Text 5: Inca Civilization

Topic 1 Lesson 1 The Early Americas

Inca Civilization

Far to the south of the Aztecs, in the

Andes Mountains, the Incas built one of

the largest empires in the Americas

By 1500, their empire stretched for

almost 2,500 miles along the west coast

of South America

An Impressive Capital

The center of the Inca empire was the

magnificent capital at Cuzco, located

high in the Andes

Cuzco was a holy city to the Incas

All nobles in the empire tried to visit it at

least once in their lifetimes

The city had massive palaces and temples

made of stone and decorated with gold

ornaments

Empire

At the center was the palace of the

emperor, who was known as the Sapa Inca

The emperor was regarded as a god who

was descended from the sun god

From Cuzco, the emperor ruled more

than 10 million people

Empire

People who lived in varied environments:

Coastal deserts

Lowland jungles

Highlands of the Andes

The Incas conquered this land by waging

war against surrounding peoples

GOVERNMENT

The Inca empire was well organized and

the emperor was kept well informed

about all parts of his empire

He sent high officials out to act as

governors

The governors made sure that every

person worked at least part of the time on

projects for the state, such as road

building, mining, farming, and pottery

making

ROADS

To unite their empire, the Incas maintained a

system of roads that covered more than 10,000

miles

Builders carved roads in rock cliffs and stretched

rope bridges across deep gorges

Teams of runners quickly spread royal orders

across the empire using these roads

COMMUNICATION

The runners carried with them a device

known as a quipu

The numbers might be bags of grain,

numbers of soldiers, or other amounts of

goods that the government ordered from

different parts of the empire

The quipu was also used by government

officials to keep records

BUILDING

The Incas were skilled engineers and built

massive stone temples and forts

Human labor, ropes, and wooden rollers,

they moved stones weighing up to 200

tons

Farming

They farmed the dry, rugged mountain

lands

They became experts at creating terraces

out of the steep mountainsides

Sturdy stone walls kept rain from washing

away the soil