The Inca & Peru

Inca Empire

•4000 Miles North to South

•Largest native state in the Western Hemisphere

•Ancestor Worship

•No written language

•Social levels

•Multi-ethnic

•Agricultural and architectural achievements

• Warriors with a strong and powerful army• Because of the fierceness of their army and

their hierarchical organization, they became the largest Native American society

• Conquered neighboring groups first, then spread to others throughout the Andes region

Inca Empire

Inca Construction

•Inca built much more than temples and palaces and other buildings–Almost 10,000 miles of roads–Large rope suspension bridges to cross rivers

–Aqueducts to move water for irrigation

Inca Engineering

MachuPicchu

Machu Picchu• Built in the

1400’s

• Discovered in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, a Yale historian

• Built high in the Andes in classic stone style (without mortar)

Machu Picchu•There have been several ideas about its purpose, but most widely believed to have been a retreat for Incan rulers

•Important cultural site because it was not plundered when the Spanish conquered the Inca

End of the Inca• Francisco Pizarro lead the

Spanish expedition that conquered the Inca

• The Incan leader, Atahualpa, was murdered in 1532

• The Spanish were seeking gold and power

• Effects of Spanish conquest– Large numbers of Natives

died due to diseases brought by the explorers

– Many Natives were converted to Christianity

Francisco Pizarro

Modern Peru

Government: Presidential Democratic Republic

Developing Country

Languages: Spanish & Quechua

Religion: Catholic

Literacy Rate: 91%

About the size of Alaska

Exports: Fish, gold, copper, zinc, petroleum

Agriculture: Coffee, cotton, sugarcane, rice, poultry, fish