Incas

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[[image:inca2.jpg width="164" height="214" align="left" link="~Region~"]]
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//~Economy~//
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//History//
The exact origins of the inca civilization, like many other ancient civilizations, are unknown. The Inca culture was formed from the evolution of many different Andean cultures that can be traced back about 20,000 years. Those were the times when hunters and Neolithic people lived there. The Inca had only a short time in which they flourished as a civilization, this period was during the fifteenth century. Before this time, the Inca conquered many other surrounding cultures and spread from Cuzco, becoming much larger. But this time of growth and prosperity was very short lived, the Inca fell to the Spanish and never recovered. Today there have been 50 year old Inca mummies found on the outskirts of Lima, Peru. the mummies were so well preserved, that some of them were found with hair skin and eyes still intact. The creepy thing is that about ten feet above these mummies heads, their descendants were going about their daily lives not even knowing what was right below their feet.

//Region//
The inca lived in South America from the equator to the Pacific Coast of Chili. The geography of Chili is part of the Andes Mountains, which are virtually impassable walls that continue to rise, and more than 50 active volcanic peaks. Basically, Chile runs the line between the ocean on one side, and mountains on the other. The north leads to the Atacama Dessert, which is one of the most inhospitable places in the entire world, and to the south, the exact opposite is present. The south leads to Cape Horn, where the mountains and ocean fade, and is surrounded by treturous seas that are almost constantly stormy, and only passable through the Straight of Magellan. But in between the two extremes of mountains and ocean, there is a 500 mile corridor river valley, to the south, there are forests and lakes, and to the north there are vineyards and farms. This makes Chile a very versatile place to live. The inca built their homes and towns on highlands and on the steep slopes of the Andes. The architecture of the Inca villages amazes scientists all over the world, because of how they are built to stand on the sloping sides of the andes mountains. All of the buildings are built out of stones that are fit together so tightly that a razor blade could not fit in between them. Stone steps lead up to the cities which consist of religious and stone buildings, and the houses are in surrounding areas. The homes are made out of the same stone that the steps and religious buildings are made of and have grass rooftops. Machu Picchu meaning manly peak, was also a very meaningful place in Inca history, it is located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru and is 43 miles northwest of Cuzco. It lies ontop of a ridge that is in between a block of highland and Huaynac Picchu. It was most likely a religious retreat, and a royal estate. The city of Machu Picchu has an altitude of about 8,00 feet, and was built by an Inca ruker by the name of Pachacuti inca Yupanqui. About 1,200 people would have lived there at it’s peak point of civilization.

//____Religion//
The capital city of the Inca territory was Cuzco, Peru. Ruins of a very large fortress dedicated to the sun god can still be seen there today. In every Inca village the highest point of their territory was reserved for religious purposes. The reason the highest point was particularly chosen to be the religious point of any village is because those places were as close to the sun as they could get. Their major god was Inti, the sun god. In relation to this gods name, the Inca were called the Children of the Sun. A main god was Viracocha, who was believed to be the creator of the Inca. The Inca were polytheistic, which means they believed in more than one god. They had six major gods that represented the moon, sun, earth, thunder and lightning, and the sea. But the sun god was the most prominent god in their religion. The Inca believed that their ancestors were the link between the living Inca and the gods, so the dead were preserved as mummies and put in stone tombs. The Inca would come and prey where these tombs were, and they would bring sacrifices such as cloth plants and animals. The Inca would only sacrifice humans in times of extreme disaster. They believed that good people would go to heaven and be with the sun god, and evil people would go to a cold underworld with only stones as food to eat. the Inca also had priests and priestesses, who were believed to have a connection to the gods. They lived at all of the shrines and temples of the Inca civilization, and were expected to hold ceremonies, one of which was the hair combing ceremony for girls. This ceremony was a coming of age for all the young Inca girls. During this ceremony each girl of age would choose her new name as a woman and the most beautiful and educated girls would go to Cuzco and become princesses or brides of rulers. Priests were also advisors and healers of the royal family, but would help others on occasion. The Inca also believed that silver was the tears of the moon, and gold was the sweat of the sun. To show their dedication to the gods, the Inca built stone fortresses on the highest peaks of their villages.

//____Economy//[[image:img-agricultural-terraces.gif align="right"]]
The Inca were very self reliant when it came to economic needs. They were excellent farmers and engineers. Because of where they lived it was nearly impossible to have a perfectly flat area on which to grow things, so they created stepped plantation fields on the sides of the Andes Mountains in order to have plenty of space to grow enough food in order to keep their civilization alive. in order to water these fields, the Inca used aqueducts that they built with rock bricks. The aqueducts traveled from the nearest river, to the fields where large amounts of water would flow over them and keep the plants alive. Many of these aqueducts still work today and are being used in villages in the Urubamaba Valley.