page_title: History of the world
section_title: The Incas
hierarchical_section_title: History of the world / New departures and continuity / America / The Incas
caption_attribution_description: Runa Simi: Machu Pikchu Español: Machu Picchu English: Picture of Machu Picchu taken in the morning. Lietuvių: Mačku Pičku ไทย: มาชูปิกชูที่เปรู
context_page_description: The history of the world is about the study of the cultural achievements of the entire human race. This includes the time from prehistory to the end of the 20th century and excludes natural history before the development of human beings.
context_section_description: The Incas were a civilized empire in western South America. The Incas are called a "pre-Columbian" empire. This means that their country was here before Christopher Columbus. They ruled parts of South America around what is now Peru for a little over 100 years, until the Spanish invasion in the 16th century.
  The Incan empire or Tawantinsuyo, meaning four regions in Quechua, only lasted for about 100 years as the arrival of the Spaniards in 1532 conquered them. Their main language was Quechua, but as the Incas were basically made up of many different groups there were probably many other different languages.
  Their capital was in the city of Cusco, or Qosqo, in what is now southern Peru.
  Manco Capac founded the first Inca state around 1200. It covered the area around Cusco. In the 1400s, Pachacuti began to absorb other people in the Andes. The expansion of the Inca Empire had started. The Inca Empire would become the biggest empire in the Americas before Columbus.
  In 1532, the civil war ended. The brothers Huascar and Atahualpa, fought for who would succeed their father. During this time, the Spanish conquerors took possession of the Inca territory. They were led by Francisco Pizarro. In the following years the conquistadors managed to extend their power over the whole Andean region. They suppressed successive Inca rebellions until the establishment of the Viceroyalty of Perú in 1542 and the fall of the resistance of the last Incas of Vilcabamba in 1572. The Inca civilization ends at that time, but many cultural traditions remain in some ethnic groups as Quechuas and Aymara people.
caption: A view of Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas," now an archaeological site.
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