The Incas(Inca) - a tribe from the Cuzco Valley, whose powerful civilization existed in the “pre-Columbian” era on the South American continent. The Incas managed to create a powerful empire that changed its appearance and conquered many peoples.
The Incas themselves called their empire Tawantinsuyu(Four cardinal directions) because there were 4 roads leading out of Cusco in different directions.
The Indians called their ruler Inka, which means “lord”, “king”. Then “Inca” began to be called all representatives of the ruling class, and with the invasion of the conquerors - the entire Indian population of the Tawantinsuyu empire.
Creation of the Great Inca Empire
Thanks to archaeological finds, it is obvious that the Inca civilization arose in 1200-1300. At the end of the 11th century, due to the drought that had been raging in the Andes for more than 100 years, neighboring, stronger tribes lost their power in fights for water and food.
Inspired by success, the Inca rulers turned their gaze to the abundant land - a spacious plateau with. And Pachacutec-Inca-Yupanqui, one of the great rulers of the Incas, undertook a military campaign to the south in the 15th century.
The population of the lakeside states was about 400 thousand people. The mountain slopes are riddled with gold and silver veins, and fat herds of llamas and alpacas grazed in the flowering meadows. Llamas and alpacas are meat, wool and leather, that is, military rations and uniforms.
Pachacutec conquered the southern rulers one after another, expanding the boundaries of his possessions, which became one of the largest empires on the planet. The number of subjects of the empire reached about 10 million people.
Victories in the military field were only the first stage on the path to power; after the warriors, officials, builders and artisans got down to business.
Incas: Wise Rule
If an uprising broke out in some Inca province, the rulers undertook the resettlement of people: they resettled residents of remote villages to new cities located near the built roads. They were ordered to build warehouses along the roads for regular troops, which were filled by their subjects with the necessary provisions. The Inca rulers were brilliant organizers.
The Inca civilization reached an unprecedented peak. Stonemasons erected architectural masterpieces, engineers turned isolated roads into a single system connecting all parts of the empire. Irrigation canals were created, agricultural terraces were laid out on the mountain slopes, about 70 types of crops were grown there and significant reserves of provisions were stored in storage facilities. The governors were excellent at taking inventory: they were aware of the contents of each repository of the vast empire, keeping records using a kippah - an analogue of the Incas' computer code - bundles of multi-colored threads with special combinations of knots.
The Inca rulers were quite harsh, but fair: they allowed the conquered peoples to preserve their traditions. The main social unit was the family. Each group of 20 families had a leader who was subordinate to a superior, who already headed 50 families, and so on - until the Inca Ruler.
Social structure of civilization
The Inca Empire had this social order: everyone worked here, with the exception of the youngest and very old people. Each family had its own cultivated plot of land. People weaved, sewed clothes, shoes or sandals, made dishes and jewelry from gold and silver.
The inhabitants of the empire had no personal freedom; the rulers decided everything for them: what to eat, what clothes to wear and where to work. The Incas were remarkable farmers; they built grandiose aqueducts to irrigate fields with water from mountain rivers, growing many valuable crops.
Many buildings erected by the Incas still stand today. The Incas created many original bridges from willow twigs and vines twisted into thick ropes. The Incas were natural potters and weavers:
They wove the finest fabrics from cotton, such that the Spaniards considered them silk. The Incas also knew how to spin wool, making beautiful and warm woolen clothes.
Mummy - ruler of the Incas
In the middle of the 15th century, Huayna Capac, the new ruler of the Incas, ascended the throne. Then it seemed that the Inca dynasty was all-powerful. People could even change nature in incredible ways: during the construction of Huayna Capac's residence, workers leveled hills, drained swamps, and moved the riverbed (Spanish: Rio Urubamba) to the southern part of the valley to plant cotton, corn, chili peppers and peanuts, and In the center of the “new” territory, a palace - Quispiguanca - will be built from brick and stone.
Around 1527, Huayna Capac died of an unknown illness. Those close to him, mummifying the body, transported it to Cuzco, and members of the royal family visited the deceased, asking for advice and listening to the answers spoken by the oracle sitting next to him. Even after his death, Huayna Capac remained the owner of the Quispiguanca estate. The entire harvest from the fields was used to maintain the mummy of the ruler, his wives, descendants and servants in luxury.
The traditions of inheritance among the Incas were such that even after the death of the rulers, all the palaces remained their property. Therefore, each Inca, as soon as he ascended the throne, began the construction of a new city palace and country residence. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of up to a dozen royal residences, built for at least six rulers.
Inca - Spanish Conquest
In 1532, a detachment of 200 foreign conquerors under the leadership landed on the coast of what is now Peru. They were wearing steel armor and armed with firearms. Along the way, those dissatisfied with the dominance of the Incas joined the army. The Incas stubbornly resisted the conquerors, but the empire was weakened by internecine war and the fact that a large number of Incas warriors died from smallpox and measles brought by the Spaniards.
The Spaniards reached northern city Cajamarca executed the ruler, installing his puppet on the throne.
Cusco, the capital of the Incas, was conquered by the Spanish in 1536. The invaders appropriated palaces, flourishing country estates, women and girls from the royal family. When the last Inca ruler was beheaded in 1572, it marked the end of the Tahuantinsuyu Empire. The Inca culture was destroyed, the state was plundered. The extensive network of roads, temples and palaces gradually fell into disrepair.
Lake Titicaca is located in the Central Andes at an altitude of 3810 meters above sea level. Exactly this large lake South America. Its area is 8,300 square kilometers, and it ranks 18th in size among the largest lakes in the world. The depth of the waters is more than a hundred meters, and in some places reaches 300 meters.
It was here, on the shores of a huge and deep reservoir, that during fabulous antiquity there was one of the centers of highly developed civilizations of mankind.
Around it, habitable lands were limited to the east by the impenetrable jungle of the Amazon River basin, and to the west by the boundless waters of the Pacific Ocean. Ancient people densely populated the narrow western strip of the continent, which began at the borders of modern Ecuador and ended in the central regions of Chile.
In the first millennium BC, civilizations such as Chavin, San Augustin and Paracas existed here. The latter chose the coastal region of the Andes (the southern coast of modern Peru) and the Paracas Peninsula (sand rain).
The main attraction of this people, which has survived to our times, are the necropolises. They consist of spacious burial chambers; they contain many mummies. The dead, wrapped in several layers of fabric decorated with rich ornaments, are in a sitting position. Knees rest on chins, arms crossed over chest.
What is of particular interest is that some mummies have skulls that are deformed, ovoid in shape, and show signs of trepanation. It’s hard to believe, but the facts are stubborn: once upon a time, more than two thousand years ago, the ancient Aesculapians successfully performed brain surgery. This is confirmed by the partial replacement of the bones of the skulls with gold plates.
Paracas Civilization disappeared into the darkness of centuries in the second century BC. Her traces were lost in the endless stream of time, but there is a number of evidence that casts a faint light on the fate of this mysterious people. This evidence indicates that the descendants of those ancient Aesculapians did not disappear from the earth, but continue to live, skillfully applying invaluable medical knowledge in practice.
But before considering this interest Ask, you need to get acquainted with the historical events that took place in the period from the 13th to the 16th centuries. western lands South America.
History of the Inca Empire
Nine hundred years ago, the Sun God Inti, who oversaw the above-mentioned territory, became concerned about the poor living conditions of people. To cheer up mere mortals, instill confidence in them and make them feel the joy of life, he sent to them his son Manco Capac and his beloved daughter Mama Oaklew. 
The ruler's instructions were brief and clear. He gave the children a staff made of pure gold and ordered them to settle in those lands where this expensive product would enter the soil.
The divine offspring carried out their father's will exactly. They wandered for a long time through the mountainous terrain, testing its strength. The rocky ground did not want to accept the precious metal, and the children already began to despair. But then they found themselves in the Cusco valley, near the village of Pacara Tambo, at the foot of the Huanakauri hill. And here a miracle happened: the staff easily entered the soil, as hard as granite. The son and daughter looked at each other joyfully and founded a settlement on this site, which they named Cusco. 
The Inca people who lived in the nearby territory praised Manco Capac and Mama Oklew, recognized them as their rulers and began to call their country Tawantinsuyu (land of four parts).
Years passed. Cusco gradually turned into a large and beautiful city. It was located at an altitude of 3416 meters above sea level and was surrounded by two mountain ranges.
Inca Wars
In parallel with the construction of their capital, the people, who received the support of the gods, waged wars of conquest. At first, he fought for a long time with the Sora and Rucana tribes, who lived in the western lands adjacent to the Cuzco Valley. Having conquered these tribes, the conquerors significantly expanded their borders and began to prepare for further military expansions.
The very strong and brave Chanka people turned out to be a serious opponent. The war with him was long, difficult and cruel. Only by the middle of the 15th century did the Incas manage to defeat their main enemy. At this time, their ruler was Pachacutec, the son of the legendary Manco Capac.
At the beginning of the second half of the 15th century, the descendants of the divine offspring subjugated all the tribes living in the Lake Titicaca basin. The conquests are not limited to this. Military expansion continues, and by the end of the 15th century the conquered territory expands to enormous proportions. This is already an empire, whose possessions extend from the southern border of modern Colombia to the central regions of Chile and Argentina.
Government of the Inca Empire
A large state needs competent administrative management. The conquerors divided all the conquered lands into four provinces: Kuntisuyu, Kolyasuyu, Antisuyu and Chinchasuyu. In the center of Cusco was Huacapata Square. From it, in different directions, four roads diverged, leading to these administrative formations of the empire.
When we hear the concepts “Inca”, “Maya” or “Aztec”, we are mentally transported overseas, to the mountains and jungles of the American continent. It was there that these Indian tribes, little known to mankind, lived - the creators of the civilization of the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans, about whom we will briefly talk further. From history we only know about them that they were skilled craftsmen. The Incas built big cities, connected by roads that looked as if cars were racing along them. The pyramids were built like the Egyptian ones, but according to local religious views. Irrigation canals made it possible to feed the people with their own agricultural products.
The Incas created calendars, chronology and writing, had an observatory and were well oriented by the stars. And suddenly, overnight, all civilizations disappeared. Many scientists are working to unravel the causes of a rather strange, even from the standpoint of modern science, socio-demographic phenomenon. First, let's introduce the Inca civilization in a brief description.
Ancient Incas
If we consider geographical map South American continent, its vertical division by the Andes mountains will be striking. To the east of the mountains extends Pacific Ocean. This area, closer to the north, was chosen by the ancient Indian tribe of the Incas, pronounced “Quechua” in their language, in the 11th – 15th centuries. In such a short period, on a certain scale, it is difficult to create a unique and one of the early class civilizations of Mesoamerica. The Incas succeeded at this, perhaps with some outside help.
It stretched for five thousand kilometers from north to south - this is exactly half the length of the Russian Federation. It included the territories, in whole or in part, of eight modern Latin American countries. These regions were inhabited by about twenty million people.
Archaeologists say: Quechua culture did not begin out of nowhere. It has been proven that a significant part either came to the Quechua from outside, or they settled on foreign territory and appropriated the achievements of previous civilizations.
The Incas were good warriors and did not hesitate to conquer new territories. From the Mochica culture and the Kari state they could adopt the technology of making colored ceramics, laying canals in the fields, and from Nazca - the construction of underground water pipelines. The list goes on.
What the Quechuas themselves excelled at was stone-cutting. The blocks for the buildings were cut so beautifully that no binding material was required when laying them. The pinnacle of architecture is a group of temples under the general name of the Golden Court with the temple of the Sun God. The supreme rulers of the Quechuas simply adored gold; the emperor’s palaces were covered with it from floor to ceiling. The Spanish conquistadors melted down all this luxury and transported it home in ingots. Only the majestic pyramids on the lifeless land remind of past greatness.
Ancient Mayans
The Mayans had everything that characterized ancient civilizations, except the wheel and metal tools. Tools were made of high quality from strong stone, even for cutting wood.
The Mayans skillfully erected buildings using arched ceilings, rare for those times, and knowledge of geometry helped to correctly lay irrigation canals. They were the first to know how to get cement. Their surgeons performed operations with scalpels made of frozen glass.
Like the Incas (Quechua), the Mayans had great knowledge about space and the stars. But hardly any of them could own spacecraft. But then why did they need a domed observatory tower that has survived to this day? The building is positioned so that it is better to navigate the orbit of the brightest planet. Just to create a calendar aimed at this planet? Obviously there were other plans. No wonder there are mysterious images of flying people on the rocks.
There is also this version of the origin of the Mayans: perhaps they sailed to America on ships from another continent. Like the Incas, the Mayans used the experience of a more developed civilization - the Olmecs, who appeared from nowhere on the American continent. For example, their experience of making drinks from a substance similar to chocolate, and in religion they adopted deities in the form of animals.
The Mayans disappeared in the 10th century AD. The Incas, Mayans, and Olmecs suffered the same fate - their civilizations ceased to exist in their prime. There are two popular versions of the death of the Mayans - ecology and conquest. The second is supported by artifacts from the presence of other tribes in the territory where the Mayans lived.
Ancient Aztecs
Up to a dozen tribes lived on the fertile lands of the Valley of Mexico for centuries. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Tepanec tribe appeared there. Warlike, incredibly cruel, it conquered all other tribes. Their allies in the seizure of territories were a small tribe of tenochki.
These were the Aztecs. Neighboring tribes called them by this name. The Aztecs are driven out by other tribes to a deserted island. And from here the power of the Aztecs spread over the entire valley of Mexico, where up to ten million people already lived. They traded with everyone who accepted them. Thousands of people lived in cities. The state has grown to unprecedented proportions.
The Incas are a small South American tribe that managed to rise to the very pinnacle of power and create a powerful empire that conquered many peoples and changed the face of the Andes.
They managed to transform themselves from a small, unknown tribe from the Cuzco Valley into the rulers of the Andes. And create the great Inca Empire, built on the most accurate accounting of food and which amazed the newcomers from Europe with grandiose structures.
The Inca Empire became the largest state in terms of area and population in South America in the XI-XVI centuries. The territory of their empire stretched from present-day Pasto in Colombia to the Maule River in Chile and included the territories of present-day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and parts of Chile, Argentina and Colombia.
The Incas called their empire Tawantinsuyu (four connected cardinal directions). This name came from the fact that four roads left the Cuzco valley in different directions, and each, regardless of its length, bore the name of the part of the empire to which it led.
The ruler of these vast territories was the Inca, as the Indians called their ruler. Literally, “Inca” means “ruler”, “overlord”, “king”. And the word “Inca” itself was an integral part of the name of the leader of the empire. Over time, “Inca” began to be called not only the ruler of the empire, but also other representatives of the ruling class. And with the advent of the conquerors, the concept of “Inca” or “Inca” spread to the entire tribe of Indians that inhabited the Tawantinsuyu empire.
Formation of the Great Inca Empire.
For a long time it was believed that the great Inca Empire was created by a single genius. The brilliant Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui, the first ruler of the Incas, a sort of local Alexander the Great, was supposed to have transformed a handful of adobe huts into a powerful empire in the span of a single generation in the early 15th century.
But University of Chicago archaeologist Brian Bauer is confident that the roots of the Inca dynasty go back deeper than the 15th century. Arriving in Peru in 1980, together with his colleague R. Alan Covey, now an archaeologist at the University of Dallas, and a team of Peruvian assistants, he combed the steep mountain slopes up and down for four field seasons - and eventually discovered thousands of unknown monuments Inca culture. It became obvious: the Inca state arose between 1200 and 1300. And what gave them power was... climate change. The stronger neighboring tribes gradually lost their power by the beginning of the 12th century. This was partly due to drought, which raged in the Andes for more than a hundred years and led to famine and unrest.
In all corners of the Peruvian Highlands, skirmishes took place over meager supplies of water and food. Crowds of refugees rushed to the mountains because... only on the cold, windswept peaks of the Andes was it possible to hide from raids.
But the Incas in the fertile valley of Cusco had no shortage of sources of water - and the farmers from the Inca tribe did not move. While less fortunate neighbors exterminated each other, prosperous Inca villages united in small state, capable of protecting itself from enemy attacks. And between 1150 and 1300, when the climate in the Andes warmed significantly, the Incas from Cusco were able to take advantage of this warming.
As temperatures rose, they gradually climbed the mountain slopes by 250–300 meters, constructing multi-tiered agricultural terraces to protect soils from erosion, irrigating fields using canals indicating high level engineering and harvesting record corn harvests. The surplus of harvests allowed the Incas to “free up large numbers of people for other activities, such as building roads or maintaining a large army.” And then the day came when the Inca was able to call up more warriors and provide weapons and food for a larger army than any other of the neighboring leaders.
Having created a regular army, the Inca rulers began to look at other people's lands and wealth. They began to enter into dynastic alliances with the leaders of neighboring tribes and lavish gifts on new allies. When conquering neighboring tribes, the Incas, on the one hand, used their strong and numerous army, and on the other hand, attracted the elite of the conquered regions. Before taking military action, the Incas three times invited the rulers of the conquered region to voluntarily join their empire. If the neighbors were not persuaded by diplomacy, they were pacified by force. And gradually a powerful state with a capital was formed - holy city Cusco is located at an altitude of 3416 meters above sea level, in a deep valley between two mountain ranges.
Inspired by the success of their conquests, the Inca rulers turned their gaze further - to the rich lands in the southeast, where at an altitude of 3840 m there was a vast plateau with Lake Titicaca. In the 15th century, one of the greatest Inca rulers, Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui, planned a military campaign to the south.
The arrogant rulers of the lakeside states had almost 400 thousand subjects. Their abundant land beckoned. The mountain slopes were riddled with veins of gold and silver, and herds of alpacas and llamas grazed in the lush green meadows. Military successes in the Andes largely depended on them: the llama, the only animal on the entire continent, could carry a load weighing 30 kilograms on its back. In addition, llamas, as well as alpacas, provide meat, leather and wool. Military rations, uniforms, army movement - everything depended on the availability of lamas. And if the Inca ruler had not managed to conquer the rulers who owned these herds, he would have had to wait with trepidation for the day when he himself would have to surrender to the mercy of the winner.
Pachacutec subjugated one southern ruler after another, increasingly expanding the borders of his empire, which at the peak of its existence became one of the largest states on Earth. The number of subjects of the Inca Empire reached, according to various sources, from 5-6 to 12 million people.
However, military victories were only the first step on the path to greatness. If the empire of Alexander the Great collapsed immediately after his death, the legacy of the Inca ruler Pachacutec-Inca-Yupanqui turned out to be much more tenacious. Because here, after the soldiers, officials and builders got down to business.
Wise rule of the Incas.
When an uprising broke out in any of the provinces, the Inca rulers organized a resettlement of peoples: they diluted the local population with loyal subjects, and took the rebellious ones closer to the capital. Residents of remote villages surrounded by high walls were relocated to new cities, which were located along roads built by the Incas - the roads ensured the rapid movement of troops. The Inca governors ordered the construction of roadside warehouses for these troops, and their subjects had to fill the warehouses with provisions and other necessary supplies. Everything was foreseen, and the chances of an uprising became negligible. The Incas were organizational geniuses.
The Andean civilization reached its peak. Engineers turned disparate groups of roads into a single system that connected all corners of the empire. The peasants created irrigation canals, laid out high-mountain agricultural terraces, where they grew about seven dozen different crops, and stocked enough food in storage facilities to last from three to seven years. Officials have mastered inventory to perfection. They knew the contents of all the vaults across the vast empire, keeping records using an Andean form of computer code - bundles of multi-colored threads with a combination of knots called quipus. Stonemasons erected masterpieces of architecture.
Huayna Capac, dead ruler of the Incas.
Around 1493, a new Inca ruler, Huayna Capac, ascended the throne. At that time, it seemed that the Inca dynasty could control everything in the world. During construction new capital in Ecuador, workers who did not know wheels dragged stone blocks from the Cusco valley to a distance of 1.6 thousand kilometers along a mountain road. For these works, Huayna Capac rounded up more than 4.5 thousand rebellious subjects.
And a small army of men and women changed nature in a way that was amazing at that time. To create the royal residence of Huayna Capaca (an area the size of seven football fields), workers moved the course of the Urubamba River to the southern part of the valley, leveled hills and drained swamps to plant corn, cotton, peanuts and chili peppers. In the center of the “new land”, Huayna Capac’s country palace, Quispiguanca, was built from stones and bricks.
In spacious palaces, surrounded by parks, cultivated fields and gardens, Huayna Capac received guests, played gambling with those close to you. Sometimes he went hunting. To do this, there was no need to travel outside the estate: the ruler had at his disposal a secluded hunting lodge and a forest, where deer and other wild animals were found in abundance.
Around 1527, Huayna Capac died in Ecuador from some mysterious illness - but did not lose his power. Those close to him mummified his body, transported it back to Cuzco, and members of the royal family often visited the deceased monarch, asking him for advice on important issues and listening to the answers that were uttered by the oracle sitting next to him. And after his death, Huayna Capac remained the owner of Quispiguanca and the estate: the entire harvest from the local fields was to be used to maintain his mummy, servants, wives and descendants in luxury for all eternity.
Since the traditions of inheritance were so strange that all the palaces remained the property of the rulers even after their death, it is not surprising that each Inca, upon ascending the throne, built for himself and his descendants a new city palace and a new country residence. To date, archaeologists and historians have discovered the ruins of a dozen royal residences built by at least six rulers.
Conquest of the Incas by the Spaniards.
In 1532, foreign conquerors led by Francisco Pizarro landed on the coast of modern Peru. Who arrived with 200 foot soldiers, clad in steel armor and armed with deadly firearms and only 27 horses. However, on the way, his army is replenished by those dissatisfied with the rule of the Incas. The Incas fiercely fight the conquerors, but the empire is weakened by internal turmoil and internecine war, in addition, a large number of Inca warriors die from smallpox and measles brought by the Spaniards.
The Spaniards reached Cajamarca, the northern city of the Incas, where they captured the ruler Atahualpa. Eight months later they executed their royal captive, and their leader, Francisco Pizarro, installed a puppet on the throne - the young prince of Manco Inca Yupanqui.
The Inca capital, Cusco, was conquered by the Spaniards in 1536. Over the next few months, the Spanish conquerors appropriated Cuzco's palaces and vast country estates and took girls from the royal family as wives and mistresses. The angry Manco-Inca-Yupanqui rebelled and in 1536 tried to drive out the foreigners from his lands. When his army was defeated, he and a small number of followers fled to the mountainous region of Vilcabamba, where Incan rule continued for about 30 years.
In 1572, the last Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru, was beheaded. This marked the end of the Tawantinsuyu empire. The state was plundered, the Inca culture was destroyed. The vast network of Incan roads, vaults, temples and palaces gradually fell into disrepair.
Origin and history of the Inca tribe
During the Late Intermediate Period (1000–1483), small tribes—predecessors of the Incas—lived in the Cuzco region. The Incas were just one of many local population groups. Although information about the chronology and development of the Cusco region is incomplete, some of the major stages of Peruvian archeology can be recognized in the styles of local pottery. Evidence of Huari influence has been found in the very south of the valley, at Piquillact, approximately 30 kilometers south of Cusco. However, there are no traces of Huari architecture or pottery in the area of Cusco itself. It is assumed that in the middle horizon it was not constantly inhabited. The main style of pottery common in the period preceding the Inca Empire is generally called sprat, and varieties of this style are found everywhere between San Pedro de Cacha and Machu Picchu. The local origin of the Incas is demonstrated by the fact that the sprat style is akin to the characteristic style of the Incas during their imperial period.
Partially preserved structures have been found on the hills - settlements of the late intermediate period, in which some attempt to adhere to general plan. This period is characterized by round and square buildings, not very similar to the houses of Piquillacta. The Spanish conquerors heard from the Incas that before they became dominant, the peoples of the Sierra (mountains) were very diverse and unorganized and settled in hard to reach places because they were constantly at war with each other.
Written accounts of the early period of Inca rule - approximately between 1200 and 1438. – represent very unreliable historical evidence. This period covers the time from the founding of the Inca dynasty until 1438, when the Inca Empire was already the most significant state in the Andes.
Origin myths say that the Incas originally consisted of three original clan groups united under the leadership of Manco Capac, the legendary founder of the dynasty. These myths tell how the Incas searched for fertile land and found it in the Cusco Valley and how they settled on this land.
Upon arrival in Cuzco, the Incas encountered resistance and were forced to settle nearby until they retook the site where they later built the famous Temple of the Sun, Qoricancha. The power of Manco Capac extended only to the indigenous natives of the area of \u200b\u200bCuzco. The second and third Inca leaders after him, Sinchi Roca and Lloque Yupanqui, had a reputation for peace, while the fourth, Maita Capac, aroused hostility towards himself, and as a result, an uprising arose among the inhabitants of Cuzco itself.
The fifth, sixth and seventh Inca chiefs captured small territories in the surrounding areas. During this early period, neither the Incas nor their neighbors carried out organized conquests, but periodically raided neighboring villages when there was a danger that their inhabitants would begin to assert their rights, or when they seemed to have something to plunder.
Inca Viracocha, eighth ruler of the Inca dynasty, was the first to assume the title Sapa Inca(The One, or Supreme Inca). He put an end to local conquests, forming a relatively small but powerful state. At the end of his reign, a situation was created that was critical for the Incas, since the Cuzco region was threatened from three sides. In the south, the tribes were strong opponents stakes And lupaka, but they were at enmity with each other, and the Incas could focus their attention on the west and northwest, where the tribes lived Quechua And chunka. The Incas were on friendly terms with the Quechua, a powerful people who acted as a buffer between the Incas and the formidable Chanca tribe. It became increasingly stronger and had already captured the province of Andahuaillas, which had previously been occupied by the Quechuas, settling on its territory. Anticipating an inevitable clash in the future with the powerful Chancas, Inca Viracocha strengthened the position of his people by marrying the daughter of the tribal leader anta, closest neighbors in the northwest, and entering into an alliance with the Quechua.
When the Chancas reached the Incas, Viracocha was already an old man, and the people had a strong belief in the invincibility of the Chancas. Viracocha and his heir, Inca Urcon, apparently simply fled from Cuzco along with their retinue. However, the situation was saved by another group of Inca nobles and warlords, led by Yupanqui, another son of Inca Viracocha, who gathered as many warriors as he could under his banner and successfully defended Cuzco. The Chanca were then defeated in a series of battles, and it turned out that the Incas had won the power struggle and began to reign supreme in the mountains. After these events, Viracocha found himself out of work, and Yupanqui was proclaimed Pachacuti. He retained power and was crowned ruler of the Incas.
The Late Incan or Imperial period began with the reign of the Inca Pachacuti Yupanqui in 1438 and ended with the Spanish conquest in 1532. The history of the Incas of this period is much more reliable than the previous one. There is quite reliable information about the reign of the Inca rulers and about the military expansion of the empire, which spread throughout the entire territory of the Andes (see Fig. 3).
Rice. 3. Territory of the Inca Empire, showing areas annexed as a result of the wars of the late Inca period (according to J. Rove)
Inca Pachacuti consolidated previous conquests and new alliances by allocating lands near Cuzco to new subjects and giving them the opportunity to participate in the newly created administrative structure of Cuzco with the right to call themselves Incas. He then set about devising reforms that would integrate the new provinces into the growing state.
The Inca ruler began a military campaign to annex the tribe's lands urubamba, located to the west of the Quechua and Chanca territories, and southern lands up to Lake Titicaca. Having achieved military success, but realizing the urgent need to create a new effective system of government, Inca Pachacuti considered it beneficial to remain permanently in the capital, transferring command of the troops to his brother Capac Yupanqui, who was ordered to move north and conquer territories within clearly defined and limited limits - apparently up to Huanuco himself. Complications arose after a successful campaign when the Chanca Indians whom Inca Pachacuti had accepted into his army deserted near Huanuco. Pursuing the Chanca, Capac Yupanqui crossed strictly defined boundaries, lost fugitives, and then - probably hoping to return the favor of the Inca Pachacuti - attacked and captured Cajamarca, the most powerful possession in northern mountains. Leaving a small garrison there, Capac Yupanqui returned to Cuzco and was executed here - for exceeding his authority and for allowing the Chanca to leave.
The cruel punishment that befell Capac Yupanqui will become clearer if you look at the situation from the point of view of the Inca Pachacuti. Cajamarca was an important province and allied with the coastal state of Chimu, growing, powerful and extremely well organized - it represented the only obstacle to the Incan expansion to the north. At that time, Pachacuti was not ready to fight the entire Chimu army and therefore feared their possible attack on the small garrison left in the prematurely captured Cajamarca. In addition, Capac Yupanqui, due to his obvious success, could arouse the jealousy of Inca Pachacuti.
Inca Pachacuti had to first go out on a personal campaign to suppress the uprising in the south, in the Lake Titicaca basin, before he could again turn his attention to the north. By his will, Inca Topa, his son and heir, led the army and led it on a campaign across the highlands as far as Quito. Then, having reached the coast of what is now Ecuador, Inca Topa turned his army south, approaching the Chimu country from where they least expected him. He successfully conquered the entire northern and central coast as far as the Lurin Valley. Soon after this great campaign, the Inca Topa undertook another to subjugate the valleys of the southern coast from Nazca to Mala. While Inca Topa expanded his empire, Inca Pachacuti remained in Cuzco, establishing the administrative structure and rebuilding Cuzco into a capital befitting the imperial scale.
Inca Topa became ruler around 1471. He had just begun his campaign in the eastern forests when stakes And lupaka raised an uprising in the south - a serious threat that had to be dealt with as quickly as possible. After successfully suppressing the rebellion, the Inca occupied the territory of Bolivia and Chile, penetrating as far south as the Maule River, which from then on remained the southern border of the empire.
After the completion of the eastern expedition, Inca Topa, like his father, settled thoroughly in Cuzco, becoming closely involved in the formation of an empire, rebuilding and making more flexible administrative policies to suit the many new tribes and provinces now united under one rule. Perhaps it was this Inca who expanded the Inca conceptual system at the expense of some Chimu ideas, since it was he who convinced many noble people and Chimu artisans to move to Cuzco.
Inca Topa died in 1493 and was succeeded by his son Huayna Capac. This Inca suppressed several uprisings and annexed new lands to the empire. chachapoyas And myobamba, as well as the area north of Quito, where he established border markers along the Ancamayo River (today's border between Ecuador and Colombia). His achievement also included the full integration of the territory of Ecuador into the empire and the construction of new cities like Tomebamba, where he himself lived for a long time. Before his death in this city - he died suddenly from the plague - Huayna Capac learned that some strange bearded people had been seen on the coast (this was Pizarro's first expedition).
During the five years that remained of the Inca Empire, Huayna Capac's two sons, Atahualpa and Huascar, led civil war for power. Atahualpa won the war and was just preparing for his official coronation when the Spanish reappeared in 1532 (see Chapter 10).
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