The Rise, Fall and Religion of the Inca Empire Essay

The Inca were South American Indian people who ruled one of the largest and richest empires in the America's. The Inca Empire began to expand about 1438 and occupied a vast region that centered on the capital, Cusco, in southern Peru. The Empire extended more than 2,500 miles (4,020 kilometers) along the western coast of South America. It included parts of Present - Day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. The Inca Empire was conquered by Spanish Forces soon after their arrival in 1532.

Each Maya City governed the area surrounding it; some large cities each controlled one or more of the smaller cities. If the leader died his younger brother or son would succeed the ruler. This led generations of a single family to rule for hundreds of years. In the Andes, the Incas, kept their power by providing entertainments and giving luxurious gifts to the people. The people paid taxes in return for these gifts. The Inca emperor married his sister and his generals were normally related to him. This ensured a certain loyalty from them to the emperor. The Aztecs held power through land ownership.

Long distance trade fell under the supervision of the central government and administrator’s organized exchanges of the agricultural products. The Incas came up with their own writing system called quipu. Quipu consisted of an array of small cords of various and lengths, all suspended from large thick cord, unlike the Aztecs system which was just symbols. The Incan social structure was based upon hereditary aristocrats, consisting of rulers, priests, and peasant cultivators. Like the Aztecs the Incas performed bloodletting rituals, the sacrificial subject was just an animal instead of a human. The Incans considered the sun as a god and as their major deity, called Inti. They also recognized the moon, stars, planets, rain, and other natural forces as divine. Many of the differences between the Aztecs and the Incas benefited the two by becoming successful, striving, powerful regions.

The Inca Empire, the massive nation that extended 2,500 miles along the western coast of South America and had a population of over 7 million at its peak. It included all of what is now Ecuador and Peru and most of Chile. Known as “The Children of the Sun”, they excelled at craftsmanship, weaving, and culture (“Children of the Sun”). A very religious people, they worshiped the Sun as their supreme god and held religious festivals monthly to appease these gods. Although they did not value it aside from its beautiful appearance, the Inca Empire was home to millions of pounds of solid gold and silver. The Inca had no use for it except to use it to craft decorations and statues. In fact, an Inca citizen valued cloth more than they valued gold

Perhaps more than 12 million people contributed to the creation of sprawling cities, terraced farmlands, extended roadways, and golden palaces. The Inca empire covered nearly 2,500 miles and included regions of present-day Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Argentina. Although, like other native peoples throughout the Americas, they did not have their own written language or the use of the wheel, the Incas were extremely intelligent engineers. They built huge stone structures without mortar and designed suspension bridges that crossed deep mountain

The Incas and the Aztecs Before the Spanish and Portuguese "discovered" the New World, there

During the 15th century, there were two leading empires of Mesoamerica. The Inca Empire, which was located in what is now Peru and the Aztecs, whose area was located in what is now Mexico. Both the Aztec and Inca empires were advanced civilizations with a good economy, agricultural developments, and religious practices that spread across the region of Mesoamerica.

The Incas Empire began around 1200 and lasted until the Spanish arrival in 1532. They were the largest civilization in pre-Columbia with a territory of 380,000 square miles and a population of about 7 million. Around 1400 the empire began its expansion stretching along the western coast of

The Incan Indians started as a small tribe in South America in pre- Columbian times. According to Lin Donn, author on the website, Inca Empire for Kids Quick History, “The Inca empire started as a small tribe who lived in the village of Cuzco, high in the Andes Mountains of South America. One day, another tribe tried to conquer them. Thanks to

In 1532, an exploration led by spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro Conquered the Incan Empire. Pizarro, along with his army captured and killed the last Incan emperor Atahualpa in 1533.The Incas kindly welcomed the spanish into their Empire, when they suddenly set a trap for the unsuspected Incas.

The Inca Empire began in 1438 and was conquered in 1532. After the death of Huayna Capac, civil war erupted between his two sons over the succession of the throne. Eventually Atahualpa imprisoned his brother and consolidated his rule in Cuzco. Francisco Pizarro came face to face with each other. Atahualpa didn’t want a battle, however, they each had different worldviews. “In a surprise attack, the Spanish, with far superior weapons and the benefit of surprise, slaughtered the Inca entourage, captured Atahualpa, and held the Inca ruler hostage” (Seaman, R., 2014). After this, the Incas tried to resist, they Spanish were to strong and the Inca empire died out after the last Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru was captured and executed.

Cieza seemed to be in awe of them because of how they conquered other peoples, but treated them with curtesy and respect once the fighting was over with because Spain never did this. His neutral wording of relocation and the political tools they used for this make them seem like benevolent rulers. This allowed the Incas to control the land and people overall, but not have unrest among the conquered, fighting to restore original rulers, as Cieza stated in his Chronicles of the Incas. When the Incas took over, mostly using peaceful tactics, if possible, and their soldiers were ordered not to harm the natives, damage their property or be violent towards the natives. The Incan

The Incan society believed in ranks, topmost, including the royal family, the descendant kin of past rulers, the non-royal ethnic Incas, and the Incas by Privilege. Despite the elites prominence, peasant families who lived in towns and villages: farmers, herders, fishers and artisans, made up about 95-98 percent of the population. The Incas called their empire Tawatinsuyu, the “Land of the Four corners”, and its official language was Quechua”. By the time of the Spanish conquest, much of the Inca Empire was made up of numerous non-Inca groups.

Inca Empire, which contributed languages, as well as promoted irrigated farms, and buildings and roads composed of stones

The population in the Incan Empire was more than 10 million people. There is some debate about the actual population. This debate wa caused due to the Spaniards destroyed almost all the records the Incas kept of their population. Incas kept records using their quipu. A quipu was a cord or string with knots that stood for quantities.