The World of the Incas

1. The World of the Incas Pages 163-167

2. Early Peoples of Peru • Western South America • Wide variety of climates & terrains • Dry, lifeless desert in the coastal plain crossed by river valleys occasionally • Andes Mountains that are snow capped rise steeply, & level off into high plateaus • East of the Andes lie dense jungles stretching from Peru into Brazil • Native Americans developed many different life styles across South America • Thousands of years ago, people settled in fishing villages along the desert coast of Peru. • Gradually moved inland to farm river valleys. • Grew corn, cotton, squash, & beans. • Cultivated 700 varieties of potatoes. • Domesticated the llama & alpaca. • Developed skills in pottery & weaving

3. Different Cultures • Archaeologists pieced together a chronology of various cultures that left their mark on the region. • Chavin • The earliest of these cultures • Named for ruins found @ Chavin de Huantar in the Andes • 850 BC huge temple complex built • Stone carving & pottery show they worshipped a ferocious looking god that was part jaguar & part human • Mochica • 100-700 AD Mochica peoples forged an empire along the arid north coast of Peru. • Skilled farmers developed terracing, irrigation, & fertilization • Leaders built roads & organized networks of relay runners to carry messages • It took 130 million sun-dried adobe bricks to build one temple. • They perfected textile production, gold work, & wood carving • Nazca • Etched glyphs in the desert of southern Peru. Glyph means pictograph. • 2,000 years civilizations rose & fell in Peru. Mid-1400’s the Incas emerged from high in the Andes. Incan armies conquered an empire that stretched 2,500 miles down the Andes & along the Pacific coast.

4. Mochica & Nazca Chavin de Huantar

5. The Incan Empire • Pachacuti • Skilled warrior & leader • Founder of the Incan empire • 1438 he proclaimed himself Sapa Inca, or emperor • Set out on a conquest • From his small kingdom of Cuzco, he came to dominate a huge empire • He & his son extended Incan rule from Ecuador in the north to Chile in the south by enlisting subdued enemies in his army

6. Incan Government • The Sapa Inca exercised absolute power over the empire • He was also the chief religious leader • He was considered a god-king like the pharaohs of ancient Egypt • He symbol was gold • The Sapa Inca lived in splendor. He ate from gold plates & dressed in embroidered clothing • The government was efficient with every village having a chain of command

7. Roads & Runners • Incas imposed their language & religion on people. • They created one of the greatest road systems in history. • They were more impressive than the Roman roads. • Roads allowed armies & news to move rapidly through the whole empire • Ordinary people were restricted from using the roads at all

8. Cuzco • All roads led through Cuzco. • Population was made up of reps. from all peoples of the empire. • The Temple of the Sun stood in the heart of the city. Interior walls were lined with gold. • Precise engineering so no mortar held the stones together. Incan buildings have survived earthquakes.

9. Daily Life • People lived in close knit communities called ayllus • Government officials arranged marriages to ensure that men & women were settled at a certain age. • The government took possession of each harvest, & divided it among the people & stored part of it in case of famine. • Incas were the best metalworkers in the Americas. • Incas developed medical practices such as surgery on the human skull by: • Cleaning the operating area & making the patient unconscious with a drug • They were polytheistic & their gods were linked to the forces of nature. • Inti- chief god was sun god