1200-1532 A.

 Located in the Andes Mountains of South America West Coast of South American in Colombia, Peru,

Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina

Climate ranges from dry to snowy to hot jungle Founded by Pacachuti

 Capital city was Cuzco

Administrative center
Temple of the Sun- inside walls made of gold &

perfectly cut stones

Machu Picchu the Lost City of the Incas

 Ruled by an Emperor called the Sapa Inca and had

absolute control Divine the son of the sun Chief religious leader Gold was his symbol and the sweat of the sun
The Queen was called the Coya

Performed religious functions Served in absence of Sapa Inca

 Officials collected taxes and

enforced laws Kept records on a quipu, which were knotted strings

 Imposed Quechua language and religion on

conquered people
Great system of roads adopted from the Mochia

Let armies and news travel rapidly Cut into mountains and had many bridges Ordinary people could not use the roads

Roads united large empire

Road

Bridge

 People lived in close-knit communities called ayllus

One leader carried out government orders,

assigned jobs and organized work

Regulated society by arranging marriages to make sure

men and women settled down

People conquered by the Incans were put into

Incan army

 Farming

Created terraces in mountains to farm on secured

by stone walls Farmers spent part of year working land for emperor Grew corn, potatoes, cotton, squash, and beans Government gave part of harvest to people and stored the rest

 Trade
Traded new world vegetables and gold work
Speculation that Inca traded in open air markets

Domesticated the llama and the alpaca

 Polytheistic Part of everyday life, every

month had a festival

Chief god was Inti, the Sun

God Chosen Women dedicated their lives to serving the sun god

 Servants on earth of the Sun God, Inti

Specially chosen as girls, trained, and housed

near the temple After training, either married a noble, served the royal family, or become one of the Chosen Women Made the clothes of the Sapa Inca and Coya since Sapa Inca could not wear the same clothes twice

 Involved mainly children

Happened around an important event

Could only be perfect children Held a feast, took them to the top of a mountain,

gave them something to intoxicate them Were either strangled, hit on the head, or left to die of exposure

 Incas had no system of writing Calendar of 15 months, each with 3 weeks of 10 days Quipu measurement

Advanced medicine- antiseptics and skull surgery

Gold and silver works

 1525 A.D.- Sapa Inca Huayna Capac died of plague No successor leads to civil war, weakening the empire 1531 A.D.- Spanish led by Francisco Pizzaro conquered

the Inca empire