INCA EMPIRE

Pre-Columbian Cultures
 INTRODUCTION
• Inca was one the world's leading empires in the
13th century, at which time their population was
about 12,000,000
• The Inca capital was Cusco, Peru
• Tahuantinsuyu is the name the Inca gave to their
empire. The word Tahuantinsuyo (Tawaintin Suyu
in Quechuan writing) is said to mean "Four
Regions". "Tahua" or "tawa" means a group of 4
elements and "suyo" or "susyu" means region,
area or province
 SOCIAL CONDITIONS
• Only the king of Inca society was called Inca or
more precisely “Sapa Inca”. His wife was called
“Coya”, who was the queen of that society.
• Only the family members could be future Inca.
• Boys and girls of 13 years of old were tested
by IQ test. Then those who passed were taken
to Scholl. These persons served as civil
services members.
 EDUCATIONAL CONDITIONS
• Inca education was divided into two distinct
categories: vocational education for common
Inca and formalized training for the nobility.
 ECONOMIC CONDITIONS
• The Inca built terraces with a gravel base and
stepped retaining walls to drain excess water
and allow water flow from the terrace tread to
the next terrace down slope.
• Primary crop products of Inca are cotton,
potatoes, maize and quinoa.
 SCIENTIFIC CONDITIONS
• Quipu, which were assemblages of knotted
strings used to record information
• They performed successful skull surgery,
which involved cutting holes in the skull to
release pressure from head wounds.
• Coca leaves were used to lessen hunger and
pain.
 RELIGION CONDITIONS
• The belief system of the Incas was
polytheistic.
• Inti, the Sun God was the godhead, which the
Incas believed was the direct ancestor of the
Sapa Inca.
• Ceque system is a system of shrines and ritual
pathways radiating out from the capital city of
Cusco.
• “Capacocha” it involved the sacrifice of
objects, animals and sometimes children.
• he Inca dead were mummified and placed in
open sepulchers so that they could be
disinterred for important annual ceremonies
and other rituals.
 CONTRIBUTIONS
• Roads, Bridges, and the courier system were
several contributions the Inca made to current
society.
• The Incas took over the roads of earlier
civilizations and developed more than 10,000
miles of new all-weather highways.
• They were greatly skilled builders who cut
stones by hand and constructed without the
use of mortar.
• The Incas further developed the use of
terraces for agricultural farming. These
terraces provided flat ground for food
production, while at the same time protecting
the city centers from erosions or landscapes
which are common in the Andes.
• They developed the Quechua language but
no real system of writing
 ARCHITECTURE
• The Inca stone fitters worked stone with an
accuracy incomparable in human history.
• The architects regarded function over form and
signified Mies Van der Rohe’s philosophy of “less
is more”.The main aesthetic form of Inca
architecture is simple but elegantly proportioned
trapezoid.
• They built with locally available rock, from
limestone to granite. The Incas also drill holes
through rock.
• Buildings open on one side, known as masmas
or wayronas, are common.
• Most Inca buildings were rectangular,
featuring sharply sloping gable walls at the
narrow ends, which served to support the
roofing.
• Roofs were thatched, over a framework of
rafters and purlins running from a ridge pole
at the apex, down to the stone eaves walls.
Pucara or Fortress of Sacsahuaman is one of the greatest structures. 1500 ft. in length composed of three
massive tiers of stone walls, which have a combined height of 60 ft. Took 30,000 workmen and 70 years to
complete.

The most remarkable contribution of Inca to society today is architecture. Incan

architecture did not have the refinement of the Mayan. Incan architecture is grandiose
when it comes to the concept of its cities and the handling rock masses. The pucara or
fortess of Sacsahuaman that shielded Cusco is a working example.
 Fortress-temple of Ollantaytambo
It is located at an altitude of 2,792 meters (9,160 feet) above sea
level in the district of Ollantaytambo
Inca agricultural terraces in Pisac
• Temple walls are designed in an inward sloping,
and constructed of finely carved ashlars placed in
sequences that gets thinner upwards.
• Earthquakes are a common building threat in the
Andean region, and Inca stonework has survived
for centuries.
• A different style of wall construction is seen in
some of the palaces built for each Inka ruler, the
"cyclopean" walls of strangely shaped blocks cut
like jigsaw puzzle pieces and fitted together to
astonishing precision with no mortar.
• In the case of the Sacsayhuaman fortress
above Cusco, cyclopean walls contain
individual blocks estimated to weigh over 100
tons.
• The Incas built suspension rope bridges using
natural fibers. These bridges which were made
from ropes ingeniously tied together formed a
narrow but effective structure.
 FALL OF INCA EMPIRE
• When the Spaniards came in 1532, Francisco
Pizarro and his armed force, the Inca Empire was
threatened for the first time.
• When Francisco Pizarro arrived, the Inca Empire
was just ending a civil war. The Inca civil war had
been fought between two brothers, Atahuallpa
and Huascar.
• Each brother thought he had the right to rule.
The war ended when Atahuallpa killed his brother
and became emperor.
• Atahualpa, the Inca emperor was kidnapped
and held for ransom and said to be set free
after paying the ransom. Inca paid over
millions of gold, but Atahualpa was strangled
to death by the Spaniards.
• The Spaniards destroyed the Inca civilization.
They made slaves of the Inca people. The Inca
silver and gold was sent to Spain.