Inca Empire

The **Inca** were a pre-Columbian country and empire in the Andes of South America. The word 'Inca' can also mean the emperor or king of the Inca people. The Inca Empire was called **** in Quechua, which means "four regions".

It was the largest empire in the Americas, and was large even by world standards. It existed shortly before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas. It lasted for 100 years, until it was conquered by Spanish soldiers in 1532 AD.

## Overview

The Inca were ruled by an Emperor known as the _Sapa Inca_. Their main language was Quechua, but since there were many different groups in the Empire, there were probably many different languages as well.

The Empire was supported by an economy based on the collective ownership of the land.

## Location

The Inca ruled along the western coast of South America for a little over 100 years, until the Spanish invasion in the 16th century.

The empire was centered around the city of Cuzco, or Qosqo, in what is now southern Peru. This was the administrative, political and military center of the empire. In later years, it became centered around Quito.

### Growth

The Inca Empire began around Lake Titicaca in about 1197. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used conquest and non-violent assimilation to gain a large portion of western South America. Their empire centered on the Andean mountain ranges. It included large parts of what is now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

### Road network

Throughout their empire, they built a network of roads and rope bridges to make travel between their communities easy.

### Beginning of Spanish rule

In 1533, Atahualpa, the last sovereign emperor, was executed by the conquistador Francisco Pizarro. That marked the beginning of Spanish rule in South America.

## Also see

- Inca road system
- Inca rope bridge
- Inca Civil War

## Bibliography

- Popenoe, Hugh _et al_ 1989. _Lost crops of the Incas_. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
- De la Vega, Garcilaso 1961. _The Incas: the royal commentaries of the Inca_. New York: The Orion Press.
- McNeill, William H. 2006. How the potato changed the world's history.  _Social Research_ **66** 1.

## Other websites

- Conquest of Peru, Prescott, 1847  Full text, free to read and search, a definitive history of the Incas.  One of the most readable and engaging history books of all time.  Humankind lost a civilization of impressive societal value.
- Inca Land by Hiram Bingham (published 1912–1922)
- Inca Artifacts, Peru, and Machu Picchu  360 degree movies of inca artifacts and Peruvian landscapes.
- Inca civilization and other ancient civilizations by Genry Joil.
- Inca stone cutting techniques: theory on how the Inca walls fit so perfectly.
- Ancient Civilizations - Inca  Great research site for kids.
- Incan Ice Mummies NOVA site based on their series about the 1996 expedition that discovered Incan ice mummies.
- Incan Religion

## Infobox (former country)

- **conventional long name**: Inca Empire
- **common name**: Inca Empire
- **era**: Pre-Columbian era
- **status**: Empire
- **government type**: Divine, absolute monarchy
diarchy, semi-diarchy
- **year start**: 1438
- **year end**: 1533/1572
- **symbol type**: Reconstructed royal emblem
- **coa size**: 120px
- **event start**: Pachacuti created the Tawantinsuyu
- **event end**: Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro
- **event1**: Inca Civil War, Civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa
- **date event1**: 1529–1532
- **event post**: End of the last Inca resistance
- **date post**: 1572
- **image flag**: Banner of the Inca Empire.svg
- **flag type**: Inca imperial banner
- **image map**: Tawantinsuyu (orthographic projection).svg
- **image map caption**: The Inca Empire at its largest size
- **capital**: Cusco
- **official languages**: Quechua
- **religion**: Inca religion
- **stat year1**: 1527
- **stat area1**: 2000000