The Inca Empire
Great Empires
Roads Link the Empire
 14,000-mile-long
network
of roads and bridges
spanned the empire
 traversed rugged
mountains and harsh
deserts
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
5 Easy Steps for the
Inca Empire to
Create Unity
divided territory
and people into
manageable units
governed by
a central
bureaucracy
Social
groups were
identified by
officially
dictated
patterns
on
clothing
imposed a single
official language,
Quechua
(KEHCH•wuh)
founded
schools to
teach
Incan ways
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
each knot represented a
certain amount or its
multiple
the colors of each cord
represented the item being
counted: people, animals,
land, etc.
Quipucamayoc: special
officials who kept records of
births, deaths, marriages,
crops, and history
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
Master Engineers
Incan builders
carved and
transported huge
blocks of stone,
fitting them
together perfectly
without mortar.
Like the
Romans, the
Inca were
masterful
engineers and
stonemasons.
They had
no iron
tools and
did not use
the wheel.
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”
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.
1532, the
Spanish
arrive and
conquer the
empire.
Atahualpa
won, but the
war tore the
empire
apart.
Civil war
broke out
between his
sons,
Atahualpa
and Huascar,
who both
claimed the
throne.
Inca Power and Decline