Religions of the Inca

The Inca was a very religious Empire. They were polytheists, meaning they worshipped more than one god. Viracocha is the name of the god who created everything in the Andes and its people. Another important god in Inti, the sun god, who they believed was their parent, so Incas referred to themselves as Children of the Sun or People of the Sun. Viracocha and Inti have the highest importance in the Incan religion. Like the Aztecs and the Mayas, they had worshipped many gods, and practiced human sacrifice. They built temples in the shape of a pyramid, with a large staircase down the middle. Often, the rooftop was covered in grass. Incas placed their temples as high up as possible, to be closer to god. The image below is a statue of Inti.

The Sun God, Inti

Incan Civilization

The Incan Empire was a strong and clever tribe which turned out to be an army. Even if the tribe turned out to be an army most of the Incas were farmers. The Incas were excellent farmers, builders and managers. They were originally living in the Andes mountains but they immigrated a lot. The Incas were well known because of their amazing inventions at the time. Here are some examples:
The Incas had a way to keep track by putting knots on pieces of string.
They were masters at building things in stones, like houses and other things were you could live in. They used a lot the rock because they lived close to the mountains and that material was the most available.
They also made buildings that were earthquake proof. They did this by carving the stones perfectly meaning that no cement (or paste between the stones) was needed. It fit together perfectly, and even now, you cannot slip a piece of paper through the walls. They were water proof too!
Another clever thing they discovered was making aqueducts. These dips in the ground transported water from long distances all the way back to their crops and irrigate the land.
The Incas were also known for their pottery work. They made the pots in a way similar to how we make nowadays, but the designs on the pottery were outstanding.

One of the most clever inventions the Incas had was to carve terraces into the side of mountains and hills, allowing them to grow crops in what would be inaccessible areas, and thrive there without trouble.

                                            Incan Terrace

Governments

The Incas had the largest Empire that South America had ever seen at the time. This was because their army was very strong and they conquered neighbouring lands. Incan governments were very advanced compared to other tribes. The Empire was run by an emperor, with nobles chosen by the emperor controlling provinces on his behalf. Cuzco, the capital city, was the center of government, learning, religion and trade. If someone wanted to send a message quickly, they could use the relay runners. The relay runners can carry messages at speeds up to 250 miles or 402 kilometers a day. This helped the Empire to run properly.
The Incas did not have a written language. To keep records and statistics, the government used quipus. Quipus are knotted strings which show information by colour and and the distance of the knots from the rope binding all the quipus together. Some uses of quipus are census (a count of all the people in the area, and how they make a living), birth records, death records, etc. so that the government can tax people properly.

                             Quipus strands tied onto string　
This is a picture of strands of quipus. As you can see, there are different colours on each strand, representing different topics. Also, the knots are in different places, to show numbers using distance.

The Start and the End of the Incas

The Incas started out as a small tribe living in the Andes Mountains, Peru, at around 1100s. When their ruler, Mayta Qapaq started to conquer neighbouring lands in the 1300s, their tribe started to grow. In the 1400s, Incan armies and officials created the vast Empire. Pachacuti became ruler of the Empire at 1438. His name means "He who shakes the earth". Later, Pachacuti's son, Topa Inca, became emperor of the Empire. When he expanded the Empire, the land expanded into Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina, as well as Peru. 12 million people were ruled by him.

The Spanish conquered the Incas in 1532, but the Incas' descendants, the Quecha, still live high up in the Andes, present-day Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Colombia. Most Quecha grow only enough food to feed their families, using farming methods very similar to what the Incas used. They still continue to use methods and traditions of the Incas in most activities in their lives.

                                                             The Inca Empire

This is a map of the Incan Empire when they were most successful. The Incan Empire spread southwards from Peru.

Even though the Incan Empire now is extinct, we can still see some of their architecture, especially in Peru, their origin. A very famous Incan ruin is the Machu Picchu, a city that includes buildings, stairs carved into the side of a hill, and roads cut into bare rock.

                

    

                               Machu Picchu