What do incas live in

Subsequently, Pachacuti worked to expand the territory the Inca controlled, extending their influence beyond the Cuzco region.

The Incas worked hard at diplomacy, and tried to get their rivals to surrender peacefully before resorting to military conquest, said Terence D'Altroy, an anthropologist at Columbia University, in a PBS Nova interview. Pachacuti ordered that the Inca capital, Cuzco, be rebuilt and strengthened. And, he allegedly had the city completely raised so that it could be rebuilt in the shape of a puma.

McEwan added that commoners were not allowed to live in the city and had to reside in the outlying settlements. The Spanish would later plunder this gold and build a new city in the place of Cuzco. While the Inca did not develop what we would consider a formal system of writing, they did use recording devices, such as the quipu, a cord with knotted strings suspended from it. Most written accounts of Incas come from outsiders as the Incas primarily shared their knowledge with one another through oral storytelling.

According to McEwan, the Inca pantheon had an array of gods that included the creator god Viracocha, sun god Inti, thunder god Illapa and earth-mother goddess Pachamama, among others.

There were also regional deities worshipped by people whom the Inca conquered. The Inca gods were honored in many ways, including prayers, fasting and animal sacrifice, but the most powerful form of honor was human sacrifice, typically of children and teenagers.

In , archaeologists discovered the mummies of three children who had been left as sacrifices at a shrine near the summit of a volcano in Argentina. Research has revealed that, in the year before their sacrifice, the three consumed a special diet rich in maize and dried llama meat and were drugged with coca leaves and alcohol. In addition to these elite food products, other goods consumed in the Inca diet included sweet potatoes, quinoa , beans and chili peppers.

In exchange for labor, the Inca government was expected to provide feasts for the people at certain times of the year. With only a few exceptions, there were no traders in the Inca Empire. The Inca crafted magnificent objects from gold and silver, but perhaps their most striking examples of art were in the form of textiles. The Inca first appeared in the Andes region during the 12th century A. Known as Tawantinsuyu, the Inca state spanned the distance of northern Ecuador to central Chile and consisted of 12 million inhabitants from more than different ethnic groups at its peak.

Well-devised agricultural and roadway systems, along with a centralized religion and language, helped maintain a cohesive state. Despite their power, the Inca were quickly overwhelmed by the diseases and superior weaponry of Spanish invaders, the last bastion of their immense empire overtaken in The Inca first appeared in what is today southeastern Peru during the 12th century A. According to some versions of their origin myths, they were created by the sun god, Inti, who sent his son Manco Capac to Earth through the middle of three caves in the village of Paccari Tampu.

After killing his brothers, Manco Capac led his sisters and their followers through the wilderness before settling in the fertile valley near Cusco circa The Inca began expanding their land holdings by the reign of their fourth emperor, Mayta Capac.

However, they did not truly become an expansive power until the eighth emperor, Viracocha Inca, took control in the early 15th century. Bolstered by the military capabilities of two uncles, Viracocha Inca defeated the Ayarmaca kingdom to the south and took over the Urubamba Valley.

He also established the Inca practice of leaving military garrisons to maintain peace in conquered lands. When the rival Chancas attacked circa , Viracocha Inca retreated to a military outpost while his son, Cusi Inca Yupanqui, successfully defended Cusco. His military campaigns extended the kingdom to the southern end of the Titicaca Basin, and hundreds of miles north to subject the Cajamarca and Chimu kingdoms. The expanding reach of the Inca state, Tawantinsuyu, prompted strategic logistical considerations.

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui is believed to have been the first Inca emperor to order forced resettlement to squash the possibility of an uprising from one ethnic group.

In addition, he established the practice in which rulers were prevented from inheriting the possessions of their predecessors, thereby ensuring that successive leaders would conquer new lands and accumulate new wealth. Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui also focused his efforts on strengthening Cusco, the center of the empire. He expanded Sacsahuaman, the massive fortress that guarded the city, and embarked on an expansive irrigation project by channeling rivers and creating intricate agricultural terraces.

Although Tawantinsuyu was comprised of more than distinct ethnic groups among its 12 million inhabitants, a well-developed societal structure kept the empire running smoothly. There was no written language, but a form of Quechua became the primary dialect, and knotted cords known as quipu were used to keep track of historical and accounting records. Most subjects were self-sufficient farmers who tended to corn, potatoes, squash, llamas, alpacas and dogs, and paid taxes through public labor.

Being a quipu writer took many years of schooling, and because very few learned, quipu readers were very important. Yma Sumac is a singer who performed Inca and South American folk songs beginning in the s. She is claimed to be an Inca princess directly descended from Atahualpa. The Inca are famous for their abandoned cities in the Andes Mountains. Some major cities like Cuzco and Machu Picchu, located in Peru, are major tourist attractions.

Although many cities have been found, there are still many hidden in the jungles and under the desert floor. Archaeologists hope to one day know more about these people through their amazing artifacts so that you can have the opportunity to learn more about the Inca!

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