The Inca
The Inca, has been called the peoples of the sun. Not only because they worshiped a Sun god called Inti, as their central deity, but also for the vast amount of gold and silver that their land yielded. Their fortunes in mineral resources would be a boon to the development of its people. However it would also cause its ultimate downfall when Spanish conquistadors discovered the Inca in the 16th century, with the lure of Gold present they became all the more determined to seize the wealth of the Inca Empire for themselves.
The Inca were originally a warlike tribe living near the city of Cuzco in modern Peru. The Inca dynasty was began by Manco Capac in the 13th Century A.D. However, little marked the Inca from the other tribes that inhabited the Andes until around the 15th century A.D., when the Inca Empire under Tupac Yupanqui set itself on a path of conquest of South America. At its largest extent, the Inca Empire covered an area that was one third of the size of the South American continent. In fact it stretched almost the entire length of the western side of the continent from the bordering areas of Colombia in the North to half way down Chile in the South, west to east it stretched from the pacific coast into the Amazon rainforest. In fact there were the largest Native American civilization that ever existed.
The center of Inca civilization however was situated in the Andes Mountains. Their cities and fortresses were built on the slopes of some of the highest mountains in the World. Even though the Inca never had access to the wheel, they built a sophisticated road system to connect their Empire with upwards of 20,000 miles of roads, and a system of foot messengers that was as fast as any modern postal system could manage today. The mountainous terrain could in part explain why the Inca never used the wheel. However, it is not surprising to see how the sheer inaccessibility of some of the Inca strongholds, can explains why the remnants of the Inca Empire was able to hold out against the Spanish for decades. In fact, the city of Machu Picchu located high up in the Andes Mountains, was not discovered by the outside world, after the Inca abandoned it, until the 20th century.
The Inca civilization was the largest and advanced civilization that developed in the Americas. Their Empire was located primarily in the area now known as Peru that thrived between the 13th and 16th Century A.D. The area's earliest known evidence of farming communities however began around 8000 B.C. in the Chilca Valley. The Chilca settlements were located at an altitude of 3900 meters above sea level. The inhabitants took the long step towards civilization with the domestication of plants mainly of wild forms of modern plants such as corn, potatoes and other tubers. There was also evidence of trade with coastal communities but the living condition was tough on the high wind swept plateaus. So for reasons that are unclear these small communities eventually faded from existence. However, plant archeology indicated that the wild variety of plants they cultivated such as corn took close to 9000 years to develop from a size of an inch to three inches. The low quality of the crop yield combined with expanding population, and poor climatic conditions all probably contributed to the culture's decline and dispersal.
However beginning around 900 B.C., a so-called Chavin culture emerged in the eastern slopes of the Cordillera Blanca in Peru. Their settlements were situated high in the Andes Mountains, between the tropical rainforest and the coastal plains. This culture would become the foundation of all later Peruvian civilizations to follow. Social stratification was also present consisting of a small group of elite, among a much larger group of commoners, as evident from burial sites. They also worshiped a feline god, and built temples equipped with underground chambers dedicated to it's worship. The Chavin culture seemed to have practiced ritual cannibalism from evidence found in these temples. However, advances in art, textiles and metal working also characterized this culture. Interestingly, it also appears that their artwork seemed to have some similarities to the Olmec art found in Central America. The Chavin period saw a period of political unification within Northern Peru. However, the Chavin culture would eventually declined around 300 B.C.
During the Chavin's decline, the Moche located within the river valleys along the Northern Peruvian coast started its emergence. Not much of the Moche culture is known except through archeological evidence of its art. What is known is that, the post-Chavin peoples formed city-states based on a theocracy after the breakup of the unified government. The Moche culture seemed to have gradually spread throughout these city-states as evident from their artwork. It also seemed to have gone through 5 distinct phases of developments. The Moche culture would last over a thousand years until around the 12th century A.D. The Moche would however serve as the cultural antecedents to the two powers that arose in South America shortly before the Spanish arrival, the Chimu and the Inca.
The Chimu was an aggressive expansionist state that thrived between 1100 A.D till the 1400's. The Chimu was known for their extensive irrigation systems. The longest of which stretched twenty miles from the Chicama Valley to their capitol of Chan-Chan. When the expansionist Chimu state grew southwards and encountered the Inca in 1462 A.D., conflict naturally arose. The Inca eventually prevailed over the Chimu in 1476 A.D. by ingeniously cutting off Chan-Chan's water supply. The inhabitants of the city were then resettled at Cuzco, the Inca capitol, to serve the Inca King.
During this time, other South American cultures also developed along side the Moche, which would become part of the Inca Empire, that are also noteworthy. In modern day Bolivia the Tiwanaku, settled the area beginning around 400 B.C. and came to dominate between 400 A.D. to 500 A.D. Their capitol was Tiahuanaco, and believed to have had a population between 30,000 to 60,000 people. They were also pyramid builders, and establish trade networks that eventually reached the majority of the southern Andes. The Tiahuanaco Empire (its people by then as they are now known as the Aymara) finally collapsed between 1000 A.D. and 1100 A.D. becoming divided into twelve separate kingdoms which the Inca was able to exploit. Another culture was the Nazca, that thrived between 250 A.D. till 750 A.D. They were situated on the coastal plain of southern Peru, from the Chincha to Acari valleys. They are perhaps one of the most mysterious peoples in the history of the Earth. Their claim to fame comes from the gigantic geoglyths that they sculpted into the landscapes where they inhabited. The purpose of these massive drawings is uncertain. It is still debated how they managed to create art at such a scale, let alone its meaning, but it is thought that they are connected to their beliefs and economical systems.
