INCA EMPIRE ORGANIZATION SOCIAL STRUCTURE, ECONOMICS AND LANGUAGE.
The Inca Create a Mountain Empire
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Transcript of The Inca Create a Mountain Empire
The Inca Create a Mountain Empire
1) Ancient Cultures
• The Inca built their empire on cultural foundations thousands of years old.
• The Chimu civilization preceded the Inca.
• Inka
Incan nobles were called “Orejones” for the large plugs they wore in their earlobes. The plugs above are traced back to the Chimu.
Mysterious Machu Picchu
2) Royal mummies
• The Incas believed their rulers descended from the sun god.
• Dead rulers were preserved as sacred mummies which were brought to special events.
3) Pachacuti
• In 1438 a powerful ruler, Pachacuti, took the Inca throne.
• Pachacuti used diplomacy in conquest.
• By 1500 the Inca empire stretched 2500 miles along the western coast of South America.
4) Incan System of Government
• Conquered territories divided into manageable units
• Central bureaucracy
5) Incan Language
• Quechua was the single official language of the Incan empire.
6) Cities
• Inca built cities in conquered areas
• Architecture the same throughout the empire
• All roads led the to the capital, Cuzco.
The Inca were skilled stonemasons who used granite and limestone to build their cities.
7) Road system
• The Incan road system was a 14,000 mile long network of roads and bridges crossing high mountains and harsh deserts.
• Chasquis were postal runners who carried messages by relay.
8) Economy
• The Incan state controlled the production and distribution of goods.
• Very little private trade. • “Welfare state”
• Land ownership divided three ways: – State lands– Religious lands– Community lands
ChunosThe Incans developed a method for freeze-drying potatoes which could be kept indefinitely.
QUIPUThe Inca never developed a writing system. The Inca did keep records of dates and accounts with a an accounting device known as quipu, which was a set of knotted strings.
9) Religion
Religion was state controlled. The Incans focused on nature spirits. 1) Creator god Viracocha2) Sun god Inti (every
Incan king was a descendant of Inti)
• Young women, mamakuna, were drafted for a lifetime of religious service.
• Young men, yamacuna, also served as full-time workers for the state religion.
Recognizing purpose
• Ayllu– Community
organizations working for the common good
– Governing based on the decimal system with a chain of command• Groups of 10, 100, 1,000
and 10,000, each with a chief.
• Mita – State demand on
subjects– Tribute, primarily labor
• All citizens had to do manual labor for the state each year.
Decline of the Inca Empire
• The Inca empire was in its glory in the early 1500s.
• After King Huayna Capac died in 1525, civil war broke out between his sons.
• War tore the empire apart. A gift of butterflies was a bad omen for
King Huayna Capac.