Where is inca empire

The Spanish burned the vast majority of existing quipus when they arrived in South America. However, there is some evidence to suggest that these tools were also used to record stories and language for posterity, and were not only numerical recording devices.

Trade and the movement of goods fed into what is called the vertical archipelago. This system meant that all goods produced within the empire were immediately property of the ruling elites.

These elites, such as the emperor and governors, then redistributed resources across the empire as they saw fit. Taxes and goods were collected from four distinct suyus , or districts, and sent directly to the ruling emperor in Cusco.

This highly organized system was most likely perfected under the emperor Pachacuti around The Four suyus of the Inca Empire: The economic system linked together four large suyus, or districts, that all reported back to the capital of Cusco. This system also required a minimum quota of manual labor from the general population. This form of labor taxation was called mita. The populations of each district were expected to contribute to the wealth of the empire by mining, farming, or doing other manual labor that would benefit the entire empire.

Precious metals, textiles, and crops were collected and redistributed using the the road system that snaked across the land, from the ocean to the Andes. The Inca Empire worshipped the Sun god Inti, and expanded its hold on outlying areas by incorporating other deities into the religious system.

Learn about the forms of worship of the Sun god Inti, the religious hierarchy, and the cultural assimilation of outlying clans in the Inca Empire. The Inca religious system utilized oral traditions to pass down the mythology of their Sun god, Inti. This benevolent male deity was often represented as a gold disk with large rays and a human face. Golden disks were commonly displayed at temples across the Inca Empire and were also associated with the ruling emperor, who was supposed to be a direct descendent of Inti, and divinely powerful.

Inti was also associated with the growth of crops and material abundance, especially in the high Andes, where the Inca centered their power. Some myths state that this benevolent entity, along with Mama Killa, the Moon goddess, had children. This wedge penetrated the earth, and they built the capital of Cusco and civilization on that very spot. Royalty were considered to be direct descendants of Inti and, therefore, able to act as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual realms.

The high priest of Inti was called the Willaq Umu. He was often the brother or a direct blood relation of the Sapa Inca, or emperor, and was the second most powerful person in the empire. The royal family oversaw the collection of goods, spiritual festivals, and the worship of Inti. Power consolidated around the cult of the Sun, and scholars suggest that the emperor Pachacuti expanded this Sun cult to garner greater power in the 15th century.

Conquered provinces were expected to dedicate a third of their resources, such as herds and crops, directly to the worship of Inti. Each province also had a temple with male and female priests worshipping the Inti cult. Becoming a priest was considered one of the most honorable positions in society.

The main temple in the Inca Empire, called Qurikancha, was built in Cusco. The temple housed the bodies of deceased emperors and also contained a vast array of physical representations of Inti, many of which were removed or destroyed when the Spanish arrived. It represents the mythical origin of the Inca and the hope for good crops in the coming year as the winter sun returns from darkness.

The festival of Inti Raymi: This festival is celebrated in late June in the capital of Cusco every year. Thousands of visitors arrive to see the procession and rituals. Religious life was centered in the Andes near Cusco, but as the Inca Empire expanded its sphere of influence, they had to incorporate a wide array of religious customs and traditions to avoid outright revolt.

Ayllus, or family clans, often worshipped very localized entities and gods. The ruling Inca often incorporated these deities into the Inti cosmos. For example, Pachamama, the Earth goddess, was a long-worshipped deity before the Inca Empire. She was incorporated into Inca culture as a lower divine entity.

The Inca also incorporated the Moon into their religious myths and practices in the form of Mama Killa. The Inca believed in reincarnation. Death was a passage to the next world that was full of difficulties. The spirit of the dead, camaquen , would need to follow a long dark road.

The trip required the assistance of a black dog that was able to see in the dark. Most Incas imagined the after world to be very similar to the Euro-American notion of heaven, with flower-covered fields and snow-capped mountains. It was important for the Inca to ensure they did not die as a result of burning or that the body of the deceased did not become incinerated.

Some of the most noteworthy architectural sights in Cusco include the following:. Textiles were sometimes adorned with feathers, gold, or silver plates. Colored dyes were created from plants containing tannin, mole, or walnut; these dyes also came from animals like the cochineal and minerals like clay, ferruginosa, and mordant aluminum. The people also used varieties of cotton that grew naturally in seven different colors.

Textiles were widely prized within the Inca empire—in part because they were somewhat easily transported—and were widely manufactured for tax collection and trade purposes. Cloth and textiles were divided among the classes in the Inca empire.

Awaska was used for common clothing and traditional household use and was usually made from llama wool. The finest textiles were reserved for the rulers as markers of their status. For example, Inca officials wore stylized tunics decorated with certain motifs, and soldiers of the Inca army had specific uniforms. Tupa Inca tunic from around : An example of Inca textiles. Inca officials wore stylized tunics decorated with certain motifs, while soldiers of the Inca army had specific uniforms.

The weaving tradition was very important to Incas in the creation of beautiful and elaborate woven headdresses. Royalty was clearly distinguished through decorative dress. Inca emperors, for example, wore woven hats trimmed with gold and wool tassels or topped with plumes or showy feathers.

Incas also created elaborate feather decorations for men, such as headbands made into crowns of feathers, collars, and chest coverings. Wealthy Inca men wore large gold and silver pendants hung on their chests, disks attached to their hair and shoes, and bands around their arms and wrists.

Inca women adorned themselves with a metal fastening for their cloak called a tupu; the head of the tupu was decorated with paint or silver, gold, or copper bells. The Inca were well-known for their use of gold, silver, copper, bronze, and other metals for tools, weapons, and decorative ornaments. The Inca were well known for their use of gold, silver, copper, bronze, and other metals. Although the Inca Empire contained a lot of precious metals, however, the Incas did not value their metal as much as fine cloth.

Andean bronze bottle, ca. As part of a tax obligation to the commoners, mining was required in all the provinces, and copper, tin, gold, and silver were all obtained from mines or washed from the river gravels. Because of their expertise, many metalworkers were taken back to the capital city of Cuzco to continue their metalworking for the emperor.

Copper and bronze were used for basic farming tools or weapons, such as sharp sticks for digging, club-heads, knives with curved blades, axes, chisels, needles, and pins.

The Incas had no iron or steel, so their armor and weaponry consisted of helmets, spears, and battle-axes made of copper, bronze, and wood. Metal tools and weapons were forged by Inca metallurgists and then spread throughout the empire. Gold and silver were used for ornaments and decorations and reserved for the highest classes of Inca society, including priests, lords, and the Sapa Inca, or emperor. Gold and silver were common themes throughout the palaces of Inca emperors as well, and the temples of the Incas were strewn with sacred and highly precious metal objects.

Thrones were ornately decorated with metals, and royalty dined on golden-plated dishes inlaid with decorative designs. Headdresses, crowns, ceremonial knives, cups, and ceremonial clothing were often inlaid with gold or silver. After the fall of the Inca Empire, many aspects of Inca culture were systematically destroyed or irrevocably changed by Spanish conquerors.

The Inca population suffered a dramatic and quick decline following contact with the Europeans. This decline was largely due to illness and disease such as smallpox, which is thought to have been introduced by colonists and conquistadors. As an effect of this conquest, many aspects of Inca culture were systematically destroyed or irrevocably changed. In addition to disease and population decline, a large portion of the Inca population—including artisans and crafts people—was enslaved and forced to work in the gold and silver mines.

Research has revealed that, in the year before their sacrifice, the three consumed a special diet rich in maize and dried llama meat and were drugged with coca leaves and alcohol. In addition to these elite food products, other goods consumed in the Inca diet included sweet potatoes, quinoa , beans and chili peppers. In exchange for labor, the Inca government was expected to provide feasts for the people at certain times of the year. With only a few exceptions, there were no traders in the Inca Empire.

The Inca crafted magnificent objects from gold and silver, but perhaps their most striking examples of art were in the form of textiles. The Inca grew cotton, sheared wool and used looms to create their elaborate textiles. The finest grade of cloth was called cumpi, and was reserved for the emperor and nobility. Inca stone-working abilities were also formidable. The empire reached its peak after the conquests of Emperor Huayna Capac, who reigned from until around At its peak, the empire included up to 12 million people and extended from the border of Ecuador and Colombia to about 50 miles [80 kilometers] south of modern Santiago, Chile.

To support this empire, a system of roads stretched for almost 25, miles roughly 40, km , about three times the diameter of the Earth. As the Spanish conquered the Inca Empire, they were impressed by what they saw.

In fact, the road and aqueduct systems in the Andes were superior to those in Europe at the time. Tucked away in the rocky countryside northwest of Cuzco, Peru, Machu Picchu is believed to have been a royal estate or sacred religious site for Inca leaders, whose civilization was virtually wiped out by Spanish invaders in the 16th century.

For hundreds of years, until the The Inca civilization, like other ancient Andean groups, practiced artificial mummification as a way of honoring their ancestors and preserving the connection between present and past.

The most important Inca mummies, including those of their emperors, were treated as A career army officer, he led the military coup overthrowing the Allende government in , establishing himself at the head of the ensuing military regime. In he enacted a constitution giving Che Guevara was a prominent communist figure in the Cuban Revolution who went on to become a guerrilla leader in South America.

Executed by the Bolivian army in , he has since been regarded as a martyred hero by generations of leftists worldwide. The Nazca Lines are a collection of giant geoglyphs—designs or motifs etched into the ground—located in the Peruvian coastal plain about miles kilometers south of Lima, Peru. Created by the ancient Nazca culture in South America, and depicting various plants, animals, The ancient Inca device known as the khipu consists of a series of knotted cotton or wool strings hung from a main cord, typically made from llama or alpaca hair.

In , while leading an expedition in search of gold, he sighted Beginning in the eighth century B. Among the many legacies Live TV. This Day In History.