INCA CIVILIZATION

TIME PERIOD

• 1350 AD- 1533 AD
• In the 1440's the Inca conquered the area along Chile under their full rule.
• In 1533, their capital Cuzco fell to the Spanish.

GEOGRAPHY

• They had a long strip of land along the western coast of South America.
• They had rugged lands consisting of the Andes and the Amazon Rainforest

GOVERNMENT

• The Inca state was built on war. All younger men were required to go into the military.
• Their main government was called Tawantinsuyu which was a monarchy ruled by a single ruler called the Saca Inca.

RELIGION

• Polytheistic
• Main gods/godesses were Inti (sun), Mama Quilla (moon), and Viracocha (creator/most powerful god)
• The Cápac Raymi was a crucial ceremony that occurred during the summer solstice to honor Inti

ECONOMY

• Their economy was based on high-altitude agriculture
• They had products such as corn, potatoes, and cocoa
• They also established long distance trade networks and were very skillful in building.

CULTURE

• Language: Quechua
• Had no writing system so they used something called quipu which are a system of knotted strings
• Inca clothing was usually a lightweight poncho with also a blanket-like poncho over it. They also usually wore sandals.

ACHIEVEMENTS

• They built a system of roads up to 24,800 miles which extended from Colombia to just south of Santiago, Chile.
• They created two calendars in which one of them was the traditional 365 days in a year.
• They had no writing system which made them usually great story tellers in which were passed down the generations.

EUROPEAN IMPACT

• The Spaniards came in 1533 seeking riches. This drove them to destroy the Incan Empire and almost their whole civilization.
• They did however come into contact with Europeans before that to which brought in disease and killed lots.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Donn, Lin. “Inca Empire for KidsGeography.” Inca Empire Geography - The Inca Empire for Kids, incas.mrdonn.org/geography.html.
• Donn, Lin. “Inca Empire for KidsClothing.” Clothing and Jewelry in the Inca Empire - The Inca Empire for Kids, incas.mrdonn.org/clothing.html.
• Tustison, Clint. “Language of the Inca.” Quechuistics:The Language of the Inka, linguistics.byu.edu/classes/Ling450ch/reports/Quechua1.html.
• McGraw-Hill Networks. "World History and Geography" Early South American Civilizations, 2013
• Wick, John. “Rituals.” Ancient Inca Religion, ancientincareligion.weebly.com/rituals.html.