Claim: Ecuador was conquested by people.

The Inca Empire -LRB- Quechua : Tawantinsuyu , `` The Four Regions '' -RRB- , also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire , was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America , and possibly the largest empire in the world in the early 16th century . The administrative , political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco in modern-day Peru . The Inca civilization arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in the early 13th century . Its last stronghold was conquered by the Spanish in 1572 .   From 1438 to 1533 , the Incas incorporated a large portion of western South America , centered on the Andean Mountains , using conquest and peaceful assimilation , among other methods . At its largest , the empire joined Peru , large parts of modern Ecuador , western and south central Bolivia , northwest Argentina , north and central Chile and a small part of southern Colombia into a state comparable to the historical empires of Eurasia . Its official language was Quechua . Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire , most of them concerning local sacred Huacas , but the Inca leadership encouraged the worship of Inti -- their sun god -- and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama . The Incas considered their king , the Sapa Inca , to be the `` son of the sun . ''   The Inca Empire was unique in that it lacked many features associated with civilization in the Old World . In the words of one scholar , `` The Incas lacked the use of wheeled vehicles . They lacked animals to ride and draft animals that could pull wagons and plows ... -LSB- They -RSB- lacked the knowledge of iron and steel ... Above all , they lacked a system of writing ... Despite these supposed handicaps , the Incas were still able to construct one of the greatest imperial states in human history '' .   The Incan economy has been described as `` feudal , slave , socialist -LRB- here one may choose between socialist paradise or socialist tyranny -RRB- . ''  The economy functioned largely without money and without markets . Instead , exchange of goods and services was based on reciprocity between individuals and among individuals , groups , and Inca rulers . `` Taxes '' consisted of a labor obligation of a person to the Empire . The Inca rulers -LRB- who theoretically owned all the means of production -RRB- reciprocated by granting access to land and goods and providing food and drink in celebratory feasts for their subjects .