1. 1438-1525

2. Who were the Incas?
 The Inca were a group of
people who lived in what
is now modern day Peru
in South America
 They built their empire
in the rugged terrain of
the Andes Mountains
 They existed between
1438 and 1525 around the
same time as the Aztecs

3. Tough Terrain
 The Andes is an area of
geographic extremes:
 Tropical Rainforests
 Fertile Valleys
 Some of the highest
mountains in the world
 Highland plateau lies
between two mountain
ranges

4. Adapting to Tough Terrain
 Settled in a fertile
 The tough terrain made
mountain valley more
than 11.000 feet above sea
level
 Founded their capital
city Cuzco
 The Inca spread their
territory throughout the
1400’s
 Pachacuti became
emperor in 1438
it difficult to rule
 Cities were almost
impossible to grow
 Cuzco probably held no
more than 25,000 people
and Machu Picchu only
housed around 1,000

5. How did the Inca rule?
 The Incas took several
steps to control and
govern their people:
 Subjects were divided
into family groups
 Required to learn
Quechua language and
worship the Incan gods

6. Daily lives of the Inca
 Incan farmers adapted to the difficult terrain –
terraced hillsides and built irrigation
 Communication was difficult – chasquis carried
messages up and down the length of the empire
 Members of society were asked to perform a few days
of labor each year
 Inca had a moneyless economy – trade was in the form
of barter or exchanges of goods and services – Trade
was limited and controlled by the government

7.  Nobles ran the
Incan Society
 Two Main Groups
 Nobles
 Commoners
government, controlled
the army, and enjoyed a
rich life style of life
 Most commoners (with
the exception of artists)
were farmers and
fisherman –performed
basic tasks like growing
crops for everyone
 Once someone was born
into a class they stayed in
a class

8. Incan Religion
 Believed that their
emperor was the son of
the sun god Inti – the
most important god
 Built many temples
 Priests were performed
rituals such as animal
sacrifices and the
occasional human
sacrifice

9. Warfare and the Mighty Incan
Army
 Nearly 200,000 strong
 It was so frightening that
the emperor often had
only to ask neighboring
peoples to join the
empire
 Soldiers were
commoners – some were
prisoners of war

10. Incan Record Keeping
 No form of writing
 Used a counting tool
called quipu – cord with
knotted rope with
various lengths tied to it
 Preserved legacy
through oral tradition
and another type of
quipu

11. Roads
 Built a huge network of
roads and highways 14,000
miles
 Built tunnels through hills
 Built forts, palaces, and
temples from huge stone
blocks put together
without mortar
 Artisans made jewelry, and
figurines out of precious
metals

12. Fall of the Incan Empire
 Invaded by the Spanish
 The empire was weakened by unrest – Atahualpa won the
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throne by defeating his brother in a bitter civil war that
began in 1527
1532 Francisco Pizarro arrived at an Incan port
The Spanish tricked the Incan emperor, kidnapped and
executed him
The conquered people of the Incan empire rebelled
By 1535 Spanish controlled most of the Incan lands –
enslaved many, killed millions with dieseases
Last Incan ruler was defeated in `1572