Who were the Incas?

In barely a century, a people from the Andes built the largest empire pre-Columbian America ever saw: a network of more than two million square kilometers, joined by roads, without writing or the wheel, yet with astonishing organization. They were the Incas, and their history blends engineering, religion, and legend.

An empire called Tahuantinsuyu

The Incas called their empire Tahuantinsuyu, which means “the four regions (or suyus) united.” With its capital in Cusco (the “navel of the world”), it came to span territories of present-day Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. As the World History Encyclopedia recounts, it was the most important pre-Columbian culture in South America, ruled by a succession of sovereigns —also called “Incas”— up to its peak in the 15th century.

Between history and legend

As in many ancient civilizations, the origin of the Incas is told through myths. The two best-known legends place their birth at Lake Titicaca:

• The Sun (Inti) legend, in which the sun god brought forth Manco Cápac and Mama Ocllo to found Cusco and teach civilization to the peoples.
• The one about the creator god Viracocha, who emerged from the Pacific, created the sun, and made the different ethnic groups.

Behind the myth, historians place the Inca rise around the 13th–15th centuries.

A religion tied to nature

The Incas were a deeply religious and polytheistic people. They believed the forces of nature governed their lives, and among their main gods were:

• Inti, the sun god, father of the Incas and ruler of the agricultural cycle.
• Mama Quilla, the moon goddess.
• Pachamama, mother earth.
• Illapa, god of thunder and rain, and Viracocha, the creator.

Their worldview divided the cosmos into three planes: the upper world (Hanan Pacha), the earthly one (Kay Pacha), and the underworld (Uku Pacha).

Engineers without writing

The most admirable thing about the Incas was their organization. Without a writing system like ours, they kept the empire’s accounts with quipus, knotted cords that recorded data. They built thousands of kilometers of roads (the Qhapaq Ñan) that connected the Tahuantinsuyu, with suspension bridges and storehouses (tambos) to supply travelers and armies. They mastered agriculture on mountain terraces and raised stonework as precise as Machu Picchu or Sacsayhuamán, where the blocks fit together without mortar, as the Smithsonian highlights.

The end of an empire

The empire, still expanding, was weakened by a civil war between two heirs to the throne. In 1532 the Spanish conquistadors arrived, led by Francisco Pizarro, who took advantage of that internal conflict, alliances with subjugated peoples, and diseases brought from Europe to defeat the Incas within a few years. With the fall of Cusco the Tahuantinsuyu came to an end, though its language (Quechua) and many of its traditions live on today.

A legacy that still stands

The Incas proved that a vast, efficient state can be built with “low-tech” resources: knots instead of letters, roads instead of wheels, stone instead of cement. Their mark isn’t only in the ruins that amaze millions of tourists today, but in the living Andean culture that inherited their language, their respect for Pachamama, and their ingenuity. To understand the Incas is to understand one of humanity’s great civilizations.