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Terence D Altroy: Legacy Of The Inca Empire

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Legacy of the Inca Empire
In an interview with Terence D'Altroy, a professor of anthropology at Columbia university, describes the innovative strategies that helped the Inca empire be almost as powerful as the Roman empire. The many ideas that were used by the Inca empire show that they were essential to their success. Leaving a legacy was prevalent for the Inca leaders. For example, the long lasting effects of the Andean region suggests their history was very important. The way the Inca empire rose to power so quickly shows that innovative strategy was an essential part of life. While they did not last that long, the Inca empire left a long lasting impact in South America because they were the most powerful empire of its time in the Andean …show more content…

An example of their legacy would be the vast road system they created. “The other thing the Incas did that was innovative but that also built on existing systems was to create a vast network of roads, some 40,000 kilometers according to John Hyslop, who's the leading expert on that”(Terence D'Altroy). Because of the roads that were already in place they were able to expand and improve upon the roads and overall make it much more secure. The many different cultures that resided in the Andes region were a great impact to the roads success. “When the Incas were originally forming their power base around Cuzco, they formed alliances with a variety of different ethnic groups through intermarriage”(Terence D'Altroy). Due to their political alliances they were able to navigate roads safely with the only struggle being one's own physical health. During this time, this allowed the Inca people to flourish, and have little to no worries. This new found way gave the government new access to communicate with their people had a great influence on life. If the road system wasn’t expanded upon the Inca legacy would not have been as memorable it is. By conquering many unique tribes and merging cultures with one another, they were able to create a long lasting impact on …show more content…

“They tried to work out amicable relationships through gift exchanges, marital exchanges, or political alliances. Failing that, they would threaten those people with military conquest, and that having failed, they would actually undertake military conquest.”(Terence D'Altroy). Because of this strategy they were successful and had little to no adversaries, when those people would willingly join them. As a result, conquering many different tribes steadily increased the Inca population and made each conquer afterwards much manageable. “We can't think of any societies that were larger than maybe 40,000 or 50,000 people maximum at the time the Incas began their expansion.”(Terence D'Altroy). Provided that, there were no major state to state conflicts that would be seen on the other side of the world at the time so, there were no major competitors that threatened the power of the Inca. If they did not expand as quickly or at all as they did, they would not have had as great of an impact in the Andes. Life in the Inca empire did not come without its flaws. “A third of the population was moved from their traditional homelands into areas that were foreign to them, and they were not well received by the people into whose regions they were inserted. So there were some benefits, but they were offset by substantial disadvantages”(Terence

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