many towering over 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above sea level. Many peaks,
most notably 6,739-meter-high (22,110 feet) Llullaillaco in Argentina, have
yielded astonishingly well-preserved offerings of children and young women
accompanied by rich grave goods (see Capac Hucha).
Further Reading
Bauer, Brian S., and Charles Stanish. Ritual and Pilgrimage in the Ancient Andes: The Islands of the Sun
and the Moon. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001.
D’Altroy, Terence N., Veronica I. Williams, and Ana Maria Lorandi. “The Incas in the Southlands.” In
Variations in the Expression of Inca Power, edited by Richard L. Burger, Craig Morris, and Ramiro
Matos, 85–134. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 2007.
Reinhard, Johan, and Maria Constanza Ceruti. Inca Rituals and Sacred Mountains: A Study of the World’s
Highest Archaeological Sites. Los Angeles: Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, 2011.
■ADRIANA VON HAGEN
CONQUESTS
The Incas conquered a large swath of the Andes, and the first Europeans in the
region wondered how they were able to do so in just a few generations. One of
the most astute writers, Polo Ondegardo, argued that Inca forces almost always
succeeded because they were numerically superior—which raises the question of
how they had allied with or conquered their neighbors in the Cuzco region to
establish the momentum of imperial expansion. Archaeological and
documentary evidence from the Cuzco region indicates that Inca power grew in
the century or so before the first imperial campaigns, as rulers built stronger
networks of regional allies and engaged in extended campaigns to conquer
multiple resistant communities (see Archaeology, Cuzco; Warfare). The
earliest expansion beyond the Cuzco valley focused on the incorporation of
weaker groups, but by AD 1400 Inca rulers succeeded in conquering their most
powerful local rivals and extending their domain along key corridors that
connected Cuzco to other parts of the Andes.
The most reliable early chronicles describe the first Inca campaigns beyond the
Cuzco region as rare events in which a ruler mustered all resources at his
disposal to make Inca military power felt across a targeted region. The Incas
advanced quickly in many regions because of local political decentralization and
intergroup hostility, a common scenario in the central Andes at the time. As the
Inca army approached an area, emissaries sought to convince local leaders to
submit and become Inca vassals. Success in attracting a local ally often hardened
the resistance of their local rivals, resulting in bloody battles.