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{{Short description|1438–1533 empire in South America}}
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{{Redirect-multi|3|Inca|Incan|Incas|a general view of Inca civilization, people and culture|History of the Incas|the Carolina parakeet|Incas (Carolina parakeet)|and|Incan (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox country
| native_name            = {{native name|qu|Tawantinsuyu}}
| conventional_long_name = Realm of the Four Parts
| common_name            = Inca Empire
| country                = 
| era                    = Pre-Columbian era
| image_flag             = Suntur Paucar.svg
| flag_size              = 125px
| flag_border            = yes
| flag_type              = [[Sapa Inca]] banner
| status                 = Empire
| government_type        = [[Imperial cult|Divine]], [[absolute monarchy]]<br/>[[diarchy|semi-diarchy]]
| date_pre               = 
| year_start             = 1438
| year_end               = 1533/1572
| event_pre              = 
| image_coat             = 
| symbol_type            = Reconstructed royal emblem
| coa_size               = 120px
| event_start            = [[Pachacuti]] created the Tawantinsuyu
| event_end              = [[Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire|Spanish conquest]] led by [[Francisco Pizarro]]
| event1                 = [[Inca Civil War|Civil war]] between [[Huáscar|Huascar]] and [[Atahualpa]]
| date_event1            = 1529–1532
| event_post             = End of the [[Neo-Inca State|last Inca resistance]]
| date_post              = 1572
| p1                     = Chimor{{!}}Kingdom of Chimor
| flag_p1                = Mapa Chimor.svg
| p2                     = Kingdom of Cusco
| flag_p2                = Suntur Paucar.svg
| p3                     = Aymara kingdoms
| flag_p3                = Banner of the Qulla Suyu (1979).svg
| s1                     = Governorate of New Castile{{!}}{{nowrap|New Castile}}
| flag_s1                = Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg
| s2                     = Governorate of New Toledo{{!}}{{nowrap|New Toledo}}
| flag_s2                = Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg
| s3                     = Governorate of New Andalusia{{!}}{{nowrap|New Andalusia}}
| flag_s3                = Flag of Cross of Burgundy.svg
| s4                     = Neo-Inca State
| flag_s4                = Suntur Paucar.svg
| image_map              = Tawantinsuyu (orthographic projection).svg
| image_map_caption      = The Inca Empire at its greatest extent, {{Circa|1525}}
| capital                = [[Cusco|Cuzco]]
| official_languages     = [[Classical Quechua]]; likely [[Aymara language|Aymara]] before reign of [[Huayna Capac]]<ref>Cerrón-Palomino,{{nbsp}}Rodolfo{{nbsp}}Las lenguas de los incas: el puquina, el aimara y el quechua{{nbsp}}Germany:{{nbsp}}PL Academic Research,{{nbsp}}2013.</ref>
| common_languages       = [[Quechuan languages]], [[Aymaran languages]], [[Puquina language]], [[Mochica language]], [[Barbacoan languages|Barbacoan]] and scores of other smaller languages.
| religion               = [[Inca religion]]
| title_leader           = [[Sapa Inca]]
| leader1                = [[Pachacuti]]
| leader2                = [[Tupac Yupanqui|Topa Inca Yupanqui]]
| leader3                = [[Huayna Capac]]
| leader4                = [[Huáscar|Huascar]]
| leader5                = [[Atahualpa]]
| year_leader1           = 1438–1471
| year_leader2           = 1471–1493
| year_leader3           = 1493–1525
| year_leader4           = 1525–1532
| year_leader5           = 1532–1533
| stat_year1             = 1527
| stat_area1             = 2000000
| ref_area1              = <ref name="Turchin222">{{cite journal |last2=Adams |first2=Jonathan M. |last3=Hall |first3=Thomas D. |date=December 2006 |title=East-West Orientation of Historical Empires |url=http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/369/381 |journal=Journal of World-Systems Research |volume=12 |issue=2 |page=222 |issn=1076-156X |last1=Turchin |first1=Peter |access-date=16 September 2016}}</ref><ref name="Taagepera497">{{cite journal |last=Taagepera |first=Rein |author-link=Rein Taagepera |title=Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia |url=https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3cn68807 |journal=[[International Studies Quarterly]] |volume=41 |issue=3 |page=497 |date=September 1997 |access-date=7 September 2018 |issn=0020-8833 |jstor=2600793 |doi=10.1111/0020-8833.00053|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
| stat_year2             = Early 16th century
| stat_pop2              = 12 million
| ref_pop2               = <ref name="La catastrophe démographique">{{cite web |url=http://www.lhistoire.fr/ |title="La catastrophe démographique" (The Demographical Catastrophe"), L'Histoire n° 322, July–August 2007, p. 17.}}</ref>
}}
{{Inca civilization}}

The '''Inca Empire''',{{efn|Also known as the '''Incan Empire''', or '''Inka Empire'''.}} officially known as the '''Realm of the Four Parts''' ({{langx|qu|'''Tawantinsuyu'''}} {{IPA|qu|taˈwantiŋ ˈsuju|pron}}, {{lit|land of four parts}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7560/760790 |title=The Inka Empire |date=2015 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |doi=10.7560/760790 |isbn=978-1-4773-0392-4}}</ref>), was the largest empire in [[pre-Columbian America]].<ref name="SchwartzNichols2010">{{cite book |first1=Glenn M. |last1=Schwartz |first2=John J. |last2=Nichols |title=After Collapse - The Regeneration of Complex Societies |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=_gsFrnn9RzQC}} |date=2010 |publisher=[[University of Arizona Press]] |isbn=978-0-8165-2936-0}}</ref> The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of [[Cusco]]. The [[History of the Incas|Inca civilisation]] rose from the [[Peru]]vian highlands sometime in the early [[13th century]]. The Portuguese explorer [[Aleixo Garcia]] was the first European to reach the Inca Empire in 1524.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Nowell |first=Charles E. |date=1946 |title=Aleixo Garcia and the White King |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2507650 |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=26 |issue=4 |pages=450–466 |doi=10.2307/2507650 |jstor=2507650 |issn=0018-2168|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Later, in 1532, the [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] began the conquest of the Inca Empire, and by 1572 [[Neo-Inca State|the last Inca state]] was fully conquered.

From 1438 to 1533, the Incas incorporated a large portion of western [[South America]], centered on the [[Andes|Andean]] Mountains, using conquest and peaceful assimilation, among other methods. At its largest, the empire joined modern-day [[Peru]] with what are now western [[Ecuador]], western and south-central [[Bolivia]], northwest [[Argentina]], the southwesternmost tip of [[Colombia]] and [[Incas in Central Chile|a large portion]] of modern-day [[Chile]], forming a state comparable to the historical empires of [[Eurasia]]. Its official language was [[Classical Quechua|Quechua]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.machupicchu-tours-peru.org/blog/quechua-language-incas |title=Quechua, the Language of the Incas |date=11 November 2013 |access-date=5 January 2019 |archive-date=27 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190627162546/https://www.machupicchu-tours-peru.org/blog/quechua-language-incas |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Inca Empire was unique in that it lacked many of the features associated with civilization in the [[Old World]]. The [[anthropologist]] Gordon McEwan wrote that the Incas were able to construct "one of the greatest imperial states in human history" without the use of the wheel, draft animals, knowledge of iron or steel, or even a system of writing.<ref>{{cite book |last=McEwan |first=Gordon F. |title=The Incas - New Perspectives |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |date=2006 |page=5}}</ref> Notable features of the Inca Empire included its monumental [[Inca architecture|architecture]], especially stonework, extensive road network ({{lang|qu|[[Qhapaq Ñan]]}}) reaching all corners of the empire, finely-woven [[Andean textiles|textiles]], use of knotted strings ({{lang|qu|[[quipu]]}} or ''khipu'') 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.

The Inca Empire functioned largely without money and without markets. Instead, exchange of goods and services was based on [[Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)|reciprocity]] between individuals and among individuals, groups, and Inca rulers. "Taxes" consisted of a labour obligation of a person to the Empire. The Inca rulers (who theoretically owned all the means of production) reciprocated by granting access to land and goods and providing food and drink in celebratory feasts for their subjects.<ref>Morris, Craig and von Hagen, Adrianna (2011), ''The Incas'', London, [[Thames & Hudson]], pp. 48–58</ref>

Many local forms of worship persisted in the empire, most of them concerning local sacred ''[[huaca]]s'' or ''wak'a'', but the Inca leadership encouraged the [[Solar deity|sun worship]] of [[Inti]] – their sun god – and imposed its sovereignty above other religious groups, such as that of [[Pachamama]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.allempires.com/allempires.com-redirect/article/index.php?q=inca |title=The Inca - All Empires |website=allempires.com |access-date=27 December 2023 |archive-date=29 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240229105709/http://www.allempires.com/allempires.com-redirect/article/index.php?q=inca |url-status=dead}}</ref> The Incas considered their king, the [[Sapa Inca]], to be the "son of the Sun".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20091110041802/http://www.nflc.org/Reach/7ca/enCAInca.htm "The Inca"], National Foreign Language Center at the University of Maryland, 29 May 2007, retrieved 10 September 2013.</ref>

The Inca economy has been the subject of scholarly debate. Darrell E. La Lone, in his work ''The Inca as a Nonmarket Economy'', noted that scholars have previously described it as "feudal, slave, [or] socialist", as well as "a system based on reciprocity and redistribution; a system with markets and commerce; or an [[Asiatic mode of production]]."<ref>{{cite journal |last=La Lone |first=Darrell E. |title=The Inca as a Nonmarket Economy - Supply on Command versus Supply and Demand |url=https://www.academia.edu/885136 |journal=Contexts for Prehistoric Exchange |page=292 |date=1982 |access-date=10 August 2017}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
The Inca referred to their empire as ''Tawantinsuyu'',{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=221}} "the suyu of four [parts]". In [[Quechua language|Quechua]], ''tawa'' is four and – ''ntin'' is a suffix naming a group, so that a ''tawantin'' is a quartet, a group of four things taken together, in this case the four ''suyu'' ("regions" or "provinces") whose corners met at the capital. The four ''suyu'' were: [[Chinchaysuyu]] (north), [[Antisuyu]] (east; the Amazon jungle), [[Qullasuyu]] (south) and [[Kuntisuyu]] (west). The name ''Tawantinsuyu'' was, therefore, a descriptive term indicating a union of provinces. The Spanish normally transliterated the name as ''Tahuatinsuyo''.

While the term {{lang|qu|Inka}} nowadays is translated as "ruler" or "lord" in Quechua, this term does not simply refer to the "king" of the Tawantinsuyu or ''[[Sapa Inca]]'' but also to the Inca nobles, and some theorize its meaning could be broader.<ref name="pease">{{cite book |last1=Pease |first1=Franklin |title=The Incas |date=2011 |publisher=Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |isbn=978-9972-42-949-1 |pages=95–121 |edition=1st}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Inca |encyclopedia=American Heritage Dictionary |date=2009 |publisher=[[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt]] |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inca}}</ref> In that sense, the Inca nobles were a small percentage of the total population of the empire, probably numbering only 15,000 to 40,000, but ruling a population of around 10{{nbsp}}million people.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=93}}

When the Spanish arrived in the Empire of the Incas, they gave the name ''Peru'' to what the natives knew as Tawantinsuyu.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Prescott |first1=William Hickling |title=History of the Conquest of Peru |date=1847 |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/1209/pg1209.html |access-date=12 July 2022}}</ref> The name "Inca Empire" originated from the Chronicles of the 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pease |first1=Franklin |title=The Incas |date=2011 |publisher=Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú |isbn=978-9972-42-949-1 |page=31 |edition=1st}}</ref>

== History ==
{{Main|History of the Incas}}

=== Antecedents ===
[[File:Tiwanaku1.jpg|thumb|left|Stela in Tiwanaku's Kalasasaya temple]] 
The Inca Empire was the last chapter of thousands of years of [[Andean civilizations]]. The Andean civilisation is one of at least five civilisations in the world deemed by scholars to be "pristine". The concept of a [[Cradle of civilization|pristine civilisation]] refers to a civilisation that has developed independently of external influences and is not a derivative of other civilisations.<ref>Upton, Gary and von Hagen, Adriana (2015), ''Encyclopedia of the Incas'', New York, [[Rowman & Littlefield]], p. 2. Some scholars cite 6 or 7 pristine civilisations {{ISBN|0804715165}}.</ref>

The Inca Empire was preceded by two large-scale empires in the Andes: the [[Tiwanaku Empire|Tiwanaku]] ({{Circa|300}}–1100 AD), based around [[Lake Titicaca]], and the [[Wari Empire|Wari]] or Huari ({{Circa|600}}–1100 AD), centered near the city of [[Ayacucho]]. The Wari occupied the Cuzco area for about 400 years. Thus, many of the characteristics of the Inca Empire derived from earlier multi-ethnic and expansive Andean cultures.<ref>McEwan, Gordon F.; (2006), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=J3WZuTINl2QC&q=Tiwanaku+OR+Wari The Incas: New Perspectives] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221211171520/https://books.google.com/books?id=J3WZuTINl2QC&printsec=frontcover#v=snippet&q=Tiwanaku%20OR%20Wari&f=false |date=11 December 2022}}'', New York, [[W. W. Norton & Company]], p. 65</ref> To those earlier civilizations may be owed some of the accomplishments cited for the Inca Empire: "thousands of kilometres/miles of roads and dozens of large administrative centers with elaborate stone construction... terraced mountainsides and filled in valleys", and the production of "vast quantities of goods".<ref>Spalding, Karen (1984), ''Huarocochí'', [[Stanford University Press]], page 77</ref>

[[Carl Troll]] has argued that the development of the Inca state in the central Andes was aided by conditions that allow for the elaboration of the [[staple food]] ''[[chuño]]''. Chuño, which can be stored for long periods, is made of potato dried at the freezing temperatures that are common at nighttime in the southern Andean highlands. Such a link between the Inca state and chuño has been questioned, as other crops such as [[maize]] can also be dried with only sunlight.<ref name="Gade2016"/>

Troll also argued that [[llama]]s, the Incas' pack animal, can be found in their largest numbers in this very same region.<ref name="Gade2016">{{cite book |last=Gade |first=Daniel |date=2016 |title=Spell of the Urubamba: Anthropogeographical Essays on an Andean Valley in Space and Time |chapter-url=https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319208480#aboutBook |chapter=Urubamba Verticality: Reflections on Crops and Diseases |page=86 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-20849-7}}</ref> The maximum extent of the Inca Empire roughly coincided with the distribution of llamas and [[alpaca]]s, [[Incan animal husbandry|the only large domesticated animals in Pre-Hispanic America]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Hardoy |first=Jorge Henríque |date=1973 |title=Pre-Columbian Cities |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fbQJBAAAQBAJ&q=llama+inca+expansion+colombia+limi&pg=PA24 |page=24 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-8027-0380-4}}</ref>

As a third point Troll pointed out irrigation technology as advantageous to Inca state-building.<ref name="Gade1996">{{cite journal |last1=Gade |first1=Daniel W. |date=1996 |title=Carl Troll on Nature and Culture in the Andes (Carl Troll über die Natur und Kultur in den Anden) |journal=[[Erdkunde]] |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=301–316 |doi=10.3112/erdkunde.1996.04.02|doi-access=free }}</ref> While Troll theorized concerning environmental influences on the Inca Empire, he opposed [[environmental determinism]], arguing that culture lay at the core of the Inca civilization.<ref name="Gade1996"/>

=== Origin ===
The Inca people were a [[Pastoralism|pastoral]] tribe in the [[Cusco Region|Cusco]] area around the 12th century. Indigenous Andean [[oral tradition|oral history]] tells two main origin stories: the legends of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, and that of the Ayar brothers.

==== The Legend of the Ayar Brothers ====
[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Manco Capac, First Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings - overall.jpg|thumb|left|[[Manco Cápac|Manco Capac]], First Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, Probably mid-18th century. Oil on canvas. [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]
[[File:Manqu Qhapaqwan Mama Uqllu.gif|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Manco Cápac]] and [[Mama Ocllo]], children of the [[Inti]], [[Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala]], ''[[El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno]]'', ''circa'' 1615]]

The center cave at Tambo Tocco (Tampu T'uqu) was named Capac Tocco (Qhapaq T'uqu, "principal niche"). The other caves were Maras Tocco (Maras T'uqu) and Sutic Tocco (Sutiq T'uqu).{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=57}} Four brothers and four sisters stepped out of the middle cave. They were: [[Manco Capac|Ayar Manco]] (Ayar Manqu), [[Ayar Cachi]] (Ayar Kachi), Ayar Auca (Ayar Awka) and Ayar Uchu (Ayar Uchi); and [[Mama Ocllo]] (Mama Uqllu), [[Mama Raua]] (Mama Rawa), Mama Huaco (Mama Waqu) and Mama Coea (Mama Qura). Out of the side caves came the people who were to be the ancestors of all the Inca clans.

Ayar Manco carried a magic staff made of the finest gold. Where this staff landed, the people would live. They traveled for a long time. On the way, Ayar Cachi boasted about his strength and power. His siblings tricked him into returning to the cave to get a sacred [[llama]]. When he went into the cave, they trapped him inside to get rid of him.

Ayar Uchu decided to stay on the top of the cave to look over the Inca people. The minute he proclaimed that, he turned to stone. They built a shrine around the stone and it became a sacred object. Ayar Auca grew tired of all this and decided to travel alone. Only Ayar Manco and his four sisters remained.

Finally, they reached Cusco. The staff sank into the ground. Before they arrived, Mama Ocllo had already borne Ayar Manco a child, [[Sinchi Roca]]. The people who were already living in Cusco fought hard to keep their land, but Mama Huaca was a good fighter. When the enemy attacked, she threw her [[bolas]] (several stones tied together that spun through the air when thrown) at a soldier (gualla) and killed him instantly. The other people became afraid and ran away.

After that, Ayar Manco became known as [[Manco Cápac|Manco Capac]], the founder of the Inca. It is said that he and his sisters built the first Inca homes in the valley with their own hands. When the time came, Manco Capac turned to stone like his brothers before him. His son, Sinchi Roca, became the second emperor of the Inca.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=69}}

==== The Legend of Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo ====
Legend collected by the {{Lang|es|[[mestizo]]}} chronicler [[Inca Garcilaso de la Vega]] in his work ''[[Los Comentarios Reales de los Incas]]'' ({{Translation|The Royal Commentaries of the Inca}}). It narrates the adventure of a couple, [[Manco Cápac|Manco Capac]] and [[Mama Ocllo]], who were sent by the [[Inti|Sun God]] and emerged from the depths of [[Titicaca|Lake Titicaca]] (''pacarina'' ~ ''paqarina'' "sacred place of origin") and marched north. They carried a golden staff, given by the [[Inti|Sun God]]; the message was clear: in the place where the golden staff sank, they would establish a city and settle there. The staff sank at [[Huanacaure|Mount Guanacaure]] in the Acamama Valley; therefore, the couple decided to remain there and informed the inhabitants of the area that they were sent by the [[Inti|Sun God]]. They then proceeded to teach them agriculture and weaving. Thus, the Inca civilization began.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vega |first=Garcilaso de la |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iKwUzwEACAAJ |title=Royal Commentaries of the Incas, and General History of Peru |date=1966 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0-608-08701-6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Inka Road: Engineering an Empire - Creation Stories |url=https://americanindian.si.edu/inkaroad/ancestors/creationstories/children-sun.html |access-date=2024-07-21 |website=americanindian.si.edu}}</ref>

=== Kingdom of Cuzco ===
{{Main|Kingdom of Cusco}}
[[File:Inca Expansion.svg|thumb|The Inca Empire's expansion according to [[John Howland Rowe]] in his "absolute chronology", developed in 1944–1945.]]

In the early 1200s, under the leadership of Manco Capac, the Inca formed the small city-state [[Kingdom of Cusco|Kingdom of Cuzco]] (Quechua ''Qusqu''). There Manco Capac built a temple to the Sun God, called Inticancha, in the current location of [[Coricancha]]. Over the successive Inca rulers,  they expanded their influence beyond Cusco and into the [[Sacred Valley]] through a series of battles, marriages, and alliances.

In 1438, they began a far-reaching expansion under the command of the 9th [[Sapa Inca]] ("paramount leader"), [[Pachacuti|Pachacuti Cusi Yupanqui]] (Pachakutiy Kusi Yupanki), whose epithet ''Pachacuti'' means "the turn of the world".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cerrón-Palomino |first=Rodolfo |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.18800/9789972428562 |title=Voces del Ande: ensayos sobre onomástica andina |date=2008 |publisher=[[Pontifical Catholic University of Peru|Fondo Editorial de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú]] |isbn=978-9972-42-856-2 |pages=298 |doi=10.18800/9789972428562 |language=es |trans-title=Words of the Andes: essays on Andean onomastics}}</ref> The name of Pachacuti was given to him after he conquered the tribe of the [[Chancas]] during the [[Chanka–Inca War]] (in modern-day [[Apurímac Region|Apurímac]]). During his reign, he and his son [[Topa Inca Yupanqui|Topa Yupanqui]] (Tupa Yupanki) brought much of the modern-day territory of [[Peru]] under Inca control.<ref name="isbn0-521-31896-3">{{Cite book |last1=Demarest |first1=Arthur Andrew |last2=Conrad |first2=Geoffrey W. |title=Religion and Empire: The Dynamics of Aztec and Inca Expansionism |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1984 |pages=57–59 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=IqecX148zLsC|page=57}} |isbn=0-521-31896-3}}</ref>

=== Reorganisation and formation ===
Pachacuti reorganised the kingdom of Cusco into the Tahuantinsuyu, which consisted of a central government with the Inca at its head and four provincial governments with strong leaders: Chinchaysuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Kuntisuyu (SW) and Qullasuyu (SE).{{efn|The three laws of Tawantinsuyu are still referred to in Bolivia these days as the three laws of the Qullasuyu.}} Pachacuti is thought to have built [[Machu Picchu]], either as a family home or summer retreat, although it may have been an agricultural station.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weatherford |first=J. McIver |author-link=J. McIver Weatherford |title=Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World |date=1988 |publisher=Fawcett Columbine |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=xrjz_PgrAdsC|page=60}} |isbn=0-449-90496-2 |pages=60–62}}</ref>

Pachacuti sent spies to regions he wanted in his empire and they brought to him reports on political organization, military strength and wealth. He 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.

Most accepted the rule of the Inca as a ''[[List of French phrases used by English speakers#F|fait accompli]]'' and acquiesced peacefully. Refusal to accept Inca rule resulted in military conquest. Following conquest the local rulers were executed. The ruler's children were brought to Cuzco to learn about Inca administration systems, then return to rule their native lands. This allowed the Inca to indoctrinate them into the Inca nobility and, with luck, marry their daughters into families at various corners of the empire.

=== Expansion and consolidation ===
{{Main|Colla–Inca War|Chimor–Inca War|List of wars involving the Inca Empire}}

Pachacuti had named his favorite son, Amaru Yupanqui, as his co-ruler and successor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=de Gamboa |first=Pedro Sarmiento |title=Historia de los Incas}}</ref> However, as co-ruler Amaru showed little interest in military affairs. Due to this lack of military talent, he faced much opposition from the Inca nobility, who began to plot against him.<ref>{{Cite book |last=José Antonio |first=del Busto Duthurburu |title=Une cronología aproximada del Tahuantinsuyu |page=18}}</ref> Despite this, Pachacuti decided to take a blind eye to his son's lack of capability. Following a revolt during which Amaru almost led the Inca forces to defeat, the [[Sapa Inca]] decided to replace the co-ruler with another one of his sons, [[Topa Inca Yupanqui]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rostworowski |first=María |title=Le Grand Inca Pachacútec Inca Yupanqui |publisher=Tallandier |date=2008 |isbn=978-2-84734-462-2}}</ref> Túpac Inca Yupanqui began conquests to the north in 1463 and continued them as Inca ruler after Pachacuti's death in 1471. Túpac Inca's most important conquest was the Kingdom of [[Chimor]], the Inca's only serious rival for the coast. Túpac Inca's empire then stretched north into what are today Ecuador and Colombia. Topa Inca's son [[Huayna Cápac|Huayna Capac]] added a small portion of land to the north in what is today Ecuador. At its height, the Inca Empire included modern-day Peru, what are today western and south central Bolivia, southwest Ecuador and Colombia and [[Incas in Central Chile|a large portion]] of modern-day Chile, at the north of the [[Maule River]]. Traditional [[historiography]] claims the advance south halted after the [[Battle of the Maule]] where they met determined resistance from the [[Mapuche]].<ref name="Silva1983">{{cite journal |last1=Silva Galdames |first1=Osvaldo |author-link=Osvaldo Silva |date=1983 |title=¿Detuvo la batalla del Maule la expansión inca hacia el sur de Chile? |url=https://revistas.uchile.cl/index.php/CDH/article/download/46464/48492 |journal=[[Cuadernos de Historia]] |language=es |volume=3 |pages=7–25 |access-date=10 January 2019}}</ref>

This view is challenged by historian [[Osvaldo Silva]] who argues instead that it was the social and political framework of the Mapuche that posed the main difficulty in imposing imperial rule.<ref name=Silva1983/> Silva does accept that the battle of the Maule was a stalemate, but argues the Incas lacked the incentives for conquest they had when fighting more complex societies such as the [[Chimor|Chimú Empire]].<ref name="Silva1983"/>

Silva also disputes the date given by traditional historiography for the battle: the late 15th century during the reign of [[Topa Inca Yupanqui]] (1471–1493).<ref name="Silva1983"/> Instead, he places it in 1532 during the [[Inca Civil War]].<ref name="Silva1983"/> Nevertheless, Silva agrees on the claim that the bulk of the Inca conquests were made during the late 15th century.<ref name="Silva1983"/> At the time of the Inca Civil War an [[Inca army]] was, according to [[Diego de Rosales]], subduing a revolt among the [[Diaguita]]s of [[Transverse Valleys|Copiapó and Coquimbo]].<ref name="Silva1983"/>

The empire's push into the [[Amazon Basin]] near the [[Chinchipe River]] was stopped by the [[Shuar people|Shuar]] in 1527.<ref name="Salazar1977">{{cite book |author=Ernesto Salazar |title=An Indian federation in lowland Ecuador |url=http://www.iwgia.org/iwgia_files_publications_files/0106_28Ecuador.pdf |access-date=16 February 2013 |date=1977 |publisher=[[International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs]] |page=13}}</ref> The empire extended into corners of what are today the north of Argentina and part of the southern Colombia. However, most of the southern portion of the Inca empire, the portion denominated as Qullasuyu, was located in the [[Altiplano]].

The Inca Empire was an amalgamation of languages, cultures and peoples. The components of the empire were not all uniformly loyal, nor were the local cultures all fully integrated. The Inca empire as a whole had an economy based on exchange and taxation of luxury goods and labour. The following quote describes a method of taxation:

<blockquote>For as is well known to all, not a single village of the highlands or the plains failed to pay the tribute levied on it by those who were in charge of these matters. There were even provinces where, when the natives alleged that they were unable to pay their tribute, the Inca ordered that each inhabitant should be obliged to turn in every four months a large quill full of live lice, which was the Inca's way of teaching and accustoming them to pay tribute.<ref name="StarnKirk2009">{{cite book |first1=Orin |last1=Starn |first2=Carlos Iván |last2=Kirk |first3=Carlos Iván |last3=Degregori |title=The Peru Reader: History, Culture, Politics |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=YyNo4Nsh_qQC}} |date=2009 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8223-8750-3}}</ref></blockquote>

=== First contact ===
'''[[Aleixo Garcia]]''' (died 1525) was a [[Portuguese maritime exploration|Portuguese explorer]] and [[conquistador]]. He was a [[castaway]] who lived in Brazil and explored Paraguay and Bolivia. On a raiding expedition with a [[Guaraní people|Guaraní]] army, Garcia and a few colleagues were the first Europeans known to have come into contact with the Inca Empire.

=== Inca Civil War and Spanish conquest ===
{{Main|Inca Civil War|Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire}}
[[File:Capitulo-XXXVIII.jpg|thumb|The first image of the Inca in Europe, [[Pedro Cieza de León]], ''Crónica del Perú'', 1553]]
[[File:Sapa inkakuna.jpg|thumb|[[Capaccona]] or ''Qhapaqkuna'' "the kings", a 17th-century Cusco painting with the Inca lineages mentioned by colonial chronicles and their relationship with the royal queens of Cuzco, which hide behind a complex representation of the Inca social organization.]]

Spanish [[conquistadors]] led by [[Francisco Pizarro]] and his brothers explored south from what is today [[Panama]], reaching Inca territory by 1526.<ref>*{{cite web |author=Juan de Samano |url=http://bloknot.info/juan-de-samanos-relacion-de-los-primeros-descubrimientos-peru-francisco-pizarro-y-diego-de-almagro-1526/ |title=Relacion de los primeros descubrimientos de Francisco Pizarro y Diego de Almagro, 1526 |website=bloknot.info |date=9 October 2009 |access-date=10 October 2009 |archive-date=18 December 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121218162839/http://bloknot.info/juan-de-samanos-relacion-de-los-primeros-descubrimientos-peru-francisco-pizarro-y-diego-de-almagro-1526/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was clear that they had reached a wealthy land with prospects of great treasure, and after another expedition in 1529 Pizarro traveled to Spain and received royal approval to conquer the region and be its [[viceroy]]. This approval was received as detailed in the following quote: "In July 1529 the [[Isabella of Portugal|Queen of Spain]] signed a charter allowing Pizarro to conquer the Incas. Pizarro was named governor and captain of all conquests in Peru, or New Castile, as the Spanish now called the land".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Somervill |first=Barbara |title=Francisco Pizarro: Conqueror of the Incas |publisher=[[Capstone Publishers|Compass Point Books]] |date=2005 |page=52 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=j-FusDo4ssoC}} |isbn=978-0-7565-1061-9}}</ref>

When the conquistadors returned to Peru in 1532, a [[Inca Civil War|war of succession]] between the sons of [[Sapa Inca]] Huayna Capac, [[Huáscar]] and [[Atahualpa]], and unrest among newly conquered territories weakened the empire. Perhaps more importantly [[smallpox]], [[influenza]], [[typhus]] and [[measles]] had potentially spread from Central America. The first epidemic of European disease in the Inca Empire possibly happened in the 1520s, killing Huayna Capac, his designated heir [[Ninan Cuyochi]], and an unknown, probably large, number of other Inca subjects.<ref name="D'Altroy">{{cite book |last1=D'Altroy |first1=Terence N. |title=The Incas |date=2003 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell Publishing]] |isbn=9780631176770 |page=76}}</ref> This claim has been disputed, with the earliest written accounts of Huayan Capac's death not fully agreeing on the cause, early chroniclers like [[Francisco Xerez|Francisco de Xerez]] having simply describing it as "that disease".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Why Blame Smallpox? The Death of the Inca Huayna Capac and the Demographic Destruction of Ancient Peru (Tawantinsuyu) |url=https://users.pop.umn.edu/~rmccaa/aha2004/whypox.htm |access-date=2025-09-28 |website=users.pop.umn.edu}}</ref>

The forces led by Pizarro consisted of 168 men, along with one [[cannon]] and 27 [[horse]]s. The conquistadors were armed with [[lance]]s, [[arquebus]]es, [[Plate armour|steel armor]] and [[Rapier|long swords]]. In contrast, the Inca 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. In addition, due to the absence of horses in Peru, the Inca did not develop tactics to fight cavalry. However, the Inca were still effective warriors, being able to successfully [[Battle of the Maule|fight]] the [[Mapuche]], who later would [[Arauco War|strategically defeat]] and [[Destruction of the Seven Cities|reverse Spanish colonisation]] in [[Zona Sur|southern Chile]].

The first engagement between the Inca and the Spanish was the [[Battle of Puná]], near present-day [[Guayaquil]], Ecuador, on the Pacific Coast; Pizarro then founded the city of [[Piura]] in July 1532. [[Hernando de Soto (explorer)|Hernando de Soto]] was sent inland to explore the interior and returned with an invitation to meet the Inca, Atahualpa, who had defeated his brother in the civil war and was resting at [[Cajamarca]] with his army of 80,000 troops, that were at the moment armed only with hunting tools (knives and lassos for hunting llamas).

Pizarro and some of his men, most notably a friar named [[Vincente de Valverde]], met with the Inca, who had brought only a small retinue. The Inca offered them ceremonial [[chicha]] in a golden cup, which the Spanish rejected. The Spanish interpreter, Friar Vincente, read the "[[Requerimiento]]" that demanded that he and his empire accept the rule of King [[Charles I of Spain]] and convert to Christianity. Atahualpa dismissed the message and asked them to leave. After this, the Spanish began their [[Battle of Cajamarca|attack]] against the mostly unarmed Inca, captured Atahualpa as hostage, and forced the Inca to collaborate.

Atahualpa offered the Spaniards enough gold to fill the [[The Ransom Room|room he was imprisoned in]] and twice that amount of silver. The Inca fulfilled this ransom, but Pizarro deceived them, refusing to release the Inca afterwards. During Atahualpa's imprisonment, Huascar was assassinated elsewhere. The Spaniards maintained that this was at Atahualpa's orders; this was used as one of the charges against Atahualpa when the Spaniards finally executed him in August 1533.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=79}}

Although "defeat" often implies an unwanted loss in battle, many of the diverse ethnic groups ruled by the Inca "welcomed the Spanish invaders as liberators and willingly settled down with them to share rule of Andean farmers and miners".<ref>{{Cite book |title=Technology, Disease, and Colonial Conquest |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |date=2003 |editor-last=Raudzens |editor-first=George |page=xiv}}</ref> Many regional leaders, known as [[kuraka]]s, continued to serve the Spanish overlords, called [[Encomiendas in Peru|encomenderos]], as they had served the Inca overlords. Other than efforts to spread the religion of [[Christianity]], the Spanish benefited from and made little effort to change the society and culture of the former Inca Empire until the rule of [[Francisco de Toledo]] as [[viceroy]] from 1569 to 1581.<ref>Mumford, Jeremy Ravi (2012), ''Vertical Empire,'' [[Duke University Press]], Durham, pages 19–30, 56–57, ISBN 9780822353102.</ref>

=== End of the Inca Empire ===
{{Main|Neo-Inca State|Criollo people#Spanish colonial caste system{{!}}Society in the Spanish Colonial Americas}}
[[File:Luis Montero - The Funerals of Inca Atahualpa - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|Atahualpa, the last [[Sapa Inca]] of the empire, was executed by the Spanish on 29 August 1533. [[Los funerales de Atahualpa|Painting]] by [[Luis Montero Cáceres|Luis Montero]].]]
[[File:Cusco - Qoricancha - panoramio (1).jpg|thumb|Facade of the [[Church and Convent of Santo Domingo, Cusco|Church and Convent of Santo Domingo]] in [[Cusco]], built on the base of the [[Coricancha]]]]

The Spanish installed Atahualpa's brother [[Manco Inca Yupanqui]] in power; for some time Manco cooperated with the Spanish while they fought to put down resistance in the north. Meanwhile, an associate of Pizarro, [[Diego de Almagro]], attempted to claim Cusco. Manco tried to use this intra-Spanish feud to his advantage, recapturing Cusco in 1536, but the Spanish retook the city afterwards. Manco Inca then retreated to the mountains of [[Vilcabamba, Peru|Vilcabamba]] and established the small [[Neo-Inca State]], where he and his successors ruled for another 36 years, sometimes raiding the Spanish or inciting revolts against them. In 1572 the last Inca stronghold was conquered and the last ruler, [[Túpac Amaru|Topa Amaru]], Manco's son, was captured and executed.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=31}} This ended resistance to the Spanish conquest under the political authority of the Inca state.

After the fall of the Inca Empire many aspects of Inca culture were systematically destroyed, including their sophisticated farming system, known as the [[vertical archipelago]] model of agriculture.{{sfn|Sanderson|1992|p=76}} Spanish colonial officials used the Inca [[Mita (Inca)|mita]] [[corvée]] labor system for colonial aims, sometimes brutally. One member of each family was forced to work in the gold and silver mines, the foremost of which was the titanic silver mine at [[Potosí]]. When a family member died, which would usually happen within a year or two, the family was required to send a replacement.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wiedner |first=Donald L. |date=April 1960 |title=Forced Labor in Colonial Peru |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/americas/article/abs/forced-labor-in-colonial-peru/5CD045C2F4DE84F1815BC31EDCB62521 |journal=The Americas |language=en |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=357–383 |doi=10.2307/978993 |jstor=978993 |s2cid=147198034 |issn=0003-1615|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Although [[smallpox]] is usually presumed to have spread through the Empire before the arrival of the Spaniards, the devastation is also consistent with other theories.<ref>{{Cite book |title=El Niño, Catastrophism, and Culture Change in Ancient America |first1=Daniel H. |last1=Sandweiss |first2=Jeffrey |last2=Quilter |url=https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php? |access-date=7 August 2022 |series=Dumbarton Oaks Other Titles in Pre-Columbian Studies |date=31 January 2009 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=9780884023531 |language=en}}</ref> Beginning in Colombia, smallpox spread rapidly before the Spanish invaders first arrived in the empire. The spread was probably aided by the efficient Inca road system. Smallpox was only the first epidemic.<ref>[http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/orlow-e.html Millersville University ''Silent Killers of the New World''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103220859/http://muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/papers/orlow-e.html |date=3 November 2006}}</ref> Other diseases, including a probable [[typhus]] outbreak in 1546, [[influenza]] and [[smallpox]] together in 1558, smallpox again in 1589, [[diphtheria]] in 1614, and [[measles]] in 1618, all ravaged the Inca people.

There would be periodic attempts by indigenous leaders to expel the Spanish colonists and re-create the Inca Empire until the late 18th century. See [[Juan Santos Atahualpa]] and [[Túpac Amaru II]].

== Society ==
{{Main|Inca society|Inca education}}

=== Population ===
The number of people inhabiting Tawantinsuyu at its peak is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 4–37{{nbsp}}million. Most population estimates are in the range of 6 to 14{{nbsp}}million. In spite of the fact that the Inca 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.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=93–96, The 10 million population estimate in the info box is a mid-range estimate of the population.}}

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Quechua languages}}

The empire was linguistically diverse. Some of the most important languages were [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], [[Aymara language|Aymara]], [[Puquina language|Puquina]] and [[Mochica language|Mochica]], respectively mainly spoken in the Central Andes, the [[Altiplano]] ([[Qullasuyu]]), the south coast ([[Kuntisuyu]]), and the area of the north coast ([[Chinchaysuyu]]) around [[Chan Chan]], today [[Trujillo, Peru|Trujillo]]. Other languages included [[Quignam language|Quignam]], [[Jaqaru language|Jaqaru]], [[Leco language|Leco]], [[Uru-Chipaya languages]], [[Kunza language|Kunza]], [[Humahuaca language|Humahuaca]], [[Cacán language|Cacán]], [[Mapuche language|Mapudungun]], [[Culle language|Culle]], [[Extinct languages of the Marañón River basin#Chacha|Chachapoya]], [[Catacao languages]], [[Manta language (Ecuador)|Manta]], [[Barbacoan languages]], and [[Cañari–Puruhá languages|Cañari–Puruhá]] as well as numerous Amazonian languages on the frontier regions. The exact linguistic topography of the pre-Columbian and early colonial Andes remains incompletely understood, owing to the extinction of several languages and the loss of historical records.

In order to manage this diversity, the Inca lords promoted the usage of [[Quechua languages|Quechua]], especially [[:es:Quechua costeño|the variety of what is now Lima]],<ref>Torero Fernández de Córdoba, Alfredo, (1970), "Lingüística e historia de la Sociedad Andina", Anales Científicos de la Universidad Agraria, VIII, 3-4, pp. 249–251, Lima: UNALM.</ref> as the [[official language]] or [[lingua franca]]. Defined by mutual intelligibility, Quechua is actually a family of languages rather than one single language, parallel to the Romance or Slavic languages in Europe. Most communities within the empire, even those resistant to Inca rule, learned to speak a variety of Quechua (forming new regional varieties with distinct phonetics) in order to communicate with the Inca lords and mitma colonists, as well as the wider integrating society, but largely retained their native languages as well. The Incas also had their own ethnic language, which is thought to have been closely related to or a dialect of [[Puquina language|Puquina]].

There are several common misconceptions about the history of Quechua, as it is frequently identified as the "Inca language". Quechua did not originate with the Incas, had been a lingua franca in multiple areas before the Inca expansions, was diverse before the rise of the Incas, and it was not the native or original language of the Incas. However, the Incas left a linguistic legacy in that they introduced Quechua to many areas where it is still widely spoken today, including Ecuador, southern Bolivia, southern Colombia, and parts of the Amazon basin. The Spanish conquerors continued the official usage of Quechua during the early colonial period and transformed it into a literary language.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Sounds/Quechua/QuechuaOriginsAndDiversity.htm |title=Origins And Diversity of Quechua |website=quechua.org.uk}}</ref>

The Incas were not known to develop a written form of language; however, they visually recorded narratives through paintings on vases and cups ([[qiru]]s).<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Comparing chronicles and Andean visual texts  |url=http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/chungara/v46n1/art06.pdf |journal=[[Chungara (journal)|Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena]] |volume=46, Nº 1, 2014 |pages=91–113}}</ref> These paintings are usually accompanied by geometric patterns known as toqapu, which are also found in textiles. Researchers have speculated that toqapu patterns could have served as a form of written communication (e.g. heraldry or glyphs), however, this remains unclear.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Royal Tocapu in Guacan Poma: An Inca Heraldic? |journal=Boletin de Arqueologia PUCP |date=11 April 2004 |volume=Nº 8 |issue=8 |pages=305–323 |last1=Eeckhout |first1=Peter |doi=10.18800/boletindearqueologiapucp.200401.016 |s2cid=190129569 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Incas also kept records by using [[quipu]]s.

=== Age and defining gender ===
[[File:Llullaillaco mummies in Salta city, Argentina.jpg|thumb|"The Maiden", one of the [[Llullaillaco mummies]]. Inca human sacrifice, [[Salta province]] ([[Argentina]]).]]

The high infant mortality rates that plagued the Inca Empire caused all newborn infants to be given the term ''wawa'' when they were born.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Most families did not invest very much into their child until they reached the age of two or three years old. Once the child reached the age of three, a "coming of age" ceremony occurred, called the ''rutuchikuy''. For the Incas, this ceremony indicated that the child had entered the stage of "ignorance". During this ceremony, the family would invite all relatives to their house for food and dance, and then each member of the family would receive a lock of hair from the child. After each family member had received a lock, the father would shave the child's head. This stage of life was categorized by a stage of "ignorance, inexperience, and lack of reason, a condition that the child would overcome with time".<ref name=":1">Covey, R. Alan (1947). "Inca Gender Relations: from household to empire". In Brettell, Caroline; Sargent, Carolyn F. (eds.), ''Gender in cross-cultural perspective'', (7th ed.) {{ISBN|978-0-415-78386-6}} {{OCLC|962171839}}.</ref> For Inca society, in order to advance from the stage of ignorance to development the child must learn the roles associated with their gender.

The next important ritual was to celebrate the maturity of a child. Unlike the coming of age ceremony, the celebration of maturity signified the child's sexual potency. This celebration of puberty was called ''warachikuy'' for boys and ''qikuchikuy'' for girls. The ''warachikuy'' ceremony included dancing, fasting, tasks to display strength, and family ceremonies. The boy would also be given new clothes and taught how to act as an unmarried man. The ''qikuchikuy'' signified the onset of menstruation, upon which the girl would go into the forest alone and return only once the bleeding had ended. In the forest she would fast, and, once returned, the girl would be given a new name, adult clothing, and advice. This "folly" stage of life was the time young adults were allowed to have sex without being a parent.<ref name=":1" />

Between the ages of 20 and 30, people were considered young adults, "ripe for serious thought and labor".<ref name=":1" /> Young adults were able to retain their youthful status by living at home and assisting in their home community. Young adults only reached full maturity and independence once they had married.

At the end of life, the terms for men and women denote loss of sexual vitality and humanity. Specifically, the "decrepitude" stage signifies the loss of mental well-being and further physical decline.

{| class="wikitable"
| colspan="4" |Table 7.1 from R. Alan Covey's Article<ref name=":1" />
|-
|'''Age'''
|'''Social Value of Life Stage'''
|'''Female Term'''
|'''Male Term'''
|-
|<  3
|Conception
|Wawa
|Wawa
|-
|3–7
|Ignorance (not speaking)
|Warma
|Warma
|-
|7–14
|Development
|Thaski (or P'asña)
|Maqt'a
|-
|14–20
|Folly (sexually active)
|Sipas (unmarried)
|Wayna (unmarried)
|-
|20+
|Maturity (body and mind)
|Warmi
|Qhari
|-
|70
|Infirmity
|Paya
|Machu
|-
|90
|Decrepitude
|Ruku
|Ruku
|}

[[:fr:Louis Baudin|Louis Baudin]] present in his book [[Daily Life in Peru Under the Last Incas]] another classification based on the ability to work for each age:

{| class="wikitable"
|+ The division by age in the Inca empire from the book [[Daily Life in Peru Under the Last Incas]] page 103-104<ref name=Daily>{{cite book |last1=Baudin |first1=Luis |title=Daily Life in Peru Under the Last Incas |date=1962 |publisher=The Macmillan company |location=New York |pages=103–104 |url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinperubaudin/page/103/mode/2up |access-date=28 May 2025}}</ref>
|-
! Age !! Definition
|-
| 0-1 years || The baby in its cradle
|-
| 1-5 years || The child who plays
|-
| 5-9 years || The child who walks
|-
| 9-12 years || The child who chases birds from the maize fields
|-
| 12-18 years || The lama shepherd and the manual apprentice
|-
| 18-25 years || The man who aids his parents in all kinds of work
|-
| 25-50 || The adult tributary
|-
| 50-60 || The old man still able to do some work
|-
| 60+ || The sleepy old man only able to give advices
|}

The category of "The sleepy old man only able to give advices" included also men non capable to work.<ref name=Daily/>

=== Marriage ===
In the Inca Empire, the age of marriage differed for men and women: men typically married at the age of 20, while women usually got married about four years earlier at the age of 16.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/incaslordsofgold00time |title=Incas: lords of gold and glory |date=1992 |publisher=Time-Life Books |isbn=0-8094-9870-7 |oclc=25371192}}</ref> Men who were highly ranked in society could have multiple wives, but those lower in the ranks could only take a single wife.<ref>Gouda, F. (2008), Colonial Encounters, Body Politics, and Flows of Desire, Journal of Women's History, 20(3), 166–180.</ref> Marriages were typically within classes and resembled a more business-like agreement. Once married, the women were expected to cook, collect food and watch over the children and livestock.<ref name=":0" /> Girls and mothers would also work around the house to keep it orderly to please the public inspectors.<ref>Gerard, K. (1997), Ancient Lives, New Moon, 4(4), 44.</ref> These duties remained the same even after wives became pregnant and with the added responsibility of praying and making offerings to Kanopa, who was the god of pregnancy.<ref name=":0" /> It was typical for marriages to begin on a trial basis with both men and women having a say in the longevity of the marriage. If the man felt that it would not work out or if the woman wanted to return to her parents' home the marriage would end. Once the marriage was final, the only way the two could be divorced was if they did not have a child together.<ref name=":0" /> Marriage within the Empire was crucial for survival. A family was considered disadvantaged if there was not a married couple at the center because everyday life centered around the balance of male and female tasks.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/incasthepeopleso00tere |title=The Incas |last=D'Altroy |first=Terence N. |date=2002 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=0-631-17677-2 |oclc=46449340}}</ref>

=== Gender roles ===
[[File:The Shapa Inka and his wife traveling the Qhapaq Ñan, 1615.jpg|thumb|The Inka and his wife, the [[Qoya|Quya]], traveling the Qhapaq Ñan.]]

According to some historians, such as Terence N. D'Altroy, male and female roles were considered equal in Inca society. The "indigenous cultures saw the two genders as complementary parts of a whole".<ref name=":3" /> In other words, there was not a hierarchical structure in the domestic sphere for the Incas. Within the domestic sphere, women came to be known as weavers, although there is significant evidence to suggest that this gender role did not appear until colonizing Spaniards realized women's productive talents in this sphere and used it to their economic advantage. There is evidence to suggest that both men and women contributed equally to the weaving tasks in pre-Hispanic Andean culture.<ref name=":4" /> Women's everyday tasks included: spinning, watching the children, weaving cloth, cooking, brewing chichi, preparing fields for cultivation, planting seeds, bearing children, harvesting, weeding, hoeing, herding, and carrying water.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Moon, sun, and witches: gender ideologies and class in Inca and colonial Peru |first=Irene |last=Silverblatt |date=1987 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=0-691-07726-6 |oclc=14165734}}</ref> Men on the other hand, "weeded, plowed, participated in combat, helped in the harvest, carried firewood, built houses, herded llama and alpaca, and spun and wove when necessary".<ref name=":2" /> This relationship between the genders may have been complementary. Onlooking Spaniards believed women were treated like slaves, because women did not work in Spanish society to the same extent, and certainly did not work in fields.<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of the Inca Empire: an account of the Indians' customs and their origin, together with a treatise on Inca legends, history, and social institutions |last=Cobo |first=Bernabé |date=1979 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=0-292-73008-X |oclc=4933087 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofincaemp0000cobo}}</ref>  Women were sometimes allowed to own land and herds because inheritance was passed down from both the mother's and father's side of the family.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Daily life in the Inca empire |first=Michael Andrew |last=Malpass |date=1996 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |isbn=0-313-29390-2 |oclc=33405288}}</ref> Kinship within the Inca society followed a parallel line of descent. In other words, women descended from women and men descended from men. Due to the parallel descent, a woman had access to land and other assets through her mother.<ref name=":2" />

=== Education ===
{{Main|Inca education}}
[[File:Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui es.gif|thumb|Representation of the Inca worldview]]

Access to formal education in Incan society was limited to children of the central nobility and certain levels of the [[Kuraka|curacal]] ({{Lang|qu|hatun}} curaca). They attended the {{Lang|qu|yachaywasi}} (house of knowledge) in Cusco to learn from the {{Lang|qu|[[amauta]]s}} (wises) and the {{Lang|qu|haravicus}} (poets). They learned languages, accounting, astronomy, about wars and political application strategies. The non-formalized education for the {{Lang|qu|hatun runas}} was given in daily life, in practice; it was also given in the assemblies of the ayllu or {{Lang|qu|camachico}}, where they were taught the three moral and legal principles: {{Lang|qu|ama quella}} (don't be lazy), {{Lang|qu|ama sua}} (don't steal) and {{Lang|qu|ama llulla}} (don't lie).<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Incas |url=https://archive.org/details/incas0000davi |url-access=registration |last=Davies |first=Nigel |publisher=[[University Press of Colorado]] |date=1995 |pages=103–104 |isbn=978-0-87081-360-3}}</ref>

=== Burial customs ===
Due to the dry climate that extends from modern-day Peru to what is now Chile's [[Norte Grande]], [[mummification]] occurred naturally by [[desiccation]]. It is believed that the ancient Incas learned to mummify their dead to show reverence to their leaders and representatives.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Heaney |first1=Christopher |title=The Fascinating Afterlife of Peru's Mummies |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/fascinating-afterlife-perus-mummies-180956319/ |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> Mummification was chosen to preserve the body and to give others the opportunity to worship them in their death. The ancient Inca believed in reincarnation, so preservation of the body was vital for passage into the afterlife.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Tom Garlinghouse |date=15 July 2020 |title=Mummification: The lost art of embalming the dead |url=https://www.livescience.com/mummification.html |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref> Since mummification was reserved for royalty, this entailed preserving power by placing the deceased's valuables with the body in places of honor. The bodies remained accessible for ceremonies where they would be removed and celebrated with.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Heaney |first1=Christopher |title=The Fascinating Afterlife of Peru's Mummies |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/fascinating-afterlife-perus-mummies-180956319/ |access-date=2 August 2022 |website=smithsonianmag.com |language=en}}</ref> The ancient Inca mummified their dead with various tools. [[Chicha]] corn beer was used to delay [[decomposition]] and the effects of bacterial activity on the body. The bodies were then stuffed with natural materials such as vegetable matter and animal hair. Sticks were used to maintain their shape and poses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Emma J. |date=22 May 2018 |title=Comparing Mummification Processes: Egyptian & Inca |url=https://exarc.net/issue-2018-2/ea/comparing-mummification-processes-egyptian-inca |journal=EXARC Journal |language=en |issue=EXARC Journal Issue 2018/2 |issn=2212-8956}}</ref> In addition to the mummification process, the Inca would bury their dead in the fetal position inside a vessel intended to mimic the womb for preparation of their new birth. A ceremony would be held that included music, food, and drink for the relatives and loved ones of the deceased.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morveli |first=Fidelus Coraza |date=14 August 2018 |title=Funeral Rites in Inca Times |url=http://cuzcoeats.com/funeral-rites-in-inca-times/ |access-date=4 August 2022 |website=cuzcoeats.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== Duality ===
The basic organizational principle of Inca society was duality or {{Lang|qu|[[yanantin]]}}, which was based on kinship relationships. The [[ayllu]]s were divided into two parts that could be Hanan or Hurin, Alaasa or Massaa, Uma or Urco, Allauca or Ichoc; according to [[Franklin Pease García Yrigoyen|Franklin Pease]], these terms were understood as "high or low," "right or left," "male or female," "inside or outside," "near or far," and "front or back."<ref name="pease"/> Though the specific functions of each part are unclear, it is documented that one leader was subordinate to the other, with [[María Rostworowski]] noting that in Cuzco, the upper half was more important, while in Ica, the lower half held more significance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vergara |first=Teresa |chapter=Tahuantinsuyo: El mundo de los Incas |editor=Teodoro Hampe Martínez |title=Historia del Perú. Incanato y conquista |date=2000 |publisher=Lexus |isbn=9972-625-35-4}}</ref> Pease also points out that both halves were integrated through reciprocity. In Cuzco, "Hanan" and "Hurin" were opposites yet complementary, like human hands in the {{Lang|qu|yanantin}}.<ref name="pease"/>

==Religion==
{{Main|Religion in the Inca Empire|Inca mythology}}
[[File:Cabeza de Viracocha, Museo de América.jpg|thumb|upright|Diorite [[Viracocha]] Inca sculpture from Amarucancha archeological site, [[Cusco]]]]

Inca myths were [[Oral tradition|transmitted orally]] until early Spanish colonists recorded them; however, some scholars claim that they were recorded on [[quipu]]s, Andean knotted string records.<ref name="Urton2009">{{cite book |first=Gary |last=Urton |title=Signs of the Inka Khipu: Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=koUyPlsu_VIC}} |date=2009 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0-292-77375-2}}</ref>

The Inca believed in [[reincarnation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.netside.net/~manomed/inca.htm |title=The Incas of Peru |access-date=15 October 2007 |archive-date=4 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104162011/http://www.netside.net/~manomed/inca.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2025}} After death, the passage to the next world was fraught with difficulties. The spirit of the dead, ''camaquen,'' would need to follow a long road and during the trip the assistance of a black dog that could see in the dark was required. Most Incas imagined the after world to be like an earthly paradise with flower-covered fields and snow-capped mountains.

It was important to the Inca that they not die as a result of burning or that the body of the deceased not be incinerated. Burning would cause their vital force to disappear and threaten their passage to the after world. The Inca nobility practiced [[cranial deformation]].<ref name="BurgerSalazar2004">{{cite book |first1=Richard L. |last1=Burger |first2=Lucy C. |last2=Salazar |title=Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=bBHrWwtr_pYC|page=4}} |date=2004 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-09763-4}}</ref> They wrapped tight cloth straps around the heads of newborns to shape their soft skulls into a more conical form, thus distinguishing the nobility from other social classes.

The Incas made [[human sacrifice]]s. As many as 4,000 servants, court officials, favorites and concubines were killed upon the death of the Inca [[Huayna Capac]] in 1527.<ref name="Davies1981">{{cite book |first=Nigel |last=Davies |title=Human sacrifice: in history and today |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=vaGAAAAAMAAJ|page=261}} |date=1981 |publisher=Morrow |isbn=978-0-688-03755-0 |author-link=Nigel Davies (historian) |pages=261–262}}</ref> The Incas performed child sacrifices around important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca or during a famine. These sacrifices were known as ''capacocha'' or ''[[qhapaq hucha]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reinhard |first=Johan |title=A 6,700 metros niños incas sacrificados quedaron congelados en el tiempo |journal=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic, Spanish version]] |pages=36–55 |date=November 1999}}</ref>

The Incas were [[Polytheism|polytheists]] who worshipped many gods. These included:
* [[Viracocha]] (''Wiraqucha'') (also Pachacamac or ''Pacha Kamaq'') – Created all living things
* [[Apu Illapu]] – Rain god, prayed to when they need rain
* [[Ayar Cachi]] – Hot-tempered god, causes earthquakes
* [[Illapa]] – Goddess of lightning and thunder (also Yakumama, goddess of water)
* [[Inti]] – Sun god and patron deity of the holy city of Cusco (home of the sun)
* Kuychi – Rainbow god, connected with fertility
* [[Mama Killa]] – Means "Mother Moon", wife of Inti
* [[Mama Occlo|Mama Ocllo]] (''Mama Uqllu'') – Created wisdom to civilize the people, taught women to weave cloth and build houses
* [[Manco Cápac|Manco Capac]] (''Manqu Qhapaq'') – Known for his courage and sent to Earth to become first king of the Incas. Taught people how to grow plants, make weapons, work together, share resources and worship the other gods
* [[Pachamama]] – Goddess of earth and wife of Viracocha. People give her offerings of coca leaves and beer and pray to her for major agricultural occasions
* Quchamama – meaning "lake mother", represents the goddess of the sea
* Sachamama – meaning "tree mother", represented as a snake with two heads
* [[Yacumama|Yakumama]] – meaning "water mother", represented as a snake, transformed into a great river (also Illapa) when she came to Earth.

According to [[Inca mythology]], there were three different worlds created by Viracocha:<ref>{{cite journal |last=Heydt-Coca |first=Magda von der |title=When Worlds Collide: The Incorporation Of The Andean World Into The Emerging World-Economy In The Colonial Period |journal=Dialectical Anthropology |date=1999 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.1023/A:1006918114083 }}</ref>
* [[Pacha (Inca mythology)|Hanan Pacha]] (upper world, celestial or supraterrestrial): Reserved for the righteous, it was inhabited by gods and accessible only through a bridge of hair. It was symbolized by the [[condor]]
* [[Pacha (Inca mythology)|Kay Pacha]] (world of the present and here): The earthly world where humans live, represented by the [[Puma (genus)|puma]].
* [[Pacha (Inca mythology)|Uku Pacha]] (world below or world of the dead): Involving the dead and everything below the earth's surface, it was ruled by [[Supay]] and symbolized by the [[Serpent symbolism|serpent]].

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of the Inca Empire|Inca agriculture|Vertical archipelago|Mit'a|Qullqa}}
[[File:Trabajo-inca8.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration of [[Incan agriculture|Inca farmers]] using a ''chaki taklla'' (Andean foot plough) in ''[[El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno]]'' (ca. 1615) by [[Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala]].]]

The Inca Empire employed [[central planning]]. Coastal chiefdoms within the Inca Empire punctually traded with outside regions, although they did not operate a substantial internal [[market economy]]. While [[axe-monies]] were used along the northern coast, where the custom of reciprocity was not in place,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rostworowski |first=María |title=History of the Inca Realm |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1999 |language=en |translator-last=B. Iceland |translator-first=Harry}}</ref> presumably by the provincial ''mindaláe'' trading class,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Salomon|first=Frank|date=1 January 1987|title=A North Andean Status Trader Complex under Inka Rule|jstor=482266|journal=Ethnohistory|volume=34|issue=1|pages=63–77|doi=10.2307/482266}}</ref> most households in the empire lived in a [[traditional economy]] in which households were required to pay tributes, usually in the form of the [[mit'a|mit’a]] [[corvée]] labor, and military obligations,<ref>Earls, J. The Character of Inca and Andean Agriculture. pp. 1–29</ref> though barter (or ''trueque'') was present in some areas.{{sfn|Moseley|2001|p=44}} In return, the state provided security, food in times of hardship through the supply of emergency resources, agricultural projects (e.g. aqueducts and terraces) to increase productivity and occasional feasts hosted by Inca officials for their subjects. While mit’a was used by the state to obtain labor, individual villages had a pre-Inca system of communal work known as [[mink'a]]. This system survives to the modern day, known as ''mink'a'' or ''faena''. The economy rested on the material foundations of the [[vertical archipelago]], a system of ecological complementarity in accessing resources<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Murra |first1=John V. |last2=Rowe |first2=John Howland |date=1 January 1984 |title=An Interview with John V. Murra |jstor=2514748 |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=633–653 |doi=10.2307/2514748 |s2cid=222285111}}</ref> and the cultural foundation of ''[[ayni]]'', or [[Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)|reciprocal exchange]].<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Maffie |first=James |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781444314847 |title=A Companion to Latin American Philosophy |date=2009-12-04 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=978-1-4051-7979-9 |editor-last=Nuccetelli |editor-first=Susana |edition=1 |language=en |chapter=Pre-Columbian Philosophies |doi=10.1002/9781444314847 |editor-last2=Schutte |editor-first2=Ofelia |editor-last3=Bueno |editor-first3=Otávio |editor-link3=Otávio Bueno}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Newitz |first1=Annalee |author-link1=Annalee Newitz |title=The greatest mystery of the Inca Empire was its strange economy |publisher=[[io9]] |date=3 January 2012 |url=http://io9.com/5872764/the-greatest-mystery-of-the-inca-empire-was-its-strange-economy |access-date=4 January 2012 |archive-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210173914/http://io9.com/5872764/the-greatest-mystery-of-the-inca-empire-was-its-strange-economy |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
[[File:Pisac, Cuzco, Perú, 2015-07-31, DD 99.JPG|thumb|[[Andén|Andenes]] in the [[Sacred Valley]] of the Incas, near [[Písac|Pisac]], Cuzco.]]

It was the main economic activity in the Tawantinsuyu, followed by livestock raising. It was a mixed economy with agrarian technology based on ancestral knowledge such as the ''[[Andén|andenes]]'' (terraces), {{Lang|qu|wachaque}} (sunken fields), {{Lang|qu|[[waru waru]]}} (raised fields), ''qucha'' (artificial lakes); and the improvement of cultivation tools, like the ''chaquitaclla'' and the {{Lang|qu|raucana}}.<ref name ="hernandez">{{cite book |last=Hernández |first=Francisco |title=Los Incas y el poder de sus ancestros |date=2012 |publisher=Fondo Editorial de la PUCP}}</ref> The [[potato]] was the staple food with over 200 species and 5000 different varieties while [[corn]] and [[coca]] were considered sacred plants.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Graves, C. |title=La papa: tesoro de los andes: de la agricultura a la cultura |date=2000 |publisher=International Potato Center |url=https://cipotato.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/la_papa_tesoro_de_los_andess.pdf}}</ref>

They also built [[Agrobiology|agrobiological]] experimentation centers such as [[Moray (Inca ruin)|Moray]] (Cuzco), Castrovirreyna (Huancavelica) and Carania (Yauyos), through circular terraces where the products of the entire empire were reproduced.<ref name="hernandez"/>

=== Animal husbandry ===
{{Main|Inca animal husbandry}}
[[File:Lama3.jpg|thumb|Camelids were a vital resource in Tahuantinsuyo. The Inca state ensured a supply of both meat and fiber from these animals.]]

In pre-Hispanic [[Andes]], [[Camelidae|camelids]] played a crucial role in the economy. The domesticated species, [[llama]] and [[Vicugna pacos|alpaca]], were raised in large herds and used for various purposes within the Inca production system.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marín |first=Juan |title=Sistemática, taxonomía y domesticación de alpacas y llamas: nueva evidencia cromosómica y molecular |journal=Revista Chilena de Historia Natural |date=2007 |volume=80 |pages=121–140 |language=es |issue=2 |doi=10.4067/S0716-078X2007000200001 |doi-access=free|hdl=10533/178784 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Additionally, two wild camelid species, [[Vicugna vicugna|vicuña]] and [[Lama guanicoe|guanaco]], were also utilized. Vicuñas were hunted through collective drives (chacos), sheared with tools like stones, knives, and metal axes, and then released to maintain their population. Guanacos were hunted for their highly valued meat. Chronicles indicate that all camelid meat was consumed, but due to restrictions on slaughter, its consumption was likely considered a luxury. Fresh meat was probably accessible mainly to the military or during ceremonial occasions involving widespread distribution of sacrificed animals. During the colonial period, pastures diminished or degraded due to the massive presence of introduced Spanish animals and their feeding habits, significantly altering the Andean environment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rostworowski |first=María |url=http://incas.perucultural.org.pe/hisasp4a.htm |title=Historia del Tahuantinsuyo |publisher=Instituto de Estudios Peruanos |date=1995 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202133506/http://incas.perucultural.org.pe/hisasp4a.htm |archive-date=2 February 2009}}</ref>

== Government ==
{{Main|Government of the Inca Empire}}

=== {{anchor|Beliefs}}Beliefs ===
[[File:José Bernardo de Tagle Inti.svg|thumb|upright|[[Inti]], as represented by [[José Bernardo de Tagle]] of Peru]]

The Sapa Inca, the head of upper Cusco,<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Espinoza |first=Waldemar |title=Los Incas |publisher=Amaru Editores |date=1997 |edition=3 |page=297 |language=es |trans-title=The Incas}}</ref> was conceptualized as divine and was effectively head of the state religion. The ''[[Willaq Umu]]'' (or Chief Priest), the head of lower Cusco,<ref name=":5" /> was second to the emperor. Local religious traditions continued and in some cases such as the Oracle at [[Pachacamac]] on the coast, were officially venerated. Following Pachacuti, the Sapa Inca claimed descent from Inti, who placed a high value on imperial blood; by the end of the empire, it was common to [[incest]]uously wed brother and sister. He 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.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} The Sapa Inca also presided over ideologically important festivals, notably during the ''[[Inti Raymi]]'' or "Sun festival" attended by soldiers, mummified rulers, nobles, clerics and the general population of Cusco beginning on the June solstice and culminating nine days later with the ritual breaking of the earth using a foot plow by the Inca. Moreover, Cusco was considered cosmologically central, loaded as it was with ''huacas'' and radiating ''ceque'' lines as the geographic center of the Four-Quarters; [[Inca Garcilaso de la Vega]] called it "the navel of the universe".<ref>{{cite book |title=An Introduction to American Archaeology: South America |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=J6pGAAAAMAAJ}} |date=1966 |publisher=[[Prentice Hall]] |last=Willey |first=Gordon R. |pages=173–175}}</ref>{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=86–89, 111, 154–55}}{{sfn|Moseley|2001|pp=81–85}}{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=138–139}}

=== Organization of the empire ===
The Inca Empire was a decentralized government consisting of a central government with the Inca at its head and four regional quarters, or ''suyu'':
* [[Chinchay Suyu|Chinchay suyu]] (NW)
* [[Anti Suyu|Anti suyu]] (NE)
* [[Kunti Suyu|Kunti suyu]] (SW)
* [[Qulla Suyu|Qulla suyu]] (SE)

The four corners of these quarters met at the center, Cuzco. These ''suyu'' were likely created around 1460 during the reign of Pachacuti before the empire reached its largest territorial extent. At the time the ''suyu'' were established they were roughly of equal size and only later changed their proportions as the empire expanded north and south along the Andes.{{sfn|Steward|1946|p=262}}

Cuzco was likely not organized as a ''wamani'' or province. Rather, it was probably somewhat akin to a modern [[federal district]], like Washington, DC or Mexico City. The city sat at the center of the four ''suyu'' and served as the preeminent center of politics and religion. While Cusco was essentially governed by the Sapa Inca, his relatives and the royal ''panaqa'' lineages, each ''suyu'' was governed by an ''Apu'' a term of esteem used for men of high status and for venerated mountains. Both Cuzco as a district and the four ''suyu'' as administrative regions were grouped into upper ''hanan'' and lower ''hurin'' divisions. As the Inca did not have written records, it is impossible to exhaustively list the constituent ''wamani''. However, colonial records allow us to reconstruct a partial list. There were likely more than 86 ''wamani'', with more than 48 in the highlands and more than 38 on the coast.{{sfn|Steward|1946|pp=185–192}}{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=42–43, 86–89}}{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=113–114}}

==== Suyu ====
[[File:Inca Empire South America.png|thumb|upright|The four ''suyus'' or quarters of the empire]]

The most populous ''suyu'' was [[Chinchaysuyu]], which encompassed the former [[Chimor|Chimú Empire]] and much of the northern Andes. At its largest extent, it extended through much of what are now Ecuador and Colombia.

The largest ''suyu'' by area was [[Qullasuyu]], named after the [[Aymara language|Aymara]]-speaking [[Qulla people]]. It encompassed what is now the Bolivian [[Altiplano]] and much of the southern Andes, reaching what is now Argentina and as far south as the [[Maipo River|Maipo]] or [[Maule river]] in modern [[Incas in Central Chile|Central Chile]].<ref name="Dillehay1988">{{Cite book |last1=Dillehay |first1=T. |last2=Gordon |first2=A. |author-link1=Tom Dillehay |editor-first1=Tom |editor-last1=Dillehay |editor-first2=Patricia |editor-last2=Netherly |chapter=La actividad prehispánica y su influencia en la Araucanía |title=La frontera del estado Inca |chapter-url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=F9UuVyGcZ7MC}} |publisher=Editorial Abya Yala |isbn=978-9978-04-977-8 |date=1998}}</ref> Historian [[José Bengoa]] singled out [[Quillota]] as likely being the foremost Inca settlement in Chile.{{sfn|Bengoa|2003|pp=37–38}}

The second smallest ''suyu'', [[Antisuyu]], was northwest of Cusco in the high Andes. Its name is the root of the word "Andes".{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|p=87}}

[[Kuntisuyu]] was the smallest ''suyu'' located along the southern coast of modern Peru, extending into the highlands towards Cusco.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=87–88}}

=== Laws ===
The Inca state had no [[Judicial independence|separate judiciary]] or [[Code (law)|codified laws]]. Customs, expectations and traditional local power holders governed behavior. The state had legal force, such as through ''tukuy rikuq'' ({{lit|he who sees all}}) or inspectors. The highest such inspector, typically a blood relative to the Sapa Inca, acted independently of the conventional hierarchy, providing a point of view for the Sapa Inca free of bureaucratic influence.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=235–236}}

The Inca had three moral precepts that governed their behavior:{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}}
* ''Ama sua'': Do not steal
* ''Ama llulla'': Do not lie
* ''Ama quella'': Do not be lazy

=== Administration ===
Colonial sources are not entirely clear or in agreement about Inca government structure, such as exact duties and functions of government positions. But the basic structure can be broadly described. The top was the ''Sapa Inca'', who wore the {{lang|qu|[[maskaypacha]]}} as a symbol of power.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baudin |first=Louis |title=Daily Life in Peru under the Last of the Incas |date=1961 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]}}</ref> Below that may have been the ''Willaq Umu'', literally the "priest who recounts", the High Priest of the Sun.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|p=99}} However, beneath the ''Sapa Inca'' also sat the ''Inkap rantin'', who was a confidant and assistant to the ''Sapa Inca'', perhaps similar to a Prime Minister.<ref>{{cite journal |first=R. T. |last=Zuidema |title=Hierarchy and Space in Incaic Social Organization |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=30 |issue=2 |date=Spring 1983 |pages=49–75 |doi=10.2307/481241 |jstor=481241}}</ref> Starting with [[Topa Inca Yupanqui]], a "Council of the Realm" was composed of 16 nobles: 2 from ''hanan'' Cusco; 2 from ''hurin'' Cusco; 4 from Chinchaysuyu; 2 from Cuntisuyu; 4 from Collasuyu; and 2 from Antisuyu. This weighting of representation balanced the ''hanan'' and ''hurin'' divisions of the empire, both within Cuzco and within the Quarters (''hanan suyu'' and ''hurin suyu'').{{sfn|Zuidema|1983|p=48}}

While provincial [[bureaucracy]] and government varied greatly, the basic organization was decimal. Taxpayers – male heads of household of a certain age range – were organized into [[corvée labor]] units (often doubling as military units) that formed the state's muscle as part of [[mit'a]] service. Each unit of more than 100 tax-payers were headed by a ''kuraka'', while smaller units were headed by a ''kamayuq'', a lower, non-hereditary status. However, while ''kuraka'' status was hereditary and typically served for life, the position of a ''kuraka'' in the hierarchy was subject to change based on the privileges of superiors in the hierarchy; a ''pachaka kuraka'' could be appointed to the position by a ''waranqa kuraka''. Furthermore, one ''kuraka'' in each decimal level could serve as the head of one of the nine groups at a lower level, so that a ''pachaka kuraka'' might also be a ''waranqa kuraka'', in effect directly responsible for one unit of 100 tax-payers and less directly responsible for nine other such units.{{sfn|Julien|1982|pp=121–127}}{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=233–234}}{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=114–115}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Kuraka in Charge{{sfn|Julien|1982|p=123}}{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|p=233}} !! Number of Taxpayers
|-
| ''Hunu kuraka'' || 10,000
|-
| ''Pichkawaranqa kuraka'' || 5,000
|-
| ''Waranqa kuraka'' || 1,000
|-
| ''Pichkapachaka kuraka'' || 500
|-
| ''Pachaka kuraka'' || 100
|-
| ''Pichkachunka kamayuq'' || 50
|-
| ''Chunka kamayuq'' || 10
|}

== Culture ==
=== Monumental architecture ===
{{Main|Inca architecture}}

{{Quote box
 |width = 25em
 |quote = We can assure your majesty that it is so beautiful and has such fine buildings that it would even be remarkable in Spain.
 |source = [[Francisco Pizarro]]
 |quoted = 1
}}
{{Update|date=September 2024}}

Architecture was the most important of the Inca arts, with textiles reflecting architectural motifs. The most notable example is [[Machu Picchu]], which was constructed by [[Inca engineers]]. The prime Inca structures were made of stone blocks that fit together so well that a knife could not be fitted through the stonework. These constructs have survived for centuries, with no use of mortar to sustain them.

This process was first used on a large scale by the [[Pukara|Pucara]] ({{Circa|300 BC}}–AD 300) peoples to the south in [[Lake Titicaca]] and later in the city of [[Tiwanaku]] ({{Circa|AD 400}}–1100) in what is now Bolivia. The rocks were sculpted to fit together exactly by repeatedly lowering a rock onto another and carving away any sections on the lower rock where the dust was compressed. The tight fit and the concavity on the lower rocks made them extraordinarily stable, despite the ongoing challenge of earthquakes and volcanic activity.

=== Tunics ===
[[File:Tupa-inca-tunic.png|thumb|left|Tunic worn by an Inca of high rank, in vicuña wool and cotton (1450–1540), kept at the Washington [[Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://museum.doaks.org/objects-1/info/23071 |title=All T'oqapu Tunic |website=[[Dumbarton Oaks|Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection]]}}</ref>]]

Tunics were created by skilled Inca textile-makers as a piece of warm clothing, but they also symbolized cultural and political status and power. ''Cumbi'' was the fine, tapestry-woven woolen cloth that was produced and necessary for the creation of tunics. ''Cumbi'' was produced by specially-appointed women and men. Generally, textile-making was practiced by both men and women. As emphasized by certain historians, only with European conquest was it deemed that women would become the primary weavers in society, as opposed to Inca society where specialty textiles were produced by men and women equally.<ref name=":4">Karen B. Graubart (2000), "Weaving and the Construction of a Gender Division of Labor in Early Colonial Peru", ''The American Indian Quarterly'', 24, no. 4, pp. 537–561.</ref>

Complex patterns and designs were meant to convey information about order in [[Andean society]] as well as the Universe. Tunics could also symbolize one's relationship to ancient rulers or important ancestors. These textiles were frequently designed to represent the physical order of a society, for example, the flow of [[tribute]] within an empire. Many tunics have a "checkerboard effect" which is known as the ''collcapata''. According to historians Kenneth Mills, William B. Taylor, and Sandra Lauderdale Graham, the ''collcapata'' patterns "seem to have expressed concepts of commonality, and, ultimately, unity of all ranks of people, representing a careful kind of foundation upon which the structure of Inkaic universalism was built." Rulers wore various tunics throughout the year, switching them out for different occasions and feasts.

The symbols present within the tunics suggest the importance of "pictographic expression" within Inca and other Andean societies far before the iconographies of the Spanish Christians.<ref>Mills, Kenneth; Taylor, William B.; and Graham, Sandra Lauderdale, eds. ''Colonial Latin America - A Documentary History'', Denver, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002, pp. 14–18.</ref>

==== Uncu ====
[[Uncu (tunic)|Uncu]] was a men's garment similar to a tunic. It was an upper-body garment of knee-length; Royals wore it with a mantle cloth called ''[[Yacolla (garment)|yacolla]]''.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Cummins |first1=Thomas B. F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nrpDAgAAQBAJ&dq=uncu&pg=PA127 |title=The Getty Murua: Essays on the Making of Martin de Murua's "Historia General del Piru", J. Paul Getty Museum Ms. Ludwig XIII 16 |last2=Anderson |first2=Barbara |date=23 September 2008 |publisher=[[Getty Research Institute|Getty Publications]] |isbn=978-0-89236-894-5 |page=127 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Feltham |first=Jane |url=http://archive.org/details/peruviantextiles0000felt |title=Peruvian textiles |date=1989 |publisher=[[Aylesbury]] |isbn=978-0-7478-0014-9 |page=57}}</ref>

===Ceramics, precious metals and textiles===
[[File:Camelid Conopa, 1470-1532, 36.683.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Camelid Conopa, 1470–1532, [[Brooklyn Museum]]. Small stone figurines, or ''conopas'', of llamas and alpacas were the most common ritual effigies used in the highlands of modern-day Peru and Bolivia. These devotional objects were often buried in the animals' corrals to bring protection and prosperity to their owners and fertility to the herds. The cylindrical cavities in their backs were filled with offerings to the gods in the form of a mixture including animal fat, coca leaves, maize kernels and seashells. ]]

[[Ceramic art|Ceramics]] were painted using the polychrome technique portraying numerous motifs including animals, birds, waves, felines (popular in the [[Chavín culture|Chavin culture]]) and geometric patterns found in the [[Nazca]] style of ceramics. In a culture without a written language, ceramics portrayed the basic scenes of everyday life, including the smelting of metals, relationships and scenes of tribal warfare. The most distinctive Inca ceramic objects are the {{Lang|qu|urpu}} (Cuzco bottles or "aryballos"), mainly used for the production of [[chicha]].<ref name="HerreraBerrin1997">{{cite book |first1=Kathleen |last1=Berrin |title=The Spirit of Ancient Peru - Treasures from the Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=RbNuQgAACAAJ}} |date=1997 |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |isbn=978-0-500-01802-6}}</ref> Many of these pieces are on display in Lima in the [[Larco Museum|Larco Archaeological Museum]] and the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History.

Almost all of the gold and silver work of the Inca empire was melted down by the conquistadors and shipped back to Spain.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/lost-treasure-of-the-inca-2136548 |title=What Happened to the Treasure Hoard of the Inca Emperor? |last1=Minster |first1=Christopher |website=thoughtco.com |language=en |access-date=13 February 2019}}</ref>

=== Coca ===
[[File:Coca (Erythroxylum coca) en Meta (Colombia) 3.jpg|thumb|[[Coca]] leaves in [[Meta Department]], Colombia, approached by the Inca for many uses]]

The Incas revered the [[coca]] plant as sacred/magical. Its leaves were used in moderate amounts to lessen hunger and pain during work but were mostly used for religious and health purposes.<ref name="Boca Raton">{{cite news |title=Cocaine's use: From the Incas to the U.S. |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19850404&id=0B1UAAAAIBAJ&pg=6387,881236 |access-date=2 February 2014 |newspaper=[[Boca Raton News]] |date=4 April 1985}}</ref> The Spaniards took advantage of the effects of chewing coca leaves.<ref name="Boca Raton" /> The [[chasqui]]s, messengers who ran throughout the empire to deliver messages, chewed coca leaves for extra energy. Coca leaves were also used as an [[Anesthetic|anaesthetic]] during surgeries.

=== Banner of the Inca ===
{{Main|Wiphala|Rainbow flag#Andean indigenism}}
[[File:Suntur Paucar.svg|thumb|left|Two crowning snakes united by a rainbow without certain royal badge was used as the Inca sign according to Spanish chronicler [[Bernabé Cobo]]]]

Chronicles and references from the 16th and 17th centuries support the idea of a banner. However, it represented the Inca (emperor), not the empire.

Francisco López de Jerez<ref>Francisco López de Jerez,''Verdadera relación de la conquista del Peru y provincia de Cusco, llamada la Nueva Castilla'', 1534.</ref> wrote in 1534:
<blockquote>{{lang|es|italics=no|...{{nbsp}}todos venían repartidos en sus escuadras con sus banderas y capitanes que los mandan, con tanto concierto como turcos.}}<br />({{lang|en|...{{nbsp}}all of them came distributed into squads, with their flags and captains commanding them, as well-ordered as Turks.}})</blockquote>

Chronicler Bernabé Cobo wrote:
<blockquote>{{lang|en|The royal standard or banner was a small square flag, ten or twelve spans around, made of cotton or wool cloth, placed on the end of a long staff, stretched and stiff such that it did not wave in the air and on it each king painted his arms and emblems, for each one chose different ones, though the sign of the Incas was the rainbow and two parallel snakes along the width with the tassel as a crown, which each king used to add for a badge or blazon those preferred, like a lion, an eagle and other figures.}}

<br />({{Lang|es|italics=no|...{{nbsp}}el guión o estandarte real era una banderilla cuadrada y pequeña, de diez o doce palmos de ruedo, hecha de lienzo de algodón o de lana, iba puesta en el remate de una asta larga, tendida y tiesa, sin que ondease al aire, y en ella pintaba cada rey sus armas y divisas, porque cada uno las escogía diferentes, aunque las generales de los Incas eran el arco celeste y dos culebras tendidas a lo largo paralelas con la borda que le servía de corona, a las cuales solía añadir por divisa y blasón cada rey las que le parecía, como un león, un águila y otras figuras.}})<br />-<small>'''Bernabé Cobo, ''Historia del Nuevo Mundo''''' (1653)</small></blockquote>

[[Guaman Poma]]'s 1615 book, ''El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno'', shows numerous line drawings of Inca flags.<ref>Guaman Poma, ''El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno'', (1615/1616), pp. 256, 286, 344, 346, 400, 434, 1077, this pagination corresponds to the Det Kongelige Bibliotek search engine pagination of the book. Additionally Poma shows both well drafted European flags and coats of arms on pp. 373, 515, 558, 1077. On pp. 83, 167–171 Poma uses a European heraldic graphic convention, a shield, to place certain totems related to Inca leaders.</ref> In his 1847 book ''A History of the Conquest of Peru'', [[William H. Prescott]] says that in the Inca army each company had its particular banner and that the imperial standard, high above all, displayed the glittering device of the rainbow, the armorial ensign of the Incas."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Preble |first=George Henry |author2=Charles Edward Asnis |title=Origin and History of the American Flag and of the Naval and Yacht-Club Signals... |volume=1 |date=1917 |publisher=N. L. Brown |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=erYTAAAAYAAJ |page=85}}</ref> A 1917 world flags book says the Inca "heir-apparent ... was entitled to display the royal standard of the rainbow in his military campaigns."<ref>{{Cite book |last=McCandless |first=Byron |title=Flags of the world |url=https://archive.org/details/flagsworld00grosgoog |date=1917 |publisher=[[National Geographic Society]] |page=356}}</ref>

In modern times, the [[rainbow flag]] has been wrongly associated with the Tawantinsuyu and displayed as a symbol of Inca heritage by some groups in Peru and Bolivia. The city of Cusco also flies the Rainbow Flag, but as an official flag of the city. The Peruvian president [[Alejandro Toledo]] (2001–2006) flew the Rainbow Flag in [[Lima]]'s presidential palace. However, according to the Peruvian historiography, the Inca Empire never had a flag. Peruvian historian [[María Rostworowski]] said, "I bet my life, the Inca never had that flag, it never existed, no chronicler mentioned it".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://vidayestilo.terra.com.pe/bandera-gay-o-del-tahuantinsuyo,df4c7c1c09e4e210VgnVCM4000009bf154d0RCRD.html |title=¿Bandera gay o del Tahuantinsuyo? |date=19 April 2010 |website=vidayestilo.terra.com.pe |access-date=16 December 2013 |archive-date=27 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121127221514/http://vidayestilo.terra.com.pe/bandera-gay-o-del-tahuantinsuyo,df4c7c1c09e4e210VgnVCM4000009bf154d0RCRD.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> Also, to the Peruvian newspaper ''El Comercio'', the flag dates to the first decades of the 20th century,<ref name="La Bandera del Tahuantisuyo">{{cite web |url=http://www.congreso.gob.pe/participa/documentos/boletin23062004.pdf |title=La Bandera del Tahuantisuyo |access-date=12 June 2009 |language=es |archive-date=13 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813085436/http://www.congreso.gob.pe/participa/documentos/boletin23062004.pdf |url-status=dead}}</ref> and even the [[Congress of the Republic of Peru]] has determined that the flag is a fake by citing the conclusion of the National Academy of Peruvian History:

<blockquote>"The official use of the wrongly called 'Tawantinsuyu flag' is a mistake. In the Pre-Hispanic Andean World there did not exist the concept of a flag, it did not belong to their historic context".<ref name="La Bandera del Tahuantisuyo"/>
<br />'''National Academy of Peruvian History'''</blockquote>

=== Music and Dance ===
[[File:The sixth quya, Cuci Chinbo Mama Micay.jpg|thumb|[[Qoya|Coya]] Cusi Chimbo playing the ''[[tinya]]''.]]

Ancient Andean inhabitants shared their experiences through singing and dancing with ''aqa'' ([[chicha de jora]]), though these practices reflected social inequalities, as some dances and songs were reserved for nobles.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bolaños |first1=C. |last2=García |first2=F. |last3=Pineda |first3=J. R. |last4=Salazar |first4=A. |title=Mapa de los instrumentos musicales de uso popular en el Perú |publisher=Instituto Nacional de Cultura del Perú |date=1978}}</ref>

Incaic Andean music was [[Pentatonic scale|pentatonic]] (using notes re, fa, sol, la, and do).<ref>{{cite book |last1=D'Harcourt |first1=R. |last2=D'Harcourt |first2=M. |title=La musique des Incas et ses survivances |date=1935}}</ref> They composed ''taki'' ("songs") with wind and percussion instruments, lacking string instruments. Key wind instruments included the [[quena]] (made of [[Cane (grass)|cane]] and bone), [[Siku (instrument)|zampoña]], pututo or {{Lang|qu|huayla quippa}}, {{Lang|qu|cuyhui}} (a five-voice whistle), and {{Lang|qu|[[Pinkillu|pincullo]]}} (a long flute). Percussion instruments included {{Lang|qu|[[tinya]]}} (a simple small drum), {{Lang|qu|huankar}} (a large drum with a stick), silver rattles, and {{Lang|qu|chilchile}} (bells).<ref name="incamusic">{{cite book |last1=Salas |first1=Samuel J.A. |last2=Pauletto |first2=Pedro I. |last3=Salas |first3=Pedro J.S. |title=Historia de la Música. Segundo volumen: América Latina |date=1938 |publisher=Editorial José Joaquín de Araujo |page=13}}</ref>

Dances were categorized as nobiliary dances for the sapa inca and the panacas, such as {{Lang|qu|uaricsa arawi}} and {{Lang|qu|guayara}}, as well as {{Lang|qu|guari}} for young nobles; masked men's war dances, such as {{Lang|qu|wacon}}; and collective dances for laborers ({{Lang|qu|haylli}}), shepherds ({{Lang|qu|guayayturilla}}), and the ayllu in their tasks ({{Lang|qu|kashua}}).<ref name ="incamusic"/>

== Science and technology ==
=== Measures, calendrics and mathematics ===
{{Main|Mathematics of the Incas}}
[[File:Inca. Quipu.jpg|thumb|Quipu, 15th century. [[Brooklyn Museum]]]]

Physical measures used by the Inca were based on human body parts. Units included fingers, the distance from thumb to forefinger, palms, [[cubit]]s and wingspans. The most basic distance unit was ''thatkiy'' or ''thatki'' or one pace. The next largest unit was reported by Cobo to be the ''topo'' or ''tupu'', measuring 6,000 ''thatkiy''s, or about {{convert|7.7|km|1|abbr=on}}; careful study has shown that a range of {{convert|4.0|to|6.3|km|1|abbr=on}} is likely. Next was the ''wamani'', composed of 30 ''topo''s (roughly {{convert|232|km||disp=or|abbr=on}}). To measure area, 25 by 50 wingspans were used, reckoned in ''topo''s (roughly {{convert|3280|km2||disp=or|abbr=on}}). It seems likely that distance was often interpreted as one day's walk; the distance between ''[[Tambo (Inca structure)|tambo]]'' way-stations varies widely in terms of distance, but far less in terms of time to walk that distance.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=246–247}}{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=179–180}}

Inca [[calendar]]s were strongly tied to [[astronomy]]. Inca astronomers understood [[equinox]]es, [[solstice]]s and [[zenith]] passages, along with the [[Transit of Venus|Venus cycle]]. They could not, however, predict [[eclipse]]s. The Inca calendar was essentially [[lunisolar]], as two calendars were maintained in parallel, one [[solar calendar|solar]] and one [[lunar calendar|lunar]]. As 12 lunar months fall 11 days short of a full 365-day solar year, those in charge of the calendar had to adjust every winter solstice. Each lunar month was marked with festivals and rituals.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=150–154}} Apparently, the days of the week were not named and days were not grouped into weeks. Similarly, months were not grouped into seasons. Time during a day was not measured in hours or minutes, but in terms of how far the sun had travelled or in how long it had taken to perform a task.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=185–187}}

The sophistication of Inca administration, calendrics and engineering required facility with numbers. Numerical information was stored in the knots of ''[[quipu]]'' strings, allowing for compact storage of large numbers.<ref name="NYT-20160102">{{cite news |last=Neuman |first=William |title=Untangling an Accounting Tool and an Ancient Incan Mystery |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/world/americas/untangling-an-accounting-tool-and-an-ancient-incan-mystery.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220103/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/world/americas/untangling-an-accounting-tool-and-an-ancient-incan-mystery.html |archive-date=3 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |date=2 January 2016 |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=2 January 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=183–185}} These numbers were stored in [[base-10]] digits, the same base used by the Quechua language<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~pah1003/loe/Eng/SupplInfo/2008Heggarty.htm |title=Supplementary Information for: Heggarty 2008 |website=arch.cam.ac.uk |access-date=24 September 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130312203340/http://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/~pah1003/loe/Eng/SupplInfo/2008Heggarty.htm |archive-date=12 March 2013}}</ref> and in administrative and military units.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=233–234}} These numbers, stored in ''quipu'', could be calculated on ''[[yupana]]s'', grids with squares of positionally varying mathematical values, perhaps functioning as an [[abacus]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Inca_mathematics.html |title=Inca mathematics |website=history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk |access-date=24 September 2012}}</ref> Calculation was facilitated by moving piles of tokens, seeds or pebbles between compartments of the ''yupana''. It is likely that Inca mathematics at least allowed division of integers into integers or fractions and multiplication of integers and fractions.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=185}}

According to mid-17th-century Jesuit chronicler Bernabé Cobo,<ref>Cobo, B., (1983 [1653]), Obras del P. Bernabé Cobo, Vol. 1, Edited and preliminary study By Francisco Mateos, Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, vol. 91, Madrid, Ediciones Atlas.</ref> the Inca designated officials to perform accounting-related tasks. These officials were called quipo camayos. Study of khipu sample VA 42527 (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin)<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sáez-Rodríguez |first=A. |date=2012 |title=An Ethnomathematics Exercise for Analyzing a Khipu Sample from Pachacamac (Perú) |journal=Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=62–88 |url=http://www.revista.etnomatematica.org/index.php/RLE/article/view/37}}</ref> revealed that the numbers arranged in calendrically significant patterns were used for agricultural purposes in the "farm account books" kept by the khipukamayuq (accountant or warehouse keeper) to facilitate the closing of accounting books.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sáez-Rodríguez |first=A. |date=2013 |title=Knot numbers used as labels for identifying subject matter of a khipu |journal=Revista Latinoamericana de Etnomatemática |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=4–19 |url=http://www.revista.etnomatematica.org/index.php/RLE/article/view/52}}</ref>

=== Communication and medicine ===
The Inca recorded information on assemblages of knotted strings, known as [[quipu]], although they can no longer be decoded. Originally, it was thought that Quipu were used only as mnemonic devices or to record numerical data. Quipus are also believed to record history and literature.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|p=183}}

The Inca made many discoveries in medicine.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Somervill |first1=Barbara A. |title=Empire of the Inca |date=2005 |publisher=[[Infobase|Facts on File]] |isbn=0-8160-5560-2 |pages=101–103 |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofinca0000some/page/101}}</ref> They performed successful [[Trepanation|skull surgery]], by cutting holes in the skull to alleviate fluid buildup and inflammation caused by head wounds. Many skull surgeries performed by Inca surgeons were successful. Survival rates were 80–90%, compared to about 30% before Inca times.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31466/title/Incan_skull_surgery |title=Incan skull surgery |publisher=[[Science News]] |access-date=25 September 2009 |archive-date=13 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513193734/http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/31466/title/Incan_skull_surgery |url-status=dead}}</ref> According to chronicler Bernabé Cobo, they also had a deep knowledge of herbalism, and the Spanish soldiers trusted the hands of an indigenous surgeon more than one of the [[Barber surgeon|barbers]] who accompanied them.

=== Weapons, armor and warfare ===
{{Main|Inca army}}
[[File:Sacsayhuaman - 51188929520.jpg|thumb|left|[[Sacsayhuamán]], the largest Inca ''[[pukara]]'' (fortresses)]]
[[File:Cabezas de Bronce.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Copper]] heads for maces]]

The Inca 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. Every able bodied male Inca of fighting age had to take part in war in some capacity at least once and to prepare for warfare again when needed. By the time the empire reached its largest size, every section of the empire contributed in setting up an army for war.

The Incas had no iron or steel and their weapons were not much more effective than those of their opponents so they often defeated opponents by sheer force of numbers, or else by persuading them to surrender beforehand by offering generous terms.<ref name="AHE"/> Inca weaponry included "hardwood spears launched using [[Spear-thrower|throwers]], arrows, javelins, slings, the [[bolas]], clubs, and maces with star-shaped heads made of copper or bronze".<ref name=AHE>{{Cite web |url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Inca_Warfare/ |title=Inca Warfare |last=Cartwright |first=Mark |date=19 May 2016 |website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]}}</ref><ref name="MacQuarrie2008">{{cite book |author=Kim MacQuarrie |title=The Last Days of the Incas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Emql_kU0QLIC&pg=PA144 |date=17 June 2008 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7432-6050-3 |page=144}}</ref> Rolling rocks downhill onto the enemy was a common strategy, taking advantage of the hilly terrain.<ref name="Parker2008">{{cite book |author=Geoffrey Parker |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of Warfare: The Triumph of the West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqNj5BlEMtcC&pg=PA136 |date=29 September 2008 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-73806-4 |page=136}}</ref> Fighting was sometimes accompanied by drums and trumpets made of wood, shell or bone.<ref name="Stevenson1968">{{cite book |author=Robert Stevenson |title=Music in Aztec & Inca Territory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b2Gk32Zn2tgC&pg=PA77 |date=1 January 1968 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-03169-2 |page=77}}</ref><ref name="CoboHamilton1990">{{cite book |author1=Father Bernabe Cobo |author2=Roland Hamilton |title=Inca Religion and Customs |url=https://archive.org/details/incareligioncust0000cobo |url-access=registration |date=1 May 1990 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=978-0-292-73861-4 |page=218}}</ref> Armor included:<ref name="AHE"/><ref name="Burland1968">{{cite book |author=Cottie Arthur Burland |title=Peru Under the Incas |url=https://archive.org/details/peruunderincas00burl |url-access=registration |date=1968 |publisher=Putnam |page=101 |quote=The sling was the most deadly projectile weapon. Spear, long-handled axe and bronze-headed mace were the effective weapons. Protection was afforded by a wooden helmet covered with bronze, long quilted tunic and flexible quilted shield.}}</ref>
* Helmets made of wood, cane, or animal skin, often lined with copper or bronze; some were adorned with feathers
* Round or square shields made from wood or hide
* Cloth tunics padded with cotton and small wooden planks to protect the spine
* Ceremonial metal breastplates of copper, silver, and gold have been found in burial sites, some of which may have also been used in battle.<ref name="SiversDesnoyers2012">{{cite book |author1=Peter Von Sivers |author2=Charles Desnoyers |author3=George B. Stow |title=Patterns of World History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ttZL_B_qcPEC&q=copper+breastplates |date=2012 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-533334-3 |page=505}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maestro |first1=Carmen Pérez |title=Armas de metal en el Perú prehispánico |journal=Espacio, Tiempo y Forma, Señe I, Prehistoria y Arqueología |date=1999 |pages=319–346 |url=http://revistas.uned.es/index.php/ETFI/article/download/4689/4528 |language=es |access-date=1 July 2019 |archive-date=1 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190701142707/http://revistas.uned.es/index.php/ETFI/article/download/4689/4528 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Roads allowed quick movement (on foot) for the Inca army. Shelters called ''[[Tambo (Incan structure)|tambo]]'' and storage silos called [[qullqa]]s were built one day's travelling distance from each other, so an army on campaign could be fed and rested. This can be seen in names of ruins such as [[Ollantaytambo]] or "the storehouse of Ollantay". These were set up so the Inca and his entourage would always have supplies (and possibly shelter) ready as they traveled.

== Adaptations to altitude ==
The people of the Andes, including the Incas, were able to adapt to high-altitude living through successful acclimatization, which is characterized by increasing oxygen supply to the blood tissues. For the native living in the Andean highlands, this was achieved through the development of a larger lung capacity and an increase in red blood cell counts, hemoglobin concentration, and capillary beds.<ref>{{citation |doi=10.1002/ajhb.22367 |pmid=24065360 |title=Developmental Functional Adaptation to High Altitude: Review |journal=American Journal of Human Biology |volume=25 |issue=2 |pages=151–168 |date=2013 |last1=Frisancho |first1=A. Roberto |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/96751/1/ajhb22367.pdf |hdl=2027.42/96751 |s2cid=33055072 |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

Compared to other humans, the Andeans had slower heart rates, almost one-third larger [[lung]] capacity, about 2 L (4 pints) more blood volume and double the amount of [[hemoglobin]], which transfers [[oxygen]] from the lungs to the rest of the body. While the [[Conquistadors]] may have been taller, the Inca had the advantage of coping with the extraordinary altitude.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kellog |first=RH |date=1968 |title=Altitude acclimatization, A historical introduction emphasizing the regulation of breathing |journal=Physiologist |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=37–57 |pmid=4865521 |url=https://www.lib.umich.edu/collections/deep-blue-repositories}}</ref> The [[Tibetan people|Tibetan]]s in Asia living in the [[Himalayas]] are also adapted to living in high-altitudes, although the adaptation is different from that of the Andeans.<ref name="Gibbons">{{cite web |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title=Tibertans inherited high-altitude gene from ancient humans |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/tibetans-inherited-high-altitude-gene-ancient-human-rev2 |website=science.org |access-date=18 June 2021}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{portal|Civilizations}}

=== Inca archeological sites ===
* [[Choquequirao]]
* [[Cojitambo]]
* [[El Fuerte de Samaipata]]
* [[Huánuco Pampa]]
* [[Huchuy Qosqo]]
* [[Inca-Caranqui]]
* [[Llaqtapata]]
* [[Moray (Inca ruin)]]
* [[Oroncota]]
* [[Pambamarca Fortress Complex]]
* [[Písac]]
* [[Pukara of La Compañia]]
* [[Quispiguanca]]
* [[Rumicucho]]
* [[Tambo Viejo]]
* [[Tumebamba]]
* [[Vitcos]]
* [[The Chilean Inca Trail]]

=== Inca-related ===
* [[Aclla]], the "chosen women"
* [[Amauta]], Inca teachers
* [[Amazonas before the Inca Empire]]
* [[Anden]], agricultural terrace
* [[Inca cuisine]]
* [[Inca aqueducts]]
* [[List of wars involving the Inca Empire]]
* [[Paria, Bolivia]]
* [[Tampukancha]], Inca religious site

=== General ===
* [[History of Peru]]
* [[History of smallpox#Epidemics in the Americas|History of smallpox § Epidemics in the Americas]]
* [[Muisca Confederation]]
* [[Periodization of pre-Columbian Peru ]]
* [[Population history of indigenous peoples of the Americas]]
* [[History of South America]]

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Bibliography ==
* {{Cite book |last=Bengoa |first=José |author-link=José Bengoa |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=9XHjAAAAMAAJ}} |title=Historia de los antiguos mapuches del sur: desde antes de la llegada de los españoles hasta las paces de Quilín; siglos XVI y XVII |date=2003 |publisher=[[Catalonia (publisher)|Catalonia]] |isbn=978-956-8303-02-0 |language=es}}
* {{Cite book |last=McEwan |first=Gordon F. |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=J3WZuTINl2QC|page=221}} |title=The Incas: New Perspectives |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |date=2008 |isbn=978-0-393-33301-5 |pages=221–}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sanderson |first=Steven E. |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=_xWYSJw3aAQC}} |title=The politics of trade in Latin American development |publisher=[[Stanford University Press]] |date=1992 |isbn=978-0-8047-1983-4}}
* {{Cite book |last=D'Altroy |first=Terence N. |title=The Incas |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-118-61059-6 |edition=2nd}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/113599#page/5/mode/1up |title=The Handbook of South American Indians - The Andean Civilisations |publisher=[[Biodiversity Heritage Library]] [[Smithsonian Institution]] |date=1946 |editor-last=Steward |editor-first=Julian H. |editor-link=Julian Steward |series=no. 143 v. 2 Bulletin / Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology |volume=2 |page=1935 |oclc=1013243}}
* {{Cite book |last=Julien |first=Catherine J. |title=The Inca and Aztec states: 1400–1800; anthropology and history |publisher=[[Academic Press]] |date=1982 |isbn=978-0-12-181180-8 |editor-last=Collier |editor-first=George Allan |series=Studies in anthropology |editor-last2=Rosaldo |editor-first2=Renato |editor-last3=Wirth |editor-first3=John D.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Moseley |first=Michael Edward |author-link=Michael E. Moseley |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=l_p0QgAACAAJ|page=44}} |title=The Incas and their ancestors: the archaeology of Peru |publisher=[[Thames & Hudson]] |date=2001 |isbn=978-0-500-28277-9}}

== External links ==
{{Library resources box|onlinebooks=yes}}
{{Commons and category|Inca|Inca}}
* [http://www.antiquebooks.net/readpage.html#peru Conquest nts.html Inca Land] by [[Hiram Bingham III|Hiram Bingham]] (published 1912–1922).
* [http://www.destination360.com/south-america/peru/machu-picchu Inca Artifacts, Peru and Machu Picchu] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211060205/http://www.destination360.com/south-america/peru/machu-picchu |date=11 February 2021 }} 360° movies of inca artifacts and Peruvian landscapes.
* [http://www.projectshum.org/Ancient/inca.html Ancient Civilisations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204101553/http://www.projectshum.org/Ancient/inca.html |date=4 February 2007 }} – Inca
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19990203171454/http://www2.nationalgeographic.com/mummy/index.html "Ice Treasures of the Inca"], National Geographic site.
* [http://red-coral.net/Pach.html "The Sacred Hymns of Pachacutec"], poetry of an Inca emperor.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070305220022/http://philtar.ucsm.ac.uk/encyclopedia/latam/inca.html Inca Religion]
* [https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3839 Engineering in the Andes Mountains], lecture on Inca suspension bridges
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725193957/http://www.concharto.org/search/eventsearch.htm?_what=%22inca+empire%22&_maptype=1 A Map and Timeline] of Inca Empire events
* [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Ancient%20Peruvian%20art%20%3A%20contributions%20to%20the%20archaeology%20of%20the%20empire%20of%20the%20Incas/order/nosort Ancient Peruvian art: contributions to the archaeology of the empire of the Incas], a four volume from 1902 (fully available online as PDF)
* [http://www.kb.dk/elib/mss/poma/index-en.htm "Guaman Poma – El Primer Nueva Corónica Y Buen Gobierno"]{{nbsp}}– A digital version of the Corónica, scanned from the original manuscript.

{{Inca Empire topics}}
{{Pre-Columbian}}
{{Indigenous countries of the Americas}}
{{Bolivia topics}}
{{Peru topics}}
{{Empires}}
{{American monarchies}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inca Empire}}
[[Category:Inca Empire| ]]
[[Category:15th-century establishments in the Inca civilization]]
[[Category:15th century in South America]]
[[Category:16th-century disestablishments in the Inca civilization]]
[[Category:16th century in South America]]
[[Category:Andean civilizations]]
[[Category:Former monarchies of South America]]
[[Category:History of Ecuador]]
[[Category:History of Indigenous peoples of the Americas]]
[[Category:Inca states]]
[[Category:Indigenous culture of the Americas]]
[[Category:Post-Classic period in the Americas]]
[[Category:States and territories established in 1438]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in the 1530s]]
[[Category:States and territories disestablished in 1572]]
[[Category:Inca|Empire]]