LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Incas: South America
built 177 days ago
Incas are fascinating. The Incas were great builders in ancient South America. The toco toucan knows all about the Incas ! He likes the old ruins of the Incas and lives near them. Boowa and Kwala would like to learn about Incan culture, but they are too busy ! Goodbye for now, Incas !
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The Incas were the most civilized empire in what is now South America at the time of the Spanish conquest and lived a life very different from that of the Spanish. Their empire was extensive, covering the southern part of modern Ecuador, all of Peru, all of Bolivia, and the northern half of what is today Chile (Loprete 33), and it spread out eastward as well (Prescott 1). Cuzco was the center of their kingdom, the name meaning naval (4). Their language was quechua although since they had conquered many surrounding nations, it was not the only language spoken in the empire.
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The Incas had an incredible system of roads. One road ran almost the entire length of the South American Pacific coast! Since the Incas lived in the Andes Mountains, the roads took great engineering and architectural skill to build. On the coast, the roads were not surfaced and were marked only by tree trunks The Incas paved their highland roads with flat stones and built stone walls to prevent travelers from falling off cliffs.
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The Incas of Cusco (Cuzco) originally represented one of these small and relatively minor ethnic groups, the Quechuas. Gradually, as early as the thirteenth century, they began to expand and incorporate their neighbors. Inca expansion was slow until about the middle of the fifteenth century, when the pace of conquest began to accelerate, particularly under the rule of the great emperor Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-71). Historian John Hemming describes Pachacuti as "one of those protean figures, like Alexander or Napoleon, who combine a mania for conquest with the ability to impose his will on every facet of government." Under his rule and that of his son, Topa Inca Yupanqui (1471-93), the Incas came to control upwards of a third of South America, with a population of 9 to 16 million inhabitants under their rule. Pachacuti ... promulgated a comprehensive code of laws to govern his far-flung empire, called Tawantinsuyu, while consolidating his absolute temporal and spiritual authority as the God of the Sun who ruled from a magnificently rebuilt Cusco.
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The Incas were originally a warlike tribe from the Andes mountains above Cuzco. Around 1000 AD this tribe successfully conquered neighboring tribes and began moving down into the valley of Cuzco. From this convenient location, they eventually began their conquests of the surrounding area. By 1500 the Incas were the largest and richest of the ancient empires of the Americas. By the time of the Spanish conquest, the Inca empire extended some 2500 miles from their capital city of Cuzco along the western coast of Latin America - roughly the area of modern-day Peru. Their territory was very diverse both in climate and in terrain, for it included the high peaks and fertile valleys of the Andes mountains, the tropical forests on the eastern edges of the mountains and a long strip of drought-stricken desert along the western coast.
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"About six hundred years ago, the Incas built an empire that stretched twenty-five hundred miles down the coast of South America and held over 12 million subjects. They accomplished this remarkable feat without having horses, the wheel, or even a written language. Before expansion of the Inca empire began in the early 1400s, the Incas lived in or near their capital city of Cuzco, in present-day Peru.
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