10.7: Incas

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The Inca Empire

The Inca Empire, or Inka Empire, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The civilization emerged in the 13th century and lasted until it was conquered by the Spanish in 1572. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in Cusco (also spelled Cuzco) in modern-day Peru. From 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate a large portion of western South America. Beginning with the rule of Pachacuti-Cusi Yupanqui, the Inca expanded their borders to include large parts of modern Ecuador, Peru, western and south-central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, north and north-central Chile, and southern Colombia.

Religion

Inca myths were an oral tradition until early Spanish colonists recorded them. However, some scholars believe that they may have been recorded on quipu, Andean knotted-string records. 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. During the trip, the assistance of a black dog that was able to see in the dark was required. Most Incas imagined the afterworld to be very similar to the Euro-American notion of heaven, with flower-covered fields and snow-capped mountains. Those who obeyed the Inca moral code (do not steal, do not lie, do not be lazy) went to live in the "Sun's warmth" while others spent their eternal days "in the cold earth".

Though exaggerated by myth, it is true that the Incas made human sacrifices. For example, many as 4,000 servants, court officials, favorites, and concubines were killed upon the death of the Inca Huayna Capac in 1527.

Builders

Architecture was by far the most important of the Inca arts. Indeed, the stone temples used a mortarless construction that fit together so well that a knife could not be fitted through the stonework. The capital city of Cusco and the site of Machu Picchu are two valid examples of Inca construction. After just over 100 years of occupation, in 1572, Machu Picchu was abandoned as a belated result of the Spanish Conquest, possibly related to smallpox.

Other remains of rock construction are found among the Pucara (ca. 300 BC–CE 300) peoples to the south in Lake Titicaca, and later in the great city of Tiwanaku (ca. CE 400–1100) in present-day Bolivia. The rocks used in construction were sculpted to fit together exactly by repeatedly lowering a rock onto another and carving away any sections on the lower rock where the dust was compressed. The tight fit and the concavity on the lower rocks made them extraordinarily stable.

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