Inca+Empire

__**﻿The Inca Empire.**__
The Inca Empire was the largest empire in [|Pre-Columbian America]. The administrative, political and military center of the empire was located in [|Cuzco] in modern-day Peru. The official language of the empire was [|Quechua], although hundreds of local languages and dialects of Quechua were spoken. The Inca people began as a tribe in the Cuzco area around the 12th century. Under the leadership of [|Manco Capac], they formed the small city-state of Cuzco. In 1438, they began a far-reaching expansion under the command of [|Sapa Inca] (paramount leader) [|Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui], whose name literally meant "earth-shaker". The name of Pachacutec was given to him after conquering over the Tribe of Chancas (modern Apurimac). During his reign, he and his son Tupac Yupanqui brought much of the Andes mountains (roughly modern Peru and Ecuador) under Inca control. Pachacuti reorganized the kingdom of Cusco into the Tahuantinsuyu, which consisted of a central government with the Inca at its head and four provincial governments with strong leaders. Pachacuti sent spies to regions he wanted in his empire; they brought reports on the political organization, military might and wealth. He would then send messages to the leaders of these lands extolling the benefits of joining his empire, offering them presents of luxury goods such as high quality textiles, and promising that they would be materially richer as subject rulers of the Inca. Most accepted the rule of the Inca as a fait accompli and acquiesced peacefully. The ruler's children would then be brought to Cusco to be taught about Inca administration systems, then return to rule their native lands. This allowed the Inca to indoctrinate the former ruler's children into the Inca nobility, and, with luck, marry their daughters into families at various corners of the empire. It was traditional for the Inca's son to lead the army; Pachacutec's son Túpac Inca Yupanqui began conquests to the north in 1463, and continued them as Inca after Pachucuti's death in 1471. His most important conquest was the [|Kingdom of Chimor], the Inca's only serious rival for the coast of Peru. Túpac Inca's empire stretched north into modern day Ecuador and Colombia. Túpac Inca's son Huayna Cápac added a small portion of land to the north in modern day Ecuador and in parts of Peru. At its height, the Inca Empire included Peru and Bolivia, most of what is now Ecuador, a large portion of what is today Chile north of Maule River. The advance south halted after the [|Battle of the Maule] where they met determined resistance by the [|Mapuche] tribes. The empire also extended into corners of Argentina and Colombia. However, most of the southern portion of the Inca empire, the portion denominated as [|Collasuyu], was desert wasteland. The Inca Empire was a patchwork of languages, cultures and peoples. The components of the empire were not all uniformly loyal, nor were the local cultures all fully integrated. The Inca empire had an economy based on exchange and taxation of luxury goods and labor. Spanish conquistadors led by [|Francisco Pizarro] and his brothers explored south from Panama, reaching Inca territory by 1526. It was clear that they had reached a wealthy land with prospects of great treasure, and after one more expedition in 1529, Pizarro traveled to Spain and received royal approval to conquer the region and be its viceroy. This approval was received as detailed in the following quote: "In July 1529 the queen of Spain signed a charter allowing Pizarro to conquer the Incas. Pizarro was named governor and captain of all conquests in Peru, or [|New Castile], as the Spanish now called the land.



The  Incas were not a tribe or a nation. Originally, they were people that ruled over a large mountainous : Peru toda y. Little by little, its members were expanding their empire, until the late fifteenth century with an area of over 3,000 kilometers long. In its  time of greatest splendor, the Inca civilization was a model in terms of social organization. Everyone knew the role it had to play in society. Splendid temples and buildings were built in that period. Roads united the cities of the empire. Although there were many people, they had food for all, thanks agriculture. In the most resplendent moment of his civilization, the Incas were governing an empire of more than 3000 km from length and 650 of width (1.950.000 square kilometres). It was divided in four big provinces: one to the north-east, and other 3 to the northwest, to the southeast and to the Southwest. The empire, in its entirety, was named A Tahuantinsuyu (the land of 4 regions). It was administered from Cuzco, the capital, in the center of the country. Two principal road links, the way of the high lands and that of the coast, were spreading from the north to the south of the empire. The provincial capitals and the administrative centers were placed to different intervals along those routes. Other ways of minor importance were going from this one to west, connecting the capitals of the mountains with the important populations of the coast. The Inca empire was integrated by very different tribes. Coastal highly organized States, as that of the [|chimu], were absorbed easily. Nevertheless, the tribes of the forests, more primitive, never managed to form a part completely of that company.

**__-The Not Written History.__**
It does not turn out to be easy to uncover the history of the Incas. These did not know the writing, so that they did not leave us books that could provide precise orientations to us. Several have been of the [|quipus] of which they were using to register information, but up to the present there has had nobody who was deciphering them totally, limiting itself to finding investigative some information relating to planetary movements. In consequence, in this aspect and including an extensive period of time, it is necessary to trust in the histories that the [|Quechuan indians]told to the Spanish on their past. The major men and of good judgment that existed between them, could recite of memory numerous facts of the past, and the Spanish experts gathered these legends in books.

**__﻿__Society**
The Inca society was perfectly organized. All in the Inca society knew in what position they were occupying. On top were [|Sapa Inca], or the emperor, and Coya (the queen). They had all the power. Them came the [|nobles], who often were the [|priests] and realtives of past emperors or the current ones. These two first social groups were the privileges groups. After, there were [|craftsmen] and [|architects], they were very high on the social ladder because of the skill that they had was requiered by the Empire. Then came the working class, often just [|farmers] that were kept in their social groupings. After this, were [|slaves] and [|peasants]of the society. The craftsmen and the architects had more rights than farmers, slaves and peasants. Only noble children went to school. Here, children learned laws, religion, the art of the war and also they learned quechuan (the Inca lenguage). Peasants gave lessons to his sons. Peasntas went to the army when they were 20 years old. Women peasants' also worked in the land. Between the Incas, the intention of the government was to promote the mutual help between the subjects. All people was working, excepting the patients, old people and the very young ones. There were not paid the workers by money; all that they were producing was distributed between them by means of a system of tax. The food was preserved in strores to be distributed between the public in the times of shortage.
 * ===__﻿Social structure__===

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 * ===__**Family life.**__===

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Most of the family of the [|Andes] lived on the land they cultivates, or next to it, forming villages in the mountains. Their houses were built of stone blocks and mud filled the scream. A curtain of skins served to protect the home against the wind. ====== In Andean homes there were no beds or chairs. The family members slept on mats, putting squat on the floor to eat or work. The mean meal was done at night. It was usually a stew made with potatoes, corn, beans and other similar products, seasoning with strong spices. They also ate roast corn, and sometimes, in indicated occasions, ate [|guinea pigs]. All family members worked hard. Everyone participated in the work of planting and harvesting. However, there were other jobs apart from them. The women made clothing for the wholo family. Men made shoes as [|slippers] and sandals also for the whole family.

We have very few samples of Inca’s fabrics; most of them they rotted with the step of the centuries, in the humid climate of the high lands. Nevertheless, guiding by the found fragments we know that the Incas were a few skilful weavers. All the young women, from very early age were learning to spin and to weave. Also they were devoting themselves to gather plants from which the dyes were extracted by those who were coloring the [|wool] of [|alpaca]. This one was dyed before proceeding to his thread; then, the women were making a few hot soft pieces to the tact, which they were sewed suitably in order to do the cloths. The fabrics destined for the family of the Inca were an object of major attentions. These pieces were elaborated by professional weavers in collaboration with the “Virgins of the Sun ". These women were using silky wools with brilliant of colors.
 * ===**__Threads and Fabrics.__**===

In the Inca's epoch, the craftsmen constituted one of the unions most respected of the community. The craftsman was situated in possession of a special skill and was hoping that this one was used in good of all. The State it was busy with feeding him and to his family. The specialist craftsmen were elaborating only the thinnest objects, not dealing with those of daily use. Unfortunately, there have come to the present day few samples of his works, since the majority of his accomplishments were fused by the Spanish conquerors. It is known, nevertheless, that they had reached a great level of quality. To the precious [|metals] form was given them by means of a patient work of [|hammering], or they were fusing for the forgotten method of the lost [|wax]. The [|potter's] wheel was not known by the Incas, so that they were making his [|vases] and [|jars] mounting strips curled of [|clay], some on others, up to achieving the form needed for his object. The jars and the vases were getting then in an oven, being identical with them geometrical designs that were repeating themselves constant. The used painting was a liquid solution of clay mixed with mineral pigments. Hereby the most common tonalities were tried: the red color, a kind of purple, kind of white and black.
 * ===**__The Craftsmen and their Works.__**===

**Religion**
The big [|gods] of the Incas were the forces of the nature, specially the Sun, and the Moon. Other important gods were the god of the Thunder and the god of the Rainbow, as well as those of many brilliant planets. On all of them, was reigning [|Viracocha], the Creator. This one was, simultaneously, father and mother of the Sun and the Moon. They all were imagining it often as an elder of white hairs and immaculate beard. He was had by the alderman of the destination and the invisible thing; his place, in the skies, was a dark zone, the " Sack of coal ", in the Lacteal route. The Peruvian Indians were very superstitious. They were imagining that certain sites and some strange objects were lived by supernatural forces. It was producing worship to these sacred places. They worship temples, stones of slightly current forms, tombs of ascendancies, hills, sources, springs and caves. The [|quacks] were using of charms to conspire to the harmful [|spirits] and to force them to go out of the bodies of his patients. A stone with an orifice, or two branches that were growing assembled, were, between others, the magic conjurations capable of recovering. The sick person was surrendering to the singings of a magician who was removing the demons. Many treatments were done by means of the grasses, but you treat them they were attributed to the collaboration of the spirits of the plants. The Incas believed that l nature was composing an alone entity, and that the person makes ill to be treated had to be a putting in a species of communion with his own nature. The priests were studying the stars, taking a complicated calendar in which they were combining the solar and lunar times. The numerous religious holidays Incas were turning also concerning the times of the Sun and the Moon. Important part of those holidays, they were the religious sacrifices. Habitually, the Incas were sacrificing [|flames] or guinea pigs. Also, occasionally, human sacrifices were carried out in the most important temples. The Inca believed in [|reincarnation]. Those who obeyed the Inca moral code "went to live in the Sun's warmth while others spent their eternal days in the old earth". The Inca also practiced [|cranial deformation]. They achieved this wrapping tigh cloth straps around the heads of newborns in order to alter the shape of their soft skulls into a more conical form; this cranial deformation was made to distinguish social classes of the communities, with only the nobility having cranial deformation. media type="custom" key="9399260" align="center"

The high priest of Cuzco was the boss of all the priests of the empire. Generally, it was a question of a brother of the Inca. It had authority on all the [|sanctuaries] and temples, being he who was designating his priests. He was presiding also at the most important religious ceremonies. The high priestesses were chosen between the " Virgins of the Sun ". In company of the Coya, they were presiding at the festivals of the Moon, of the Sowing, etc. They were promising themselves to take a chaste life. -__Priests__. The ordinary priests were taking charge of the local temples. In the big sanctuaries there could be several of them, each of which had his mission. Between these they were figuring them of praying, executing sacrifices, to interpreted oracles and to listen to [|confessions]. In the small temples, a priest was busy with realizing all these functions. The consecrated women were nuns dedicated to giving educations to the young women chosen for " Virgins of the Sol ". The " Virgins of the Sun " were habitually daughters of principal nobles. The nuns were taking charge of his education. When they were not turning into wifes of the Inca or of his nobles, they were dedicating his lives to the service of the temple or sanctuary. Also, in turn, they could turn into nuns. The wizards were staying in the lowest position of the religious hierarchy, living through a section to the margin of the company. They were resorting to the black magic to conspire to the spiritual power and to obtain messages of them. The quacks were, often, women. They had knowledge on remedies based on grasses, but also they were resorting to the canticles and to the magic ceremonies as help when they were trying to treat some ailment.
 * ===**__The religious orders__**===

All the Inca important cities possessed a great [|carved stone] designated with Intiuatana's name, which it was indicating the days in which the Sun was going on above to the midday. At this moment, the vertical pivot placed in the center of the stone was not projecting any shade. In the moment of the great celebration, the priest was presenting an offering while the people were singing giving thanks to God for his son Sapa Inca.
 * ===**__The Sun is God__**===

During 500 years the Incas ruled in the city of Cuzco, and knew that his boss, the Sapa Inca was the sun descendant .Later, when the Incas ruled in almost every area of the Andes, all the tribes agreed that the Sapa Inca was a divine king. He wanted each tribe to built a temple dedicated to Sun God. But the main temple was in the capital, Cuzco. The inhabitants of the city celebrated a feast to workshi﻿p his god, Sapa Inca. In this celebration, people prayed during all the night, and when the sun come up, they went to the center of the village with a white [|flame]. The flame received some messages that people told to him to send it to the Sapa Inca. They thought that the flame sent the message people told him to God. Then, the flame was release in the montains until his died, when the flame, finally sent his message to Sapa.
 * ===**__ The Feast of the Sun. __**===

**Military**
The [|Topa Inca Yupanqui], son and inheritor of the [|Pachacuti Inca], it was the biggest of all the warriors. Under his headquarters, the Inca empire spread quickly. One of his victories was the conquest of the powerful kingdom Chimu,in the Pacific coast. The Inca armies got hold of the chimus for surprise, attacking them to the south of his territories. The principal workforce chimus was preparing to defend the territory of the north, more easily to retain.
 * ===**__Military Conquests__**===

The Inca army was the most powerful in the area at that time, because they could turn an ordinary vilalge or farmer into a soldier, ready for battle. This is because every male Inca had to take part in war at least once so as to be prepared for warfare again when needed. By the time the empire had reached its large size, every section of the empire contributed in setting up an army for war. The Incas had no [|iron] or [|steel], and their weapons were no better than those of their enemies. The Inca weaponry ﻿ included: - Bronze or bone-tipped [|spears] -Two-handed wooden [|swords] with serrated edges. -Clubs with stone and spiked metal heads. -Woolen [|slings] and stones. -Stone or copper headed battle-axes. -Bolas (stones fastened to lenghts of cord). Roads allowed very quick movement for the Inca army, and shelters were built one day's distance in travelling from each other, so that an army on campaign could always be fed and rested.
 * ===**__Weapons__**===

In general, the Incas were men who were pleasing of observing the law. For the fact of counting everything what they needed to live, and theft between them was rare. Inside the Inca territory there were no [|prisons]. Nevertheless, when crimes were committed, the corresponding punishments were in the habit of being severe enough. The worst crimes were the [|homicide], to insult the Inca and to be in opposition to the gods. These lacks were punished by the sentence death. The habitual method of execution was consisting of throwing the traitor from the top of a rocky cliff, so that it was smashing against the crags of the bottom. The [|adultery], with participation of one of the “Virgins of the Sun ", was particularly the most serious crime; the guilty pair was tied of feet and hands, being hung he and she by the hairs, making them like that, until they were dying of starvation. A similar death was waiting for the one that was courting any of many wives of the Inca. The man and the woman were hung, once naked, in a public square being the white of the jeers of the transients, who were laughing at them while they were agonizing. The one that was daring to insult the gods was finishing meeting hung with the feet up; then, the hangman was stabbing the abdomen, until the intestines were going out for him. The crimes of minor gravity were punished by the [|amputation] of the hands and the feet, or by the extraction of the eyes. Later, the guilty unfortunate persons were supported by the State, which was taking charge of his subsistence and aspect.
 * ===**__The crime and its punishment__**===

Culture
During the Inca Empire, the population of Peru was major that the current one, so the necessary products were a problem. It was necessary to cultivate all the land they have it. Land that were near the streams and rivers were the most fertile. The streams were turned aside from his courses in order that the water was fertilizing the rest of the lands. The majority of the families were cultivating in lands of different levels, for the mountainous hillsides. In the highest parts, [|potatoes] or other products that could resist the cold were cultivated. In the medium zones, the [|beans] and the [|maize] were cultivated. These products were the basic food of the Incas. In the lowest points the [|Fruit-trees] and the [|pepper] were cultivated. By a careful planning of the cultive, the Incas could enjoy food from the different climatic zones of his empire. For the cultive of his lands, the Incas were using of a specific tool for excavating. Habitually, this tool was done by a long handle and by a top of copper or bronze. It was used for moving the land. The boys were armed with [|slings], which were serving them to throw stones with those that they were frightening to the birds and to the small animals that were eating up his crops.
 * ===__ ﻿Agriculture. __===

Although the fabrics and ornaments were a lot of variety among the Incas, settling into position in society, the basic style of their clothing was always the same. The men wore a simple [|robe] that reached to the knees. On this tunic, wore a wide, loose layer. They wore sandals or shoes made from plant fibers. The women wore [|gowns] that came to cover their ankles. Often wearing a wide [|belt] around the waist and a cape. Hairs were placed on a tissue hanging on her neck. In the highlands dresses were made of wool, but in coastal regions, dresses were made of cotton.
 * ===**__Clothes.__**===


 * ===**__Ceramics.__**===
 * __[|Ceramics]__**were painted using the polychrome technique portraying numerous motifs including animals, birds, waves, felines and geometric patterns found in the [|Nazca style] of ceramics. Instead of a written lenguage, Ceramics portrayed the very basicscenes of everyday life. It is through these preserved Ceramics that we know what life was like for the ancient South Americans. The most distinctive Inca ceramics objects are the Cuzco bottles or "[|Aryballos]".

The Inca made many discoveries in medicine. [|Anthropologists] have discovered evidence which suggests that most skull surgeries performed by Inca surgeons were successful. In pre-Inca times, only one-third of skull surgery patients survived to procedure. However, survial rates rose to 80-90% during the Inca era.
 * ===**__Medicine.__**===

The Incas revered the coca plant as being [|sacred] or [|magical]. Its leaves were used in moderate amounts to lessen hunger and pain during work, but were mostly used for religious and health purposes. The messengers chewed coca leaves for extra energy to carry on their tasks as runners delivering messages throughout the empire. The coca leaf was also used during surgeries as an [|anaesthetic].
 * ===**__Coca.__**===



**﻿Monumental architecture.**
[|Architecture] was the most important of the Inca's arts. The main example is the capital city of Cuzco. The breathtaking site of [|Machu Picchu] was constructed by Inca engineers. The stone temples constructed by the Incas used a mortaless construction that fit together so well that a knife could not be fitted through the stonework. === 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 and the concavity on the lower rocks made them extraordinarily stable. ===

In such a rough and difficult zone of area as the Andes, the Incas needed to have a good system of roads to be able to keep communicated well the different points of their empire. From north to south two principal road links were spreading. These were crossed by hundreds of minor ways, which were going well together to the different settlements and villages. In the high lands, the roads were paved by stones, or lands ready for seeding in the rocks. It is very current that the mountainous roads in question reveal important accomplishments of the engineering Inca. Sometimes, the roads were ascending as big perrons; on other occasions they were slipping for [|tunnels]. When the roads had to cross rivers or important [|abysses], bridges of precarious aspect they were allowing the step. The Incas had not discovered the [|wheel], this way that were effecting all his displacements by feet. In order to facilitate the same ones houses were constructing themselves in the principal road links separated by one kilometres, where the wayfarers could rest.
 * ===**__The Inca Roads__**===

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The Incas were enjoying themselves with the [|building] construction that they were accommodating to their natal landscape. In the settlements of the high lands, the buildings were getting up with perfectly cut stones. The roofs were formed by a soft cap of straw of more than one meter of thickness. The settlements seem as if they were forming part of the landscape. The architecture was very formal and simple. The buildings were possessing to regular intervals doors and windows. The decoration to made exception of a few income painted with alive colors, was reserved for the interiors of the constructions. But that simplicity was only to avoid more work. Really, the inca constructions could be considered a miracle of the laboriousness. In many of the walls, integrated by big stones, these they were assembled so carefully that it had been impossible to make slide between the meetings the sharp leaf of a knife. A lot of works realized by the Incas with the stones have survived the [|earthquakes] that managed to destroy entire buildings, constructed from then with materials and more studied methods. When they were suffering some alteration, the stones Incas were separating, but then they were returning to its initial position.
 * ===**__Constructions.__**===

The Inca cities were very different from ours, with its mixture of shops, offices and homes. Few ones were the persons who were living in the city in strict sense; in his most, the people were living in the settlements of the surroundings and were moving to the city only when it had to settle some matter. In effect, the city was almost for point a center of government. In her there were remaining all the records relating to the different districts. The local civil servants were visiting the administrative centers of his zone, elaborating report on the condition of the villages and of the public in general. It was possible to need help in epochs of disaster, and the effected supplies were registered for [|Quipucamayocs], the "countable person" of the Incas. Every city had a palace, in order to be use by the Inca and the local governor. Near him, thanks to which messages could be transmitted rapidly to all the parts of the empire. There were also stores, in which there were guarded the food and fabrics delivered as taxes. In the neighborhoods of the craftsmen, the goldsmiths, carpenters, weavers and other skilful workers were producing special labors for the Inca and the temples. An important building was the temple of the Sun, since the Incas were insisting everywhere that the god Sun had to be adored. Near the temple it was situated [|Acllahuasi], where "Virgins of the Sun” lived out of the sight of the public in general.
 * ===**__The Cities and their Administration.__**===

The Sapa Inca possessed many palaces placed in the important cities of his empire. Such palaces were big complexes of buildings arranged concerning a few square courts. In the interior part there were situated the housings of the Sapa Inca and the queen. In the surroundings there were other houses destined for the royal servants. The palace was containing also big foyers and rooms that there were occupying several nobles of other tribes retained as hostages. Some constructions were serving to guard the [|quipu], the fabrics and the grain, as well as the military equipment. Aside of the palace he was [|Acllahuasi], species of convent destined for the “Virgins of the Sun ". Here, Inca was taught to these especially select young women the religion, and equally certain domestic duties, by the mamacunas, a nuns' species of education. The young women were learning to spin and to weave to the perfection, to do exquisite plates and to prepare the alcoholic maize drink that was in use in the religious ceremonies. On having expired thirteen or fourteen years, they were taken to Cuzco on the occasion of the sun’s Festival, and here the Inca was deciding his future. Some of them were turning into his wives or of other members of the family of the Inca, and the remaining ones were devoting themselves to the temples, or were turning into "Mamacunas".
 * ===**__An Inca Palace and the Acclahuasi.__**===



**Climate**
Sapa Inca ruled over some montains ﻿(more territory that the current [|Peru]). This lands were at 3.000 km of the sea level. Here the winds blew over the great [|jungles of the Amazon]. This winds caused rain at raising altitude. In the coast it didn't rain nothing. The coast lands constituted a desert, in where only there are a few rivers. The coast climate was affected by the cold current of the [|Humboldt river]. This river flowed throgh the coast, giving place up to fog rises on the desert, cooling it for many months of the year. The Peruvian life is based on the fishing, inside the coastal zones, and on the agriculture and the stockbreding on the plains.
 * ===**__﻿The Land.__**===

The coasts of Peru are terrible deserts, where in the ancient epochs only there could be cultivated the delotas of the short rivers. In the cold ones it waters down, priovinientes of the south, they find abundant marine lions, seals, whales, dolphins and other a lot of varieties of fish. Of many of the coastal populations crafts were setting sail in the shape of big rafts. Each one was possessing his candle of fabric, but there were also men's rows accommodated in both bands, that they were making advance the craft handling his oars. These coarse crafts were caargadas with big quantities of goods to effect exchanges during his displacements along the coast.
 * ===**__The Ocean and The Dessert.__**===

The Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. This historic
process of military conquest was made by Spanish conquistadors and their native allies. After years of premilitary exploration and military skirmishes, 169 Spanish soldiers under the rules of [|Francisco Pizarro] and their native allies ambushed the Sapa Inca Athalualpa (emperor of the Inca Empire) and captured him in the [|Battle of Cajamarca] in 1532. It was the first step of a long campaign that took decades of fighting to sabdue the mightiest empire in the Americas. In subsequent years, Spain extend its rule over the Empire.

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