THE INCAS

Presentation created by Robert L. MartinezPrimary Content Source: Prentice Hall World HistoryImages as cited ucalgary.ca

xtimeline.com

Western South America includes a wide variety of

climates and terrains. The

narrow coastal plain is a dry, lifeless desert

crossed by occasional river

valleys.hard-core-dx.com

Further inland, the snow-capped Andes Mountains rise steeply, leveling off into

high plateaus that bake by day and freeze at night. East of the Andes lie dense jungles that stretch from Peru

into Brazil.

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Native American peoples

developed many different styles of life across

South America. Hunters and

gatherers thrived in some regions,

while farmers grew root crops in the Amazon rain forests. mrgrayhistory.wikispaces.com

Thousands of years ago, people settled in fishing villages along the desert

coast of Peru. Gradually they expanded inland, farming the river valleys that

run up into the highland plateaus. Using careful irrigation, they grew corn, cotton, squash, and beans.

unexplained-mysteries.com

On mountain slopes, they cultivated

potatoes. In high plateaus, they

domesticated the llama and the

alpaca. Like the Mayas, they built large ceremonial

centers and developed skills in

pottery and weaving. fineartamerica.com

The earliest Peruvian culture discovered was the Chavin, 850 B.C.E., who built a huge

temple complex located at Chavin de Huantar in the Andes. Stone carvings and pottery

show that the Chavin people worshipped a ferocious-looking god, part jaguar and part

human with grinning catlike features. The arts and religion of the Chavin culture influenced

later peoples of Peru.

xtimeline.com tulkor.deviantart.com

Between 100 and 700 C.E., the Mochica people forged an empire along the arid north

coast of Peru. The Mochicas were skilled farmers, developing methods of terracing, irrigation, and fertilization of the soil. Their

leaders built roads and organized networks of relay runners to carry messages, ideas that

the Incas would later adopt.

precolumbiancivilizations.pbworks.com

Remains of Mochica cities and temples dot the land. To build one temple, workers had to produce

130 million sun-dried adobe bricks. The people perfected skills in textile production, gold work,

and woodcarving.

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The Mochicas produced remarkable pots decorated with realistic scenes of daily life. On these painted vases, helmeted

warriors go into battle, musicians play pipes and drums, and women weave textiles on small portable

looms.

veniceclayartists.com

Many other cultures left

tantalizing clues to their lives and

beliefs. In southern Peru,

the Nazca people etched glyphs in

the desert. A glyph is a

pictograph or other symbol carved into a

surface. crystalinks.com

Nazca glyphs include straight lines that run for miles, as well as giant figures of birds, whales, and other creatures. These figures may have been family symbols or part of an

ancient calendar.

lorenzoexpeditions.com

For more than 2,000 years, diverse

civilizations rose and fell in Peru. Then, in the mid 1400s, the Incas emerged from high in the Andes.

Incan armies rapidly conquered an empire that stretched 2,500

miles down the Andes and along the Pacific

coast. bmssancientcivilizations.wikispaces.com

Like the Romans, who also ruled a diverse empire. In Incas drew heavily on the ideas and

skills of the peoples they conquered.

clio.missouristate.edu

Pachacuti, a skilled warrior and leader, was the founder of

the Incan empire. In 1438, he proclaimed himself Sapa Inca, or emperor, and set out

on a policy of conquest. From a

small kingdom in the high mountain valley of Cuzco, he came to

dominate an immense empire. numenware.com

Once he had subdued

neighboring peoples, he

enlisted them in his armies for

future campaigns. In this way, he

and his son extended Incan

rule from Ecuador in the north to

Chile in the south.lordprice.co.uk

The Sapa Inca exercised absolute power over the empire. Claiming that

he was divine, the son of the sun itself, he was also the chief religious leader.

Like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the Incan god-king owned all the land,

herds, mines, and people.

forum.nationstates.net

Gold, the “sweat of the sun,” was his symbol. He lived in splendor, eating from golden plates and dressing in

richly embroidered clothes. In fact, the Sapa Inca never wore the same royal garments twice. His queen, the Coya, carried out important religious duties

and sometimes governed when the Sapa Inca was absent.

amautacunadehistoria.com

From Cuzco, the Incas ran an efficient government with a chain of command reaching into every village. Nobles ruled the provinces along with local

chieftains whom the Incas had conquered. Below them, officials

carried out the day-to-day business of collecting taxes and enforcing laws.

studyspanishsacredvalley.com

Specially trained officials kept records on a quipus, a collection

of knotted, colored strings. Modern scholars think that quipas noted dates and events as well as statistics on population and crops.

portalinca.com

To unite their empire, the Incas imposed their own language, Quechua, and religion on the

people. They also created one of the great road systems of history. It wound more than 12,000 miles through mountains and deserts.

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Hundreds of bridges spanned rivers and deep gorges. Steps were cut into steep slopes and tunnels dug through hillsides. Even more impressive than

the roads that united the Roman empire, the Incan road system was

unmatched until modern times.

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The roads allowed armies and news to move rapidly throughout the empire. At regular stations,

runners waited to carry messages. Relays of runners could carry news of a revolt swiftly from a distant province to the capital.

delange.org

The Incas kept soldiers at outposts throughout the empire. Within days of an uprising, they

would be on the move to crush the rebels. Ordinary people were

restricted from using the roads at all.

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All roads led through Cuzco. The population was made up of

representatives of all the peoples of the empire, each living in a particular part of the city. In the heart of the city stood the great Temple of the Sun, its

interior walls lined with gold.

allposters.com

Like Incan palaces and forts, the temple was made of enormous stone

blocks, each polished and carved to fit exactly in place. The engineering was so precise that, although no mortar

was used to hold the stones together. Incan buildings have survived severe

earthquakes.

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The Incas strictly regulated the lives of millions of people within their empire. People lived in close-knit communities,

called ayllus. Leaders of each ayllu carried out government orders,

assigning jobs to each family and organizing the community to work the

land.

profesalashistoria.blogspot.com

Farmers expanded the step terraces built by earlier peoples. On steep

hillsides, they carved out strips of land to be held in place by stone walls.

These terraces kept rains from washing away the soil and made farming

possible in places where flat land was scarce.

waterhistory.org

Farmers had to spend part of each year working land for the emperor and the temples as well as for their own communities. The

government took possession of each harvest, dividing it among the people and storing part of it in case of famine.

sbs.utexas.edu

The Incas were the best metal workers in the Americas. They learned to work and alloy, or blend, copper, tin, bronze, silver, and gold. While they employed copper and bronze for useful objects, they used precious metals for statues of gods and goddesses, eating utensils

for the aristocracy, and decorations.

oyster-sauce.blogspot.com

The Incas developed some important medical practices, including surgery on the human skull. In such operations, they first cleaned the operating area

and then made the patient unconscious with a drug, procedures much closer to

the use of modern antiseptics and anesthesia than anything practiced in

Europe at that time.

incaencyclopediag.pbworks.comfrontiers-of-anthropology.blogspot.com

Like other early peoples, the Incas were polytheistic, worshiping many gods

linked to the forces of nature. People offered food, clothing, and drink to the guardian spirits of the home and the

village. Religion was tied to the routines of life. Festivals were

celebrated with ceremonies, sports, and games. A powerful class of priests

served the gods.

andesadventures.com

Chief among the gods was Inti, the sun god.

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