The Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu): Map & History

History

The Inca Empire was the last chapter of thousands of years of Andean civilizations. The Andean civilization is one of at least five civilizations in the world deemed by scholars to be "pristine". The concept of a pristine civilization refers to a civilization that has developed independently of external influences and is not a derivative of other civilizations.

The Inca Empire was preceded by two large-scale empires in the Andes: the Tiwanaku (c. 300–1100 AD), based around Lake Titicaca, and the Wari or Huari (c. 600–1100 AD), centered near the city of Ayacucho. The Wari occupied the Cuzco area for about 400 years. Thus, many of the characteristics of the Inca Empire derived from earlier multi-ethnic and expansive Andean cultures.

Government

The Sapa Inca, the head of upper Cusco, was conceptualized as divine and was effectively head of the state religion. The Willaq Umu (or Chief Priest), the head of lower Cusco, was second to the emperor. Local religious traditions continued and in some cases such as the Oracle at Pachacamac on the coast, were officially venerated. Following Pachacuti, the Sapa Inca claimed descent from Inti, who placed a high value on imperial blood; by the end of the empire, it was common to incestuously wed brother and sister. He was "son of the sun", and his people the Intip churin, or "children of the sun", and both his right to rule and mission to conquer derived from his holy ancestor.

Economy

The Inca Empire employed central planning. Coastal chiefdoms within the Inca Empire punctually traded with outside regions, although they did not operate a substantial internal market economy. While axe-monies were used along the northern coast, where the custom of reciprocity was not in place, presumably by the provincial mindaláe trading class, most households in the empire lived in a traditional economy in which households were required to pay tributes, usually in the form of the mit'a corvée labor, and military obligations, though barter (or trueque) was present in some areas.

Culture

Architecture was the most important of the Inca arts, with textiles reflecting architectural motifs. The most notable example is Machu Picchu, which was constructed by Inca engineers. The prime Inca structures were made of stone blocks that fit together so well that a knife could not be fitted through the stonework. These constructs have survived for centuries, with no use of mortar to sustain them.

This process was first used on a large scale by the Pucara (c. 300 BC–AD 300) peoples to the south in Lake Titicaca and later in the city of Tiwanaku (c. AD 400–1100) in what is now Bolivia. The rocks were sculpted to fit together exactly by repeatedly lowering a rock onto another and carving away any sections on the lower rock where the dust was compressed.