Inca Empire Lesson

​Terms and Names

Pachacuti

Ruler under whom the Incan Empire grew quickly

Ayllu

Small community or clan whose members worked together for the common good

Mita

Requirement for all Incan subjects to work for the state a certain number of days each year

Quipu

Arrangement of knotted strings on a cord used by the Inca to record numerical information

​Who were the Inca? 

The Inca civilization arose in the Andes of South America. The Inca united much of the Andes under their rule. They first settled in the Valley of Cuzco, in modern Peru. 

In 1438, Pachacuti became the ruler of the Inca. He made conquest after conquest. By 1500, the Inca ruled an empire that stretched along the Andes from modern Ecuador all the way south to Chile and Argentina. The empire did not grow only through military conquest. Even when force was needed, afterward the Inca tried to win the loyalty of the conquered peoples through friendship rather than fear.

​How did the government unite the empire? 

The Inca had a highly organized system to govern their empire. Small groups of people known as ayllu worked together for the common good. The Inca usually let local rulers stay in place when they conquered a people—as long as the conquered people met any Incan demands. The most important demand was for all adult workers to spend some days each year working for the state. This payment of labor was known as mita.

​Inca Writing and Record Keeping

The Inca never developed a system of writing. All records were kept in peoples’ memories. They did have a device for counting. It was a set of knotted strings called a quipu. The Inca also had day and night calendars for information about their gods. Like the Maya and Aztecs, the Inca studied the heavens to create their calendars.

​In the early 1500s, the Incan Empire reached the height of its power under the rule of Huayna Capac. However, he died while traveling through the empire. After Huayna Capac’s death, civil war broke out between his two sons, Atahualpa and Huascar. Atahualpa eventually won, but the war tore the empire apart. When the Spanish arrived, they took advantage of Incan weakness to divide and conquer the empire. Disease also took a toll on the population.