Inca Ancient Empire, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chi

Описание: Inca society was highly stratified. The emperor ruled with the aid of an aristocratic bureaucracy, exercising authority with harsh and often repressive controls. Inca technology and architecture were highly developed. Their irrigation systems, palaces, temples, and fortifications can still be seen throughout the Andes. The economy was based on agriculture, its staples being corn (maize), white and sweet potatoes, squash, tomatoes, peanuts (groundnuts), chili peppers, coca, cassava, and cotton. They raised guinea pigs, ducks, llamas, alpacas, and dogs. Clothing was made of llama wool and cotton. Houses were of stone or adobe mud.

Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala: El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, depiction of an Inca bookkeeper using a quipu
Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala: El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno, depiction of an Inca bookkeeper using a quipuBookkeeper (right) rendering accounts to the Inca ruler Topa Inca Yupanqui. The contents of the storehouses (foreground and background) are recorded on the bookkeeper's quipu (khipu) of knotted strings. Drawing by Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala from El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno.
The Inca built a vast network of roads throughout their empire. It comprised two north-south roads: one running along the coast for about 2,250 miles (3,600 km) and the other inland along the Andes for a comparable distance, with many interconnecting links. Many short rock tunnels and vine-supported suspension bridges were constructed. Use of the system was strictly limited to government and military business; a well-organized relay service carried messages in the form of knotted cords called quipu (Quechua: khipu) at a rate of 150 miles (241 km) a day. The network greatly facilitated the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire.

The Significance of Gold in Inca Civilization
The Significance of Gold in Inca CivilizationLearn about the importance of gold to the Incas.
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The Inca religion combined features of animism, fetishism, and the worship of nature gods. The pantheon was headed by Inti, the sun god, and also included Viracocha, a creator god and culture hero, and Apu Illapu, the rain god. Under the empire the Inca religion was a highly organized state religion, but even though worship of the sun god and the rendering of service were required of subject peoples, their native religions were tolerated. Inca rituals included elaborate forms of divination and the sacrifice of humans and animals. These religious institutions were destroyed by the Spanish conquerors’ campaign against idolatry.