The Inca Empire

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The Inca Empire

• Great Empires

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Roads Link the Empire

• 14,000-mile-long network of roads and bridges
  spanned the empire
• traversed rugged mountains and harsh deserts

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The Inca Road System

• roads ranged from paved stone to simple paths
• guest houses provided shelter for weary travelers
• a system of runners traveled the roads carrying
  messages from one end of the empire to the other
• allowed the easy movement of troops to bring
  control to zones where trouble might be brewing

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5 Easy Steps for the Inca Empire to Create Unity
imposed a single official language, Quechua
(KEHCHwuh)
divided territory and people into manageable units
Social groups were identified by officially
dictated patterns on clothing
founded schools to teach Incan ways
governed by a central bureaucracy
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The Inca System of Record Keeping

• the Inca had no writing system
• kept records using a quipu, a complicated set of
  colored strings tied with different-sized knots
  at various intervals

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Machu Picchu Inca Monumental Architecture

• discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1912
• a sun temple, public buildings, a water system,
  and a central plaza
• possible use
• an estate of the king Pachacuti
• a retreat for Inca rulers or the elite
• actual purpose unknown

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Master Engineers
Like the Romans, the Inca were masterful
engineers and stonemasons.
Incan builders carved and transported huge blocks
of stone, fitting them together perfectly without
mortar.
They had no iron tools and did not use the wheel.
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Religion Supports the State

• Incan ruler was considered a descendant of the
  sun god, Inti
• Temple of the Sun in Cuzco was the most sacred of
  all shrines
• It was heavily decorated in gold, a metal the
  Inca referred to as sweat of the sun

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Early 1500s Discord in the Empire
King Huayna Capac toured the empire
in Quito, Ecuador, the king opened a gift box.
Out flew butterflies and moths, considered an
evil omen.
About 1525, while still in Quito, Huayna Capac
died of disease.
Civil war broke out between his sons,
Atahualpa and Huascar, who both claimed the
throne.
Atahualpa won, but the war tore the empire apart.
1532, the Spanish arrive and conquer the empire.
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Inca Power and Decline