267
Incas
Machu picchu
covering an area of 5 sq miles
(13 sq km), the fortress city of
Machu picchu was built on a
series of terraces carved into
the side of a mountain more
than 7,500 ft (2,280 m)
above sea level.Weaving
The incas wove lengths
of beautiful, colorful cloth
with elaborate patterns.
The wool they used came
from the mountain
animals—llamas, alpacas,
and vicunas—that the incas
kept on their farms. Many
of their designs depicted
jaguars and pumas.South AmericaInca
Empireinca eMpire
in 1525, at its height,
the inca empire stretched
for more than 2,000 miles
(3,200 km) along the pacific
coast of South america,
including ruling over much
of present-day ecuador,
peru, Bolivia, and chile.Terrace farMing
The incas were expert at farming
every available piece of fertile
land in their mountainous
empire. They built terraces along
the steep hillsides and watered
them with mountain streams so
that crops could be grown and
animals kept to feed all the
people who lived in the cities.Llamas have been
used as pack animals
for 4,000 years.in The 12Th cenTury, a tribe of native americans moved down from the
andes Mountains of South america to settle in the fertile cuzco valley. By the
end of the 15th century they had conquered a huge territory of 440,000 sq miles
(1,140,000 sq km) containing more than 10 million people. The incas won this
land with their powerful army and then controlled it with a remarkable system of
communications. inca engineers built a network of paved roads that crisscrossed
the empire. relays of imperial messengers ran along these roads (there were no
horses or wheeled vehicles), traveling 150 miles (250 km) a day as they took
messages to and from the capital city of cuzco. at the head of the empire was
the chief inca, who was worshiped as a god and who held absolute power over
all his subjects. But in 1525, the chief inca, huayna capac,
died, and civil war broke out between two rivals for his
throne. in 1532, a small force of Spanish soldiers
arrived in the country and found it in disarray.
They quickly overwhelmed the incan army,
and by 1533 the inca empire was almost
completely under Spanish rule.conquistadors
farming
South america
South america, history ofFind out more
Color of string,
number of
knots, and
length of string
indicated what
was recorded
on the quipu.An Inca woman weaving an
elaborately designed piece of cloth.
Quipu
The incas did not have a written language.
instead, they used quipus—pieces of
knotted string—to record every aspect of
their daily life. historic events, laws, gold
reserves, population statistics, and other
items of information were
all stored accurately in
this way.The Incas
were expert
goldsmiths
and often
placed gold
figurines (right)
in their graves. Much
of the Incan gold
was melted down by
Spanish invaders.US_267_Incas.indd 267 21/01/16 5:01 pm