Inca Road System Construction and Lodging The Inca road system (called Capaq Ñan in Quechua and Gran Ruta Inca in Spanish) was an essential part of the success of the Inca Empire. The road system included an astounding 40,000 kilometers (25,000 miles) of roads, bridges, tunnels and causeways. Road construction began in the mid-fifteenth century when the Inca gained control over its neighbors and started expanding its empire; it ended abruptly 125 years later when the Spanish arrived in Peru. As a contrast, the Roman Empire built twice as many miles of road, but it took them 600 years. Four Roads from Cuzco The Inca road system runs the entire length of Peru and beyond, from Ecuador to Chile and northern Argentina, a straightline distance of some 3,200 km (2,000 mi). Chinchaysuyu, headed to the north and ending in Quito, Ecuador Cuntisuyu, to the west and to the Pacific coast Collasuyu, led southward, ending in Chile and northern Argentina Antisuyu, eastward to the western edge of the Amazon jungle Inca Road Construction Sources
Inca Empire Timeline and King List Timeline and Kinglist of the Inca Empire The Inca word for ruler was 'capac', or 'capa', and the next ruler was chosen both by heredity and by marriage lines. All of the capacs were said to be descended from the legendary Ayar siblings (four boys and four girls) who emerged from the cave of Pacaritambo. The first Inca capac, the Ayar sibling Manco Capac, married one of his sisters and founded Cusco. The ruler at the height of the empire was Inca Yupanqui, who renamed himself Pachacuti (Cataclysm) and ruled between AD 1438-1471. Most scholarly reports list the date of the Inca empire as beginning with Pachacuti's rule. High status women were called 'coya', and how well you could succeed in life depended to a degree on the genealogical claims of both your mother and father. Calendrical dates for the reigns of the various kings were established by Spanish chroniclers based on oral histories, but they are clearly miscalculated and so are not included here. Inca Kings Classes of Incan Society
An Overview of Inca Tech Geography Drives Technology The Incas inherited an unforgiving geographic landscape. Despite its overwhelming beauty, its various terrains held hazards and risks. The Four Quarters of the Inca kingdom stretched along a narrow band of Pacific Ocean frontage extending from Chile up to Columbia, 2500 miles long, and ranging inland from the dry coastal desert to a fingerhold on Amazonian jungle. Elevations went from sea level to 22,000 feet, and while the highest zones were not regularly lived in, some housed ceremonial structures, and many of the people lived quite well at altitudes of 15,000 feet. Deep ravines scour the jagged mountains and the flat plains, home to at-times torrential rivers and streams, making travel even more difficult. Yet is is known that the people of the Inca were able to traverse their land from end to end, and from shore to highest regions, on a regular basis. Getting Around in the Andes The Incas under Pachacuti developed a lengthy system of roads. Image Credits
Quipu - Ancient Writing System of the Incas The Inca writing system called quipu (also spelled khipu or quipo) is the only known precolumbian writing system in South America—well, perhaps writing system isn't quite the correct phrase. But quipus were clearly an information transmittal system, and not just for the Inca. Instead of a clay tablet impressed with triangles like cuneiform, or a piece of paper with symbols written on it like Egyptian hieroglyphs, a quipu is essentially a collection of wool and cotton strings tied together, a knotted page of information which could be easily transported and easily translated across the wide expanses of South America. While scholars have yet to translate the quipu, we do know that information was embedded in the quipu in a number of different ways. The strings in a quipu were dyed in many different colors, and the strings are connected in many different ways, with a wide variety and number of simple and complex knots. Effects of the Spanish Conquest Quipu Meanings More on the Quipu Sources
Lost Inca Gold -- National Geographic Steeped in death, conquest, desire, and mystery, the legend of the lost Inca gold is guarded by remote, mist-veiled mountains in central Ecuador. Somewhere deep inside the unforgiving Llanganates mountain range between the Andes and the Amazon is said to exist a fabulous Inca hoard hidden from Spanish conquistadors. The legend begins in the 16th century, when the great Inca Empire in western South America was giving way to European invaders. Pizarro agreed to release Atahualpa in return for a roomful of gold, but the Spaniard later reneged on the deal. The shadowy guide of those who have tried is Valverde, a Spaniard who some 50 years after Atahualpa's death is said to have become rich after being led to the gold by his Indian bride's family. The gold trail went cold until the 1850s, when English botanist Richard Spruce traveled to Ecuador in search of the cinchona tree, the seeds of which were used to produce the antimalarial drug quinine. 'Golden Vases Full of Emeralds'
Viracocha And The Coming Of The Incas Sacred Texts Native American Index Previous Next from "History of the Incas" by Pedro Sarmiento De Gamboa, translated by Clements Markham, Cambridge: The Hakluyt Society 1907, pp. 28-58. THE NATIVES OF THIS LAND affirm that in the beginning, and before this world was created, there was a being called Viracocha. He created a dark world without sun, moon or stars. Owing to this creation he was named Viracocha Pachayachachi, which means "Creator of all things." And when he had created the world he formed a race of giants of disproportioned greatness painted and sculptured, to see whether it would be well to make real men of that size. Viracocha ordered these people that they should live without quarrelling, and that they should know and serve him. Some of the nations, besides the Cuzcos, also say that a few were saved from this flood to leave descendants for a future age. IT IS RELATED that everything was destroyed in the flood called uñu pachacuti. his orders were obeyed during the war.
The Inca and Their Roads Now primarily a tourist attraction, Inca roads were once the arteries of a mighty Empire. Spanning a the continent lengthwise, the Inca road network covered approximately 22,000 miles of roads and trails with about half of that paved. They built stone surfaced roads where the terrain required it, but merely marked the way and distance on dessert or flat coastal terrain. Many miles of the Inca roads were captured from the civilizations they conquered. Some were built purely for ceremonial purposes, but the primary purpose of the roads was to hold the Empire together by providing vital arteries for communications and troop movements. The Inca Empire was less than a century old when conquered by the Spanish although Inca civilization before imperial expansion was significantly older. Inca civilization was based upon the deification of the Emperor who was said to be the Son of the Sun.
Inca mathematics Version for printing It is often thought that mathematics can only develop after a civilisation has developed some form of writing. Although not easy for us to understand today, many civilisations reached highly advanced states without ever developing written records. Now of course it is difficult for us to know much about such civilisations since there is no written record to be studied today. The civilisation we discuss, which does not appear to have found a need to develop writing, is that of the Incas. The quipu was not a calculator, rather it was a storage device. The quipu consists of strings which were knotted to represent numbers. 586 on a quipu. For larger numbers more knot groups were used, one for each power of 10, in the same way as the digits of the number system we use here are occur in different positions to indicate the number of the corresponding power of 10 in that position. Now of course recording a number on a string would, in itself, not be that useful.
The Incas The Incas The Incas, an American Indian people, were originally a small tribe in the southern highlands of Peru. In less than a century, during the 1400s, they built one of the largest, most tightly controlled empires the world has ever known. Their skill in government was matched by their feats of engineering. Roads, walls, and irrigation works constructed by the Incas are still in use today. Social Order To fully appreciate the Inca achievement, it helps to visualize the difficult terrain of western South America. The Empire The basic unit of Inca society was the village, or neighborhood, in which the residents thought of each other as at least distantly related. The Emperor. Established custom guaranteed that the emperor behave responsibly. Nobles. The four nobles who governed the four quarters of the empire served as the emperor's council. Language. Way of Life There are many gaps in our knowledge of Inca life. From these we know that most Incas lived in villages. Dress. Food. Work.
Exploring the Inca Heartland: Machu Picchu We wandered down a long stretch of Inca road from the Sun Gate, enjoying the view of the site below us and feeling good about having hiked the Inca Trail. To us, it seemed that slogging over the passes and heights had earned us more of a right to be there than the bus loads of tourists who were driven there from Cusco. We looked about for awhile, then continued down to our campsite in the valley below. We were all blown out and rather grotty, so a trip to the natural hot baths at Aguas Calientes was in order, followed by dinner at one of the local restaurants near the train tracks. Tomorrow, after spending most of the day at the site, we'd catch the train here for the ride back to Cusco. How lost was Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Inca? It does appear that no Spanish artifacts have been found in solid contexts at Machu Picchu either by Bingham or the recent Peruvian excavations directed by Julio Tello. Machu Picchu was (and is) not a large site. Back to Map Share
Prehistoric Inca neurosurgery – Neurophilosophy The procedure known as trepanation, in which a hole is scraped or drilled in the skull, is an ancient form of neurosurgery that has been performed since the late Stone Age. Exactly why ancient peoples performed trepanation has remained a matter of debate: some researchers argue that it was performed for medical reasons, as it is today, while others believe it was done for magical or religious reasons. A new study by two American anthropologists now provides evidence that the Incas performed trepanation to treat head injuries; that the procedure was far more common than was previously thought; and that the Incan practitioners of trepanation were highly skilled surgeons with a detailed knowledge of the anatomy of the skull. Of these 411 skulls, 66 exhibited perforations of varying shape and size. The authors also show that the success rate of the procedure improved with time, as the Inca empire progressed and made advances in medicine. Andrushko, V.
Incas - HowStuffWorks Incas, an Indian people of South America. Long before the voyages of Columbus, their empire, centered in Peru, was remarkable for its organization and culture. The word Inca, properly the title of the emperors, was eventually applied to the people as a whole. Their descendants, the Quechua Indians, now make up most of the rural population of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and parts of Argentina. The Inca Empire stretched 3,000 miles along the coast of South America. At its height the Inca empire stretched for some 3,000 miles (4,800 km) from present-day Colombia along the Pacific coast through Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia into Chile. How the Incas Lived The Incas worshiped the sun god, Inti.His chief temple, the Temple of the Sun, was radiant with the immense amount of gold, silver, and jewels used to decorate it. The Inca emperor, believed to be descended directly from the sun god, had absolute power. Inca emperors were treated as earthly gods. The Incas spoke the Quechua language. History
HISTORY OF THE INCAS Cuzco and the Incas: 15th century In the early 15th century the town of Cuzco is a small place, the headquarters of one of many competing tribes within the region which was once ruled from Tiwanaku. But in about 1438 a younger son of the ruler defeats the neighbouring Chanca people, usurps power, gives himself the resounding title Pachacuti ('transformer of the earth') and begins an astonishing process of military expansion. The policy is continued by his son, Topa Inca (also sometimes called Tupac Inca). By the end of two long reigns (about fifty-five years in all) the Cuzco dynasty, known as the Incas, are in loose control of an empire stretching from Quito in modern Ecuador to the Maule river in Chile - a distance of nearly 2500 miles. Even allowing for the exaggerations of oral history transmitted within a ruling dynasty, this is a remarkable achievement. The Inca expansion also shares some features with Genghis Khan's programme of conquest. Inca roads: 15th century
History for Kids: Aztecs, Maya, and Inca Back to History The three most dominant and advanced civilizations that developed in the Americas prior to the arrival of the Europeans were the Aztecs, the Maya, and the Inca. Map of Aztec, Mayan, and Incan Civilizations by Ducksters Aztecs The Aztec Empire was located in central Mexico. The capital city of the Aztec Empire was Tenochtitlan. The Aztec called their ruler the Tlatoani. Maya The Maya civilization began as early as 2000 BC and continued to have a strong presence in Mesoamerica for over 3000 years until the Spanish arrived in 1519 AD. The Maya were located in Central America in a region that is today made up of southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala, Belize, and northern El Salvador. The Maya were the only American civilization to develop an advanced written language. Inca The Inca Empire was centered in Peru and ruled over much of the west coast of South America from the 1400s to the time of the Spanish arrival in 1532. ActivitiesCrossword PuzzleWord Search