THE INCA EMPIRE

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IntroductionThe Inca empire was the largest civilization

in pre –American Columbia it was probably started in 9500 BP. This civilization prospered and survived until the Spanish came some Inca descendants are still alive today. PLEASE ENJOY!

Employment.Jobs for the common people : servants, farmers, and government

workers Profession: Chosen Women

The most beautiful 10-year-old girls of each town were picked to become “

Chosen women Chosen women lived in temples. They were taught domestic arts. They studied religion. After a few years, they were assigned jobs in the homes of the wealthy, even the home of the emperor himself. Some were sacrificed to the gods and buried on mountain peaks. The Incas did not have sheep, oxen, horses, chickens, goats or pigs. They had llamas and alpacas, worshipped for their meat and fur. Young boys were hired to protect the herd herders slept in tents in the mountains and llama dung was used as fuel.

Craftsmen made pottery, mined, made bronze and much more. Weavers were very important to the Incas because of their nimble

fingers and concentration

FoodCorn, potatoes, cereal, soup, tomatoes, avocadoes, peppers, strawberries, peanuts, squash, beans, sweet potatoes, pineapples, bananas, small amounts of meat and chocolate

TraditionsThe Inca had many rare and strange traditions rituals and beliefs.

.Wrapping the rich in tapestries when they died

.Killing a king’s servants when he died sometimes the Queen killed herself too.

. Land was given and taken depending on how many people were in the family.

21-45 year old men were forced to be soldiers or construction workers .

Worshipping llamas

TreasureMore than four hundred years ago the

largest treasure in the world was buried in south America. Eighty miles southeast of a place called Quito, into a chain of mountains lie as much as 750 tons of gold. Many have gone crazy(usually because of gold fever) here and or died here. Some of the area has never been mapped due to blankets of mist, common earthquakes, electrical storms, quicksand, inexplicable weather phenomenon, large bogs, and gold fever. Gold was valued not as money, but as a religious symbol as the sweat of the sun.

ReligionThe Inca worshipped their gods by praying, dancing, drinking and sacrificing they sacrificed things such as crafts livestock and people (only in times of crisis were people sacrificed) Viracocha the sun god was believed to create the earth everything on it and all other gods. Farmers worshipped earth as Earth Mother, and the fishermen worshiped Mother Sea. Huacas were very sacred places that were important to Inca religion and similar to a shrine. A man would sprinkle a few coca leaves as he passed a huaca. If he had no coca leaves, he placed a stone nearby it, as many had done before him. Huacas were distinguished by the piles of stone. If he had nothing at all to offer, he pulled a few hairs from his eyebrows and lashes and blew them toward the shrine. Many huacas had shelters nearby. A priest lived in the shelter, caring for the shrine and cultivating a small field beside it in honor of the huaca.

Inventions and communicationThe Inca invented calendars, musical instruments,

measurement systems, terrace farming, hanging bridges, aqueducts, freeze dried food ,geoglyphs, textiles, and stonework( I don’t think the Inca actually invented all of this stuff its just that they created working versions without any other ideas from other areas) The Incas created roads and found runners to transport scrolls people have said that one of these runners could cover almost 400 miles in 3 days.

Music and artsMost Inca art was melted by the Spanish because of their love of riches. Luckily, cloth and clay have been preserved well for their age and that gives us a good look at Inca lifestyle. Overall, art was simple. The Inca preferred function over decoration in all except for their textiles . Rather than create paintings, the Inca preferred to sculpt religious figurines and create architectural wonders that inspire amazement to this day. Like most other Inca artwork, architecture was very basic with the possible exception of the trapezoidal shape of doorways and windows. However what the architecture lacked in aesthetics it made up for in functionality. The Inca system of building without mortar made their structures resistant to seismic activity; an important feature in a region prone to earthquakes.

To take a look at Inca music we rely more on oral history. The wind and percussion instruments are the best known of Inca Music. Panpipes and flutes are common. The arrival of the Spaniards to Peru meant the end for the Incas and many facets of their culture. Many transformations happened and new instruments never seen before were introduced.

The social networkINCA LIFE Inca SocietySapa Inca was the most important in Inca society. (His title means unique Inca). The Incas thought he was the sun god’s child so he was treated with great respect. Visitors had to remove their footwear if they approached the Sapa Inca and they had to carry a heavy load on their back to show him respect. Below the Sapa Inca were nobles. Below them were men called curacas. They were not necessarily Incas. When the Incas defeated a tribe the leader’s son was taken and was taught to live like an Inca. They then became curacas.At the bottom of Incas were the craftsmen and farmers.

LanguageQuechua is the name of the Inca language that is still remembered

today. The Inca used a system of knotted strings called quipu to send messages. The number and shape of the knots and the colors of the string helped messengers to remember the contents of the messages. Research suggests that the quipu might have been used not just as mnemonic devices but also to record the Quechua

language phonetically.

The Inca have around 20 different spoken languages now.

Population based on studies of archeologists

Phillip Ainsworth

1931 16-32 million

John Rowe 1946 6 million

Henry Dobyns

1966 37.5 million

C.T Smith 1970 12 million

Nathan Watchel

1977 10 million

geography The Inca empire was huge but divided into three parts jungle,

mountain, and desert. The Incas lived in the mountains and had natural barriers to protect themselves that were deep gorges in the mountain. The mountains where they lived were called the Andes they went north and south and on one side of the Andes was the Amazon jungle they visited but never created a settlement there. They never wanted to live there even though they knew about what resources awaited them. To the other side there was a desert that stretched from the mountains to the ocean that is 2000 miles long and 30-100 miles wide it is one of the driest

places on earth.

Government/lawThe Incas had a Theocracy as a government

system.A theocracy is a mixture of religion and

government where one ruler is considered to be part god part human.

This ruler makes all the decisions which may be why the empire was so successful overall because then there was one plan not many to clash with one another.

Housing Inca houses were simple. They often had just one room Inca homes did not have furniture. People sat and slept on reed mats or animal skins.Doors and windows were trapezium shaped. (A trapezium is a four-sided shape with only two parallel sides). Roofs were thatched and did not include chimneys Rich Incas lived in much larger homes. Inca palaces sometimes had stone baths in them.

Architecture Inca architecture was a very complicated and mysterious thing. Entire

temples made without mortar or the wheel and they are still standing today. Stones that fits together so well a needle won’t fit between them, who did this and how?

Incan architecture was beautiful and functional at the same time. The buildings were built to survive earthquakes and had slanted roofs. Doors were always decorated and art was spread through the homes. The Incas planned out their cities in a grid. Each city had a central plaza. The plaza was surrounded by public buildings and temples. A palace was built for visiting the sapa Inca. There was housing for priests and nobles. Houses were even built for the common people.

Ethical issuesWomen's rightsNo written laws to follow killed if broke a law Women treated as propertyNo personal rights

mathematicsThe Incas had a numerical system that did not require

writing called quipu The quipu was was a storage device. Remember that

the Incas had no written records and so the quipu played a major role in the Inca empire .

The quipu consists of strings which were knotted to represent numbers. A number was represented by knots in the string, using a base 10 representation. If the number 586 was to be recorded on the string then six touching knots were placed near the free end of the string, a space was left, then eight touching knots for the 10s, another space, and 5 touching knots for the 100s.

medicineThe Incas believed that all sicknesses were caused by the act of supernatural

forces. They also believed that lies, sins against gods or breaking Inca laws were enough reasons to get sick. The cures were combinations of herbs and minerals, always followed by prayers and magic spells. The Inca medicine knew how to treat sickness in the immune system. They had treatments capable to increase the natural production of white blood cells. Which, as we know naturally today stops the progress of some diseases. Incas knew how to treat the urinary track ,respiratory disorders, like cough or bronchitis and knew how to restore proper digestive functioning. There were three doctors, one watukk figured what ailment the patient had another the hanpeq treated the patient and the last treated the

patients soul they were called the paqo. Incas had such amazing medicine they could perform successful brain surgery.

Unanswered questions?Why did they not create a written language

Were they violent

When did the civilization end

How many people were there

Did they have any trade routes or partners

What did they do for enjoyment

Did they play sports

How did they survive in the attack of the Spanish

Who founded the civilization

Where did they bury their dead…….. mountains?

Bibliographyhttp://tonydunnell.suite101.com/inca-populati

on-hhttp://www.localhistories.org/inca.htmlow-many-incas-were-there-a307276

http://www.localhistories.org/inca.htmlhttp://incas.mrdonn.org/index.htmlhttp://www.kidspast.com/world-historyPatricia Mcissack The Inca 1985 regenstiener publishing enterprises

http://www.ehow.com/info_7973053_customs-traditions-inca-culture.html

Bibliographyhttp://www.aboutperu-history.comhttp://incas.

mrdonn.org/professions.htmlPeter Lourie 1999caroline house Boyd's mills

presshttp://www.machupicchu-inca.com/inca-religi

on.htmlhttp://www.peru-travel-confidential.com/inca-

medicine.htmlhttp://www.gap-system.org/~history/

HistTopics/Inca_mathematics.html