Incans

The harsh terrain, high elevations, and ravaging earthquakes of the Andes Mountain range stretch across the western shore of South America. Some would look at the Andes as inhospitable, but the Inca saw the mountains as home, building a massive empire in modern-day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and Ecuador in the 15th century. Warriors, stonemasons, religious fanatics; the Incans had a fascinating society that was swiftly crushed by a handful of prospecting Spanish conquistadors. Keep reading to learn more about the Incan Empire.

Incan Empire Map

The map below represents the territories of the Incan Empire. The Empire was divided into four different provinces, or suyu, representing south, west, north, and east. The territories of the Incans covered over 2,000 miles of South American coastline.

Fig. 1- Incan Empire map.

Incan Empire

Shrouded in mystery, the origins of the Incans are best known through creation myths.

Origin of the Incans

The Incans seemingly had four different creation myths, including a creator god named Viracocha, humans emerging from caves from another world, and a group of four brothers and four sisters spawning into the world. In one of the myths, a brother named Mango Capac bore a magical golden staff that would indicate where to build the first Incan settlement. He planted his staff at Cusco.

Fig. 2- Portrait of Urco, the 9th Inca.

Historians believe that the Incans rose as a people from the skeleton of the 7th century Wari Empire (which was also located in eastern South America). The Incans derived from hunter-gatherer tribes that engaged in animal husbandry of animals such as llamas, eventually consolidating their power by founding the future capital city of Cusco sometime in the 12th century.

From Cusco, the Incas launched constant expansions into the surrounding territories. Until their end in the first half of the 16th century, the Incans were almost always conquering new lands. Much like the Mongols of Eurasia, the Incan Empire used its military to topple its opponents, then enforced rule through fear, zeal, and relative autonomy (including religious tolerance).

For an empire with a population soon breaching 10 million people, the Incans of Cusco themselves made up only a fraction of that population, inhabiting positions of nobility and social strength over millions of conquered peoples.

Incan Religion

By the start of the 16th century, the Incans established what was possibly the largest empire on planet earth. To ensure the compliance of conquered peoples, the Incans held important people and religious relics hostage, though the flaws of this system would soon manifest.

Conquered tribes were allowed to retain their religions, as long as they accepted that the Incan gods as superior to their own gods. This was important because the Incan emperor was considered a deity. The Incans did sacrifice humans to their gods, but far less often than the Aztecs did. The highest Incan deity was Inti, god of the sun.

Fig. 3- Photograph of Machu Picchu.

To pray to their gods, the Incans constructed many temples and religious palaces, such as the mountainous Machu Picchu. Massive stone monuments were built into the rocky landscape, complete with irrigation systems and precise craftsmanship. Many of the monuments still stand today, having survived hundreds of years of Andes Mountains earthquakes.

To connect their empire, the Incans impressively constructed almost 25,000 miles of roadways through the Andes Mountains. A postal system delivered important information from one end of the empire to the other in a matter of days. Incan society was flourishing; the people of Cusco believed that they were on track to conquering the world. There was unrest in the empire, however, and a small army of inspired Spaniards was sailing across the Atlantic.

Fall of the Incan Empire

Many believe that Francisco Pizzaro, a Spanish conquistador seeking gold and glory, solely brought the Incan Empire to its knees in 1532. While he had a very important part to play, a multitude of factors led to his personal success, including:

• The Incans had been embroiled in a Civil War between two brothers named Waskar and Atahualpa.
• Rebellions from displeased peoples were rising on all fronts of the Incan empire.
• Smallpox and other European diseases ravaged the Incan population (Well over half of the Incan population was estimated to have died due to foreign diseases!).

Fig. 5- Pizarro attacking the Incans.

When Francisco Pizarro and his 160 soldiers first met the newly risen Incan ruler Atahualpa in the city of Cajamarca, the Incan Empire was already a shadow of its former glory. Inspired by Cortez's success with the Aztec Empire, Pizarro used his gunpowder weapons to terrorize the Incans. He captured Atahualpa and slaughtered thousands in Cajamarca. Atahualpa was used as a puppet ruler of the Incan Empire until Pizarro executed him a year later. The capital city Cusco fell soon after, and the Incans were no more.