World Americas 4 Inca

8/6/2019 World Americas 4 Inca

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Geogr aphy

Western coast of S.America

Total Pop: 10 million

Capital at Cuzco, religiouscenter Machu Pichu

4000 miles in length Made up of hundreds of

tribes loosely ruled by theInca

Empire included desertsalong the coast, jungle andhigh mountain villages



Politics

� Loose conf eder ation of tribes� Smart captives were

tr ained/br ainwashed in Cuzco to r ule

f or Inca and then sent back home to be

Incan gover nor s

� Maintain authority by tr ading supplies

to ³good´ regions and not to ³ bad´

regions

� Constant need to ex pand in order to

support the tr ade/briber y with other

regions



Divine K ings

� Emperor and

princi ple wif e seen

as gods

� Inca nobility

dominate the

bureaucr acy



Macchu Picchu



Economy� Agricultur ally based ±

± terr aced far ming,

± diff erent cro ps based on location

and altitude

� Lots of la bor/wor k er s necessar y f or

tr ansport of goods

� Excellent R oads/inf r astr ucture f or

tr ansf er of goods f rom coastal desert

to jungle to mountain villages

� Tr ade f rom diff erent regions

provided lots of diff erent f ood to eat

� Domesticated and bred hundreds of

varieties of potatoes, tomatoes,

pe pper s



Dr aw Bridge f or Security



R eligion� R eligious toler ance but

must wor shi p Incan gods

� Polytheistic, sun god ismost important

� Human sacrif ice r are

� Great Inca ± emperor, descendant of the sun god



Social Lif e� Diver se geogr aphy = diver se

po pulation

� Social hier ar chy ± Kings/nobles

± Merchants/rich ± Farmers

± slaves

� land/money split to sever al heir s k e pt peo ple more equal in wealth

� ³Mita´ ± obligation to the empire (militar y service/ pu blic wor ks)

� women have almost no rights but wor k hard far ming and r un the home



Intellectual lif e and Art� No writing!

� Incan Knots (Qui pu) used to k ee p records of

taxes, po pulation, tr ade and names

� Mummies are common

� Nazca lines in the desert sand f or m animal

shapes (possibly f estival dancing patter ns?)



Qui pus (FYI only)� Qui pu means "to tie".

� A qui pu was composed of a ro pe to which acollection of counting-threads, each a bout 60centimeter s long, were tied.

� Inf or mation was recorded on the threads using diff erent materials, color s, ties and placement. The most important inf or mation was placed on the lef tmost thread. Yellow, white, and red

re presented gold, silver, and soldier s, respectively.� In a po pulation census, men and women were

counted on se par ate qui pus, in which the:

� 1st thread recorded per sons over the age of 60

� 2nd thread recorded per sons between 50 and 60year s ...

� 8th thread recorded ba bies, 0-1 year s.

� When an event was to be recorded, a Qui pu wasused to store facts. The stor y itself had to be memorized and could be retold using the Qui pu'srecorded facts. Inter pretation of a Qui pu wascomplicated because ever y counter, Qui pucamayo , used his own system of ties and retold inf or mation f rom the Qui pu or ally

World Americas 4 Inca

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