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The year is 1475. It's wintertime, and the Inca (EENG-kah) royal family is vacationing in Machu Picchu, a small city that serves as their royal retreat in what's now Peru. The Inca capital city, Cusco, is now too cold, so the royals have traveled about 50 miles down the Andes mountains.

Wearing golden jewelry and colorful ponchos made of alpaca wool, the royals, priests, and other high-ranking officials feast, hunt, worship their gods, and entertain guests. Meanwhile, the other 750 residents work to maintain the city, serving the royals and growing food like potatoes, corn, and beans on the hillside.

At their most powerful, the Inca had the largest empire in the world at the time-today, it's still the largest empire to ever exist in the Americas. Stretching from modern-day southern Colombia to southern Chile, they ruled over western South America from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean. Although Spain conquered the Inca Empire in 1533, many Inca people retreated into the mountains, where their culture, language, and practices remain today.

History of the Inca civilization

Historians think that Inca people arrived in the valley where they would later build their capital city, Cusco, around 1100. It was a difficult place to live: Rain didn't fall often, so crops were tough to grow. That meant that groups often fought for the best land near rivers. Over time, the Inca conquered nearby people, gaining more power and eventually taking control of the Cusco Valley around 1300.

In 1438, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (pah-chah-KOO-tee EENG-kah YOO-pahn-wee) became the ninth Inca emperor. With his sons as military captains, the emperor began a massive expansion of the Inca territory beyond the Cusco area. He gave government jobs to people who spoke Quechua, the Inca language. This king also ordered construction of Machu Picchu around the year 1450.

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui gave power to his son Topa Inca Yupanqui in 1471. He expanded the empire more than any other Inca leader and eventually controlled most of western South America. At this time, the Inca ruled over 12 million people who spoke about 30 different languages.

The Inca demanded that conquered people who didn't speak Quechua, like the Chanka who spoke Aymara and the Chimú who spoke Mochica, had to serve in the army and build military outposts, temples, and roads. Those roads were impressive. Troops and Inca officials moved throughout the empire on a system that included two main highways, one along the coast and another along the Andes. Many smaller roads connected the two. The road system also included tunnels, bridges, and storehouses to provide travelers with supplies and rest stops.

Throughout the empire's history, small groups of conquered people often rebelled against the Inca, and rebellions were happening in the 1500s, too. Then around 1526, two sons of an Inca king fought over who should rule next, and a civil war began. At the same time, diseases like smallpox brought by European explorers killed around 65 percent of the population. This is when the Spanish encountered the Inca.

The search for gold was one of the main reasons that the Spanish wanted to explore and conquer the Americas. (That's because when Christopher Columbus returned to Spain from his first voyage in the Americas, he told stories of people adorned with gold.) Led by Francisco Pizarro, a group of 180 Spanish went searching for a large city with temples covered in gold-it was Cusco. For years the Inca had mined gold and silver from the Andes mountains to create beautiful pieces of jewelry and art.

In 1533, Pizarro teamed up with enemies of Inca emperor Atahualpa to capture him. To save his own life, Atahualpa offered Pizarro enough gold and silver to fill the room that he was being kept in.

But the bargain didn't save him-or the empire. After the treasures were gathered, Pizarro melted down all the gold and silver pots, jewelry, figurines, and other items, then split the treasure among the Spanish invaders. (Historians estimate that it was worth about $387 million in today's money.) Then Pizarro executed Atahualpa, ending the Inca Empire.

Life in the Inca civilization

Most Inca people were farmers or herders, looking after alpacas and llamas. Extended families lived together on the same land, making their own clothing and blankets from alpaca and llama wool. Their homes were made of stone or adobe mud and topped with a roof of dried grass. All members of the family were expected to help, including children.

Because the Inca lived in the mountains, they often had to build terraces, or flat areas cut into the hillside, to plant their crops in. They also had to dig canals so they could direct mountain streams and rain to crops like quinoa, corn, avocados, and potatoes.

The harsh climate meant that food was sometimes scarce, so the Inca figured out how to preserve some crops to make them last a long time. For example, they would slowly squeeze the moisture out of potatoes over several days. The dried-out potato could last up to 10 years.

The Inca believed that their rulers were sons of the sun god Inti (in-TEE) and mummified them after death by removing their organs, preserving the body with alcohol, and freezing their remains in the cold, dry mountain air. Like ancient Egyptian pharaohs, these royals were buried with their treasures. Average people also sometimes mummified their dead by simply placing them in cold, dry caves. They would sometimes bring out the mummified ancestors during ceremonies like weddings or harvest festivals, or to important community meetings.

Historians have found evidence that some of these mummified people were sacrificed to the Inca gods. However, the Inca did not perform human sacrifice nearly as often as the Aztec people did.

The Inca didn't have a written language. Instead, they used knotted cords called quipu (KEE-poo) to keep records. Experts think that things like the style of the knot and the color of the string all contained information. Researchers are using computers to try to untangle these long-lost codes.

Why the Inca civilization still matters

The Spanish never found Machu Picchu, so it wasn't known to the outside world until 1911, when Peruvian guide Melchor Arteaga led explorer Hiram Bingham to the site. Experts were amazed to see ruins of Machu Picchu's buildings still standing despite being on a mountain that experiences earthquakes. Today, people from all over the world travel to visit Machu Picchu, hiking along the Inca trail that was used 500 years ago.

Some Peruvian people still use Inca weaving techniques to make clothes today, and over eight million people still speak Quechua, the language of the Inca. You probably use a few Quechan words, too, like condor, jerky, llama, poncho, puma, and quinoa.

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See how this powerful culture ruled from the Andes mountains of Peru 500 years ago.

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People and society

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, although not strikingly original. 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. Practically every man was a farmer, producing his own food and clothing.

The Inca built a vast network of roads throughout this empire. It comprised two north-south roads, one running along the coast for about 2,250 miles (3,600 km), 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 (240 km) a day. The network greatly facilitated the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire.

The Inca religion combined features of animism, fetishism, and the worship of nature gods. The pantheon was headed by Inti, the sun god, and included also 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, while 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.

The descendants of the Inca are the present-day Quechua-speaking peasants of the Andes, who constitute perhaps 45 percent of the population of Peru. They combine farming and herding with simple traditional technology. Rural settlements are of three kinds: families living in the midst of their fields, true village communities with fields outside of the inhabited centres, and a combination of these two patterns. Towns are centres of mestizo (mixed-blood) population. Communities are close-knit, with families usually intermarrying. Much of the agricultural work is done cooperatively. Religion is a kind of Roman Catholicism infused with the pagan hierarchy of spirits and deities.

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Inca | History, Achievements, Culture, & Geography

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Inca, South American Indians who ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northern border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. Their descendants today remain in and around the Andes and make up the largest ethnic group in Peru.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

In common with other Andean cultures, the Inca left no written records. Inca origins and early history are largely shrouded in legends that may be more mythical than factual. Their later history, particularly from the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (Pachakuti 'Inka Yupanki) onward, is largely based on fact, even though it presents what the Inca wanted people to know. Whether these historical traditions are true, in the sense that they accurately relate what happened, is not so important as the fact that the Inca used them to justify their various imperial conquests.

The present knowledge of Inca society has been derived from a combination of archaeological studies, oral tradition preserved by official "memorizers," and the written accounts sent to Spain by early Spanish observers. While the Inca kept detailed accounts of their dynastic history, knotted onto the quipu records kept by professional accountants, nonquantitative data remains to be deciphered. The major local ethnic lords also kept records. Some of the Spaniards transcribed events that were told to them, and systematic efforts were made by the Spanish in 1549 and in the 1570s to investigate the Andean past. These accounts became the main sources of the fragmentary information available to modern researchers.

The Inca established their capital at Cuzco (Peru) in the 12th century. They began their conquests in the early 15th century and within 100 years had gained control of an Andean population of about 12 million people. According to their tradition, the Inca originated in the village of Paqari-tampu, about 15 miles (24 km) south of Cuzco. The founder of the Inca dynasty, Manco Capac (Manqo Qhapaq), led the tribe to settle in Cuzco, which remained thereafter their capital. Until the reign of the fourth emperor, Mayta Capac (Mayta Qhapaq), in the 14th century, there was little to distinguish the Inca from the many other tribes inhabiting small domains throughout the Andes. Under Mayta Capac the Inca began to expand, attacking and looting the villages of neighbouring peoples and probably assessing some sort of tribute. Under Capac Yupanqui (Qhapaq Yupanki), the next emperor, the Inca first extended their influence beyond the Cuzco valley, and under Viracocha Inca (Wiraqocha 'Inka), the eighth, they began a program of permanent conquest by establishing garrisons among the settlements of the peoples whom they had conquered.

The earliest date that can be confidently assigned to Inca dynastic history is 1438, when Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (Pachakuti 'Inka Yupanki), a son of Viracocha Inca, usurped the throne from his brother Inca Urcon ('Inka 'Urqon). Under Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-71) the Inca conquered territory south to the Titicaca Basin and north to present-day Quito, making subject peoples of the powerful Chanca, the Quechua, and the Chimú. A policy of forced resettlement of large contingents from each conquered people helped ensure political stability by distributing ethnic groups throughout the empire and thus making the organization of revolt very difficult. Local governors were responsible for exacting the labour tax on which the empire was based; the tax could be paid by service in the army, on public works, or in agricultural work.

Under Topa Inca Yupanqui (Thupa 'Inka Yupanki; 1471-93) the empire reached its southernmost extent in central Chile, and the last vestiges of resistance on the southern Peruvian coast were eliminated. His death was followed by a struggle for the succession, from which Huayna Capac (Wayna Qhapaq; 1493-1525) emerged successful. Huayna Capac pushed the northern boundary of the empire to the Ancasmayo River before dying in an epidemic that may have been brought by a tribe from the east that had picked it up from the Spanish at La Plata. His death set off another struggle for succession, which was still unresolved in 1532, when the Spanish arrived in Peru.

Upon their arrival, the Spaniards took advantage of the civil war, simultaneously aiding and hindering Atahuallpa ('Ataw Wallpa 'Inka; 1532-33) in his effort to consolidate the empire under his control. They ultimately executed him in August 1533 and his successor, Topa Huallpa (Thupa Wallpa; 1533), died soon afterward under mysterious circumstances. The ongoing instability and disintegration of the empire played into the hands of the Spanish as they consolidated their control, capturing Cuzco in November 1533 and establishing colonial Lima in 1535. A remnant Inca state lasted until 1572 in a remote mountainous area called Vitcos.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica Adam Zeidan.

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Inca - Inca - History: In common with other Andean cultures, the Inca left no written records. Inca origins and early history are largely shrouded in legends that may be more mythical than factual. Their later history, particularly from the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (Pachakuti 'Inka Yupanki) onward, is largely based on fact, even though it presents what the Inca wanted people to know.

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Ancient Incas Facts and History - History for Kids

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The Inca people were the largest pre-Colombian civilization in the Americas from around 1400 CE. They made important contributions to culture, religion, and architecture.

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Machu Picchu and the Incas for Kids | Bedtime History

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The Lost City of Machu Picchu - Educational Facts for Kids

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Kids learn about the daily life of the people of the Inca Empire including clothing, food, housing, and education.

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The Inca Indians created an empire high in the rugged Andes Mountains of South America. They built thousands of miles of roads and connected mountain peaks with bridges. Everyone in the empire was well fed and no one was homeless. Yet, the Inca Indians never invented the wheel. They never invented a system of writing. But although their empire only lasted about 100 years, the Inca Indians created a system of government, a history, trade and economy, tall tales and legends, stories about their many gods and goddesses, all kinds of very strange customs, and paved their cities with gold. Come meet the Children of the Sun. Welcome to the Inca Empire!

For Kids
Quick History Early Tribes Manco Capac Daily Life in the Inca Empire Hair Styles Kids & School The Sapa Inca Trade and Economy The Common People Religion, Dreams and Omens Myths and Legends Government The Inca Army Cuzco, Capital City Crime & Punishment Terrace Farming Domesticated Animals Llama Legends Professions Buildings and Architecture Inca Roads & Bridges Roadrunners Tall Tale Lords The Hero Pachacuti Spanish Arrival Inventions Machu Picchu Games (about the Incas) Take the Quiz, Interactive (with answers)
For Teachers
The Incas for Teachers Free Ready Made Presentations about the Inca Interactive Quiz
Free Use Inca Clipart

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The Inca Empire for Kids and Teachers - The Inca Empire for Kids

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The Inca Indians created an empire high in the rugged Andes Mountains of South America. They built thousands of miles of roads and connected mountain peaks with bridges. Everyone in the empire was well fed and no one was homeless. Yet, the Inca Indians never invented the wheel.