The Inca Create a Mountain Empire Chapter 16 Section 4

Chapter 16 Section 4

• 
  The Inca would create a powerful state, extending their rule over the entire Andean region
  

• 
  The Inca originally lived in a high plateau of the Andes
  
• 
  The Inca developed traditions and beliefs that helped launch and unify their empire.
  
• 
  One of these traditions was the belief that the Incan ruler was descended from the sun.
  

• 
  A powerful and ambitious ruler, Pachacuti led the Incas to conquer all of Peru
  
• 
  The Inca ruled a large area in South America.
  
• 
  They were able to do this conquest through a combination of diplomacy and military force
  

• 
  To control the huge empire, the rulers divided their territory and its people into manageable units, governed by a central bureaucracy
  
• 
  They imposed a single official language, Quechua
  

• 
  The Inca built many cities in conquered areas
  
• 
  The architecture of government buildings was the same all over the empire
  
• 
  All roads led to the capital, Cuzco
  

• 
  The Incan state exercised almost total control over economic and social life
  
• 
  The Incan social system was based on community cooperation – the ayllu
  
• 
  The main demand the Incan state placed on its subjects was for tribute, usually in the form of labor. The labor tribute was known as mita
  
• 
  Historians have compared the Incan system to a type of socialism or a modern welfare state. Citizens were expected to work for the state and were cared for in return.
  

• 
  The most spectacular project was the Incan road system
  
• 
  The 14,000 mile-long network of roads and bridges spanned the empire
  
• 
  Along the roads, the Inca built guesthouses
  

• 
  The Inca never developed a writing system
  
• 
  History and literature were memorized as part of an oral tradition
  
• 
  The Inca created an accounting device known as the quipu, a set of knotted strings that could be used to record data
  

• 
  The Inca worshiped fewer gods than the Aztecs
  
• 
  The Inca focused on key nature spirits such as the moon, the stars and thunder
  
• 
  The primary Incan god was a creator god called Viracocha
  
• 
  Next in importance was the sun god, Inti.
  

• 
  Incan priests led the sun-worship services, assisted by young women known as “virgins of the sun”
  
• 
  These women all unmarried, were drafted by the Inca for a lifetime of religious service
  
• 
  Sacrifice of llamas and exchange of goods were a part of the religious activities
  

• 
  Cuzco was the religious capital of the Incan Empire
  

• 
  The Incan Empire reached the height of its glory in the early 1500s during the reign of Huayna Capac
  
• 
  Huayna Capac died of disease – probably smallpox
  
• 
  After his death, the empire was split between his sons
  
• 
  A bitter civil war followed which tore the empire apart