Incas

Location• Western Highlands of South America• Present-day Chile, Argentina, Peru,

Colombia• The empire stretched for more than

3,000 miles• Capital City – Cuzco• Founded in 1200 A.D.

Military• Very powerful army• All men ages 25-50 were drafted for

the army for up to five years.• Weapons included clubs, spears, spiked

copper balls on ropes.• Soldiers used woven cloth to throw

stones 30 yards.

Infrastructure• Population – more than 9 million• Infrastructure – more than 10,000 miles

of stone paved roads that ran over mountains, desert, and jungles.

• Rope bridges – made from grass – were used to cross canyons and rivers.

Communication• Runners would carry messages from

the emperor to remote villages.• Quechua – official language• No form of written language• Quipus – form of record keeping that

used strings and knots to keep track of grain supplies

Agriculture• The mountainous land was not well suited

for farming.• Incas cut terraces into the sides of

mountains to make platforms to plant on.• They built stone walls to hold the soils

and plants in place.• Crops – maize, squash, tomatoes, peanuts,

peppers, melons, cotton, potatoes.

Religion• The Incan Empire belonged to the

emperor, who was believed to be a descendant of the sun god.

• Incans believed the sun god enjoyed displays of gold, so they made and wore gold jewelry.

• They built special cities devoted to religious ceremonies. (i.e. – Machu Picchu)