Inca civilization where is it located

Inti was also associated with the growth of crops and material abundance, especially in the high Andes, where the Inca centered their power. Some myths state that this benevolent entity, along with Mama Killa, the Moon goddess, had children.

This wedge penetrated the earth, and they built the capital of Cusco and civilization on that very spot. Royalty were considered to be direct descendants of Inti and, therefore, able to act as intermediaries between the physical and spiritual realms.

The high priest of Inti was called the Willaq Umu. He was often the brother or a direct blood relation of the Sapa Inca, or emperor, and was the second most powerful person in the empire. The royal family oversaw the collection of goods, spiritual festivals, and the worship of Inti. Power consolidated around the cult of the Sun, and scholars suggest that the emperor Pachacuti expanded this Sun cult to garner greater power in the 15th century.

Conquered provinces were expected to dedicate a third of their resources, such as herds and crops, directly to the worship of Inti. Each province also had a temple with male and female priests worshipping the Inti cult. Becoming a priest was considered one of the most honorable positions in society. The main temple in the Inca Empire, called Qurikancha, was built in Cusco. The temple housed the bodies of deceased emperors and also contained a vast array of physical representations of Inti, many of which were removed or destroyed when the Spanish arrived.

It represents the mythical origin of the Inca and the hope for good crops in the coming year as the winter sun returns from darkness. The festival of Inti Raymi: This festival is celebrated in late June in the capital of Cusco every year. Thousands of visitors arrive to see the procession and rituals.

Religious life was centered in the Andes near Cusco, but as the Inca Empire expanded its sphere of influence, they had to incorporate a wide array of religious customs and traditions to avoid outright revolt. Ayllus, or family clans, often worshipped very localized entities and gods. The ruling Inca often incorporated these deities into the Inti cosmos. For example, Pachamama, the Earth goddess, was a long-worshipped deity before the Inca Empire. She was incorporated into Inca culture as a lower divine entity.

The Inca also incorporated the Moon into their religious myths and practices in the form of Mama Killa. The Inca believed in reincarnation. Death was a passage to the next world that was full of difficulties.

The spirit of the dead, camaquen , would need to follow a long dark road. The trip required the assistance of a black dog that was able to see in the dark. Most Incas imagined the after world to be very similar to the Euro-American notion of heaven, with flower-covered fields and snow-capped mountains. It was important for the Inca to ensure they did not die as a result of burning or that the body of the deceased did not become incinerated. This is because of the underlying belief that a vital force would disappear and this would threaten their passage to the after world.

Human sacrifice has been exaggerated by myth, but it did play a role in Inca religious practices. As many as 4, servants, court officials, favorites, and concubines were killed upon the death of the Inca uayna Capac in , for example. The Incas also performed child sacrifices during or after important events, such as the death of the Sapa Inca or during a famine.

These sacrifices were known as capacocha. The Inca also practiced cranial deformation. They achieved this by wrapping tight cloth straps around the heads of newborns in order to alter the shape of their soft skulls into a more conical form; this cranial deformation distinguished social classes of the communities, with only the nobility having it.

The Inca Empire already faced instability due to the Inca Civil War, European diseases, and internal revolt when explorer Francisco Pizarro began the conquest of Inca territory.

Learn about the contributing factors that allowed the Spanish explorers to overpower the Inca Empire and establish control of the region. The Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro, along with a small military retinue, landed on South American soil around The Spanish recognized the wealth and abundance that could be had in this territory; at this point the Inca Empire was at its largest, measuring around , square miles.

In Pizarro went back to Spain to ask for the official blessing of the Spanish crown to the conquer the area and become governor. He returned with his blessings around and began the official takeover of the region. Although Pizarro had a small force behind him, many problems within the Inca Empire worked to his advantage between and It began to brew just one year after Pizarro first landed in the region.

Around , the ruling Inca emperor, Huayna Capac, and his designated heir, Ninan Cuyochic, died of disease. It was most likely smallpox, which had quickly traveled down to South America after the arrival of Spanish explorers in Central America. Inca Emperor Atahualpa: Although Atahualpa successfully won the Inca Civil War and ruled as emperor, he was soon captured by the Spanish and killed in Initially, Huascar captured the throne in Cusco, claiming legitimacy.

However, Atahualpa had a keen military mind and close relations with the military generals at the time, and proved to be the deadlier force. Atahualpa initially garnered favor with northern allies and built a new capital for his forces in Quito.

This civil war left the population in a precarious position by the time it ended. Around the same time that Atahualpa seized the throne in , Pizarro returned to Peru with blessings from the Spanish crown.

Because of the language barrier, the Inca rulers probably did not understand much of these demands, and the meeting quickly escalated to the Battle of Cajamarca. This clash left thousands of native people dead. The Spanish also captured Atahualpa and kept him hostage, demanding ransoms of silver and gold. They also insisted that Atahualpa agree to be baptized.

Although the Inca ruler was mostly cooperative in captivity, and was finally baptized, the Spanish killed him on August 29, , essentially ending the potential for larger Inca attacks on Spanish forces. An engraved representation of the Battle of Cajamarca: This battle began in , leaving thousands of native people dead and ending with the capture of Atahualpa.

Even though the Inca Civl War made it easier for the Spanish armies to gain control initially, many other contributing factors brought about the demise of Inca rule and the crumbling of local populations. As scholar Jared Diamond points out, the Inca Empire was already facing threats:. After a failed attempt to recapture the city from greater Spanish rule during this time, Manco retreated to Vilcabamba and built the last stronghold of the Inca.

And, he allegedly had the city completely raised so that it could be rebuilt in the shape of a puma.

McEwan added that commoners were not allowed to live in the city and had to reside in the outlying settlements. The Spanish would later plunder this gold and build a new city in the place of Cuzco. While the Inca did not develop what we would consider a formal system of writing, they did use recording devices, such as the quipu, a cord with knotted strings suspended from it.

Most written accounts of Incas come from outsiders as the Incas primarily shared their knowledge with one another through oral storytelling. According to McEwan, the Inca pantheon had an array of gods that included the creator god Viracocha, sun god Inti, thunder god Illapa and earth-mother goddess Pachamama, among others. There were also regional deities worshipped by people whom the Inca conquered. The Inca gods were honored in many ways, including prayers, fasting and animal sacrifice, but the most powerful form of honor was human sacrifice, typically of children and teenagers.

In , archaeologists discovered the mummies of three children who had been left as sacrifices at a shrine near the summit of a volcano in Argentina. Research has revealed that, in the year before their sacrifice, the three consumed a special diet rich in maize and dried llama meat and were drugged with coca leaves and alcohol. In addition to these elite food products, other goods consumed in the Inca diet included sweet potatoes, quinoa , beans and chili peppers.

In exchange for labor, the Inca government was expected to provide feasts for the people at certain times of the year. With only a few exceptions, there were no traders in the Inca Empire. The Inca crafted magnificent objects from gold and silver, but perhaps their most striking examples of art were in the form of textiles.

The Inca grew cotton, sheared wool and used looms to create their elaborate textiles. The finest grade of cloth was called cumpi, and was reserved for the emperor and nobility.

Inca stone-working abilities were also formidable. The Inca began expanding their land holdings by the reign of their fourth emperor, Mayta Capac.

However, they did not truly become an expansive power until the eighth emperor, Viracocha Inca, took control in the early 15th century. Bolstered by the military capabilities of two uncles, Viracocha Inca defeated the Ayarmaca kingdom to the south and took over the Urubamba Valley.

He also established the Inca practice of leaving military garrisons to maintain peace in conquered lands. When the rival Chancas attacked circa , Viracocha Inca retreated to a military outpost while his son, Cusi Inca Yupanqui, successfully defended Cusco.

His military campaigns extended the kingdom to the southern end of the Titicaca Basin, and hundreds of miles north to subject the Cajamarca and Chimu kingdoms.

The expanding reach of the Inca state, Tawantinsuyu, prompted strategic logistical considerations. Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui is believed to have been the first Inca emperor to order forced resettlement to squash the possibility of an uprising from one ethnic group. In addition, he established the practice in which rulers were prevented from inheriting the possessions of their predecessors, thereby ensuring that successive leaders would conquer new lands and accumulate new wealth.

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui also focused his efforts on strengthening Cusco, the center of the empire. He expanded Sacsahuaman, the massive fortress that guarded the city, and embarked on an expansive irrigation project by channeling rivers and creating intricate agricultural terraces.

Although Tawantinsuyu was comprised of more than distinct ethnic groups among its 12 million inhabitants, a well-developed societal structure kept the empire running smoothly. There was no written language, but a form of Quechua became the primary dialect, and knotted cords known as quipu were used to keep track of historical and accounting records.

Most subjects were self-sufficient farmers who tended to corn, potatoes, squash, llamas, alpacas and dogs, and paid taxes through public labor. A system of roadways adding up to approximately 15, miles crisscrossed the kingdom, with relay runners capable of advancing messages at the rate of miles per day.

The Inca religion centered on a pantheon of gods that included Inti; a creator god named Viracocha; and Apu Illapu, the rain god. Impressive shrines were built throughout the kingdom, including a massive Sun Temple in Cusco that measured more than 1, feet in circumference.

Powerful priests depended on divination to diagnose illness, solve crimes and predict the outcomes of warfare, in many cases requiring animal sacrifice. The mummified remains of previous emperors were also treated as sacred figures and paraded around at ceremonies with their stores of gold and silver. Upon ascending to the throne in , Topa Inca Yupanqui pushed the southern border of the empire to the Maule River in modern-day Chile, and instituted a tribute system in which each province provided women to serve as temple maidens or brides for celebrated soldiers.

His successor, Huayna Capac, embarked on successful northern campaigns that carried to the Ancasmayo River, the current boundary between Ecuador and Colombia.