empire

• The Inca civilization began as a small group of warlike people.

• At one time, their empire stretched 2,500 miles from Ecuador down the Pacific coast through Argentina.

• Today, Incas mostly live in the Andes Mountain region and in southern Peru.

The Emperors• The first emperor of the

Incas was Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui.

• The emperor lived in the capital city of Cuzco located in the country of Peru.

• The 13th and last emperor of the Inca Empire was Atahualpa.

• Atahualpa was captured by Spaniards and executed in 1533.

• His death marked the end of the Inca Empire.

Inca Farming• Most Incas worked as

farmers and lived in mud huts.

• They would carve large steps up the side of the mountain creating flat land for farming.

• This type of farming is called terrace gardening .

• No one ever went hungry, because enough food was grown to feed the entire empire.

Great Incan Accomplishments

• In order to bring water to the large terraces high in the mountains, Incas built aqueducts.

• An aqueduct is a pipe or channel designed to carry water from a distant source.

• The Incas were also excellent road builders and managers.

• They built more than 14,000 miles of road over some of the most mountainous land in the world.

• These roads helped them to control their large empire.

Inca Crime and Punishment• All of the Incas worked together to

provide for the empire, there was no reason to steal and as a result no prisons.

• The worst crimes one could commit were murder and saying something bad about the gods.

• Punishment for these crimes was being thrown off a cliff.

• Smaller crimes were punished by cutting off the hands and feet or gouging out the eyes.

Pizarro Conquers the Incas• Francisco Pizarro, like Cortes, was

a Spanish conquistador that had heard stories of the rich Inca kingdom.

• In 1531, he sailed to South America with 180 soldiers.

• Pizzaro captured and killed the Incan emperor and other leaders, taking over the entire empire by 1535.

• The Spanish had guns, cannons, and horses that native Americans had never seen before.

• These advantages, plus the spread of European diseases aided in the swift takeover of South America.

Colonization and Conquest• By the 1540’s, colonization and conquest had changed the development of South

America. • Natives were forced to learn Spanish and convert to Christianity.• Spain even gave it’s settlers the right to demand taxes and labor from the natives. • Many Native Americans died from overwork, malnutrition, and European diseases.• The native population shrank from 25 million to only 3 million within the first 50 years of

Spanish rule.• Colonization and Conquest had the greatest influence on the early development of South

America.