41 Facts About Inca Empire

1.

Inca Empire, called Tawantinsuyu by its subjects, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America.

FactSnippet No. 641,690
2.

The Inca Empire civilization arose from the Peruvian highlands sometime in the early 13th century.

FactSnippet No. 641,691
3.

Inca Empire was unique in that it lacked many of the features associated with civilization in the Old World.

FactSnippet No. 641,692
4.

Notable features of the Inca Empire included its monumental architecture, especially stonework, extensive road network reaching all corners of the empire, finely-woven textiles, use of knotted strings for record keeping and communication, agricultural innovations and production in a difficult environment, and the organization and management fostered or imposed on its people and their labor.

FactSnippet No. 641,693
5.

The Inca Empire rulers reciprocated by granting access to land and goods and providing food and drink in celebratory feasts for their subjects.

FactSnippet No. 641,694
6.

Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire, most of them concerning local sacred Huacas, but the Inca leadership encouraged the sun worship of Inti – their sun god – and imposed its sovereignty above other cults such as that of Pachamama.

FactSnippet No. 641,695
7.

The name "Inca Empire" originated from the Chronicles of the 16th Century.

FactSnippet No. 641,696
8.

Inca Empire was the last chapter of thousands of years of Andean civilizations.

FactSnippet No. 641,697
9.

The maximum extent of the Inca Empire roughly coincided with the distribution of llamas and alpacas, the only large domesticated animals in Pre-Hispanic America.

FactSnippet No. 641,698
10.

Inca Empire people were a pastoral tribe in the Cusco area around the 12th century.

FactSnippet No. 641,699
11.

Inca Empire's siblings tricked him into returning to the cave to get a sacred llama.

FactSnippet No. 641,700
12.

Inca Empire then sent messages to their leaders extolling the benefits of joining his empire, offering them presents of luxury goods such as high quality textiles and promising that they would be materially richer as his subjects.

FactSnippet No. 641,701
13.

Pachacuti's son Tupac Inca Empire Yupanqui began conquests to the north in 1463 and continued them as Inca Empire ruler after Pachacuti's death in 1471.

FactSnippet No. 641,702
14.

At its height, the Inca Empire included Peru, western and south central Bolivia, southwest Ecuador and a large portion of what is today Chile, north of the Maule River.

FactSnippet No. 641,703
15.

Inca Empire's push into the Amazon Basin near the Chinchipe River was stopped by the Shuar in 1527.

FactSnippet No. 641,704
16.

Inca Empire was an amalgamation of languages, cultures and peoples.

FactSnippet No. 641,705
17.

The first epidemic of European disease in the Inca Empire was probably in the 1520s, killing Huayna Capac, his designated heir, and an unknown, probably large, number of other Incan subjects.

FactSnippet No. 641,706
18.

In contrast, the Inca Empire used weapons made out of wood, stone, copper and bronze, while using an Alpaca fiber based armor, putting them at significant technological disadvantage—none of their weapons could pierce the Spanish steel armor.

FactSnippet No. 641,707
19.

However, the Inca Empire were still effective warriors, being able to successfully fight the Mapuche, which later would strategically defeat the Spanish as they expanded further south.

FactSnippet No. 641,708
20.

The Inca Empire offered them ceremonial chicha in a golden cup, which the Spanish rejected.

FactSnippet No. 641,709
21.

The Inca Empire fulfilled this ransom, but Pizarro deceived them, refusing to release the Inca Empire afterwards.

FactSnippet No. 641,710
22.

Manco Inca Empire then retreated to the mountains of Vilcabamba and established the small Neo-Inca Empire State, where he and his successors ruled for another 36 years, sometimes raiding the Spanish or inciting revolts against them.

FactSnippet No. 641,711
23.

In 1572 the last Inca Empire stronghold was conquered and the last ruler, Tupac Amaru, Manco's son, was captured and executed.

FactSnippet No. 641,712
24.

In spite of the fact that the Inca Empire kept excellent census records using their quipus, knowledge of how to read them was lost as almost all fell into disuse and disintegrated over time or were destroyed by the Spaniards.

FactSnippet No. 641,713
25.

High infant mortality rates that plagued the Inca Empire caused all newborn infants to be given the term 'wawa' when they were born.

FactSnippet No. 641,714
26.

The ancient Inca Empire believed in reincarnation, so preservation of the body was vital for passage into the afterlife.

FactSnippet No. 641,715
27.

Inca Empire myths were transmitted orally until early Spanish colonists recorded them; however, some scholars claim that they were recorded on quipus, Andean knotted string records.

FactSnippet No. 641,716
28.

The Inca Empire traded with outside regions, although they did not operate a substantial internal market economy.

FactSnippet No. 641,717
29.

Sapa Inca Empire was conceptualized as divine and was effectively head of the state religion.

FactSnippet No. 641,718
30.

Inca Empire was "son of the sun", and his people the intip churin, or "children of the sun", and both his right to rule and mission to conquer derived from his holy ancestor.

FactSnippet No. 641,719
31.

Inca Empire was a federalist system consisting of a central government with the Inca at its head and four regional quarters, or suyu: Chinchay Suyu, Anti Suyu, Kunti Suyu and Qulla Suyu .

FactSnippet No. 641,720
32.

The highest such inspector, typically a blood relative to the Sapa Inca Empire, acted independently of the conventional hierarchy, providing a point of view for the Sapa Inca Empire free of bureaucratic influence.

FactSnippet No. 641,721
33.

However, beneath the Sapa Inca Empire sat the Inkap rantin, who was a confidant and assistant to the Sapa Inca Empire, perhaps similar to a Prime Minister.

FactSnippet No. 641,722
34.

The prime Inca Empire structures were made of stone blocks that fit together so well that a knife could not be fitted through the stonework.

FactSnippet No. 641,723
35.

Inca Empire astronomers understood equinoxes, solstices and zenith passages, along with the Venus cycle.

FactSnippet No. 641,724
36.

The Inca Empire calendar was essentially lunisolar, as two calendars were maintained in parallel, one solar and one lunar.

FactSnippet No. 641,725
37.

Inca Empire recorded information on assemblages of knotted strings, known as Quipu, although they can no longer be decoded.

FactSnippet No. 641,726
38.

Inca Empire army was the most powerful at that time, because any ordinary villager or farmer could be recruited as a soldier as part of the mit'a system of mandatory public service.

FactSnippet No. 641,727
39.

Every able bodied male Inca Empire of fighting age had to take part in war in some capacity at least once and to prepare for warfare again when needed.

FactSnippet No. 641,728
40.

Inca Empire weaponry included "hardwood spears launched using throwers, arrows, javelins, slings, the bolas, clubs, and maces with star-shaped heads made of copper or bronze".

FactSnippet No. 641,729
41.

Peruvian historian Maria Rostworowski said, "I bet my life, the Inca Empire never had that flag, it never existed, no chronicler mentioned it".

FactSnippet No. 641,730