Post on 22-Dec-2015
transcript
Location
• Western Highlands of South America
• Present-day Chile, Argentina, Peru, Colombia
• The empire stretched for more than 3,000 miles
• Capital City – Cuzco
• Founded in 1200 A.D.
Military
• Very powerful army
• All men ages 25-50 were drafted for the army for up to five years.
• Weapons included clubs, spears, spiked copper balls on ropes.
• Soldiers used woven cloth to throw stones 30 yards.
Infrastructure
• Population – more than 9 million
• Infrastructure – more than 10,000 miles of stone paved roads that ran over mountains, desert, and jungles.
• Rope bridges – made from glass – were used to cross canyons an rivers.
Communication
• Runners would carry messages from the emperor to remote remote villages.
• Quechua – official language
• No form of written language
• Quipus – form of record keeping that used strings and knots to keep track of grain supplies
Agriculture
• The mountainous land was not well suited for farming.
• Incas cut terraces into the sides of mountains to make platforms to plant on.
• They built stone walls to hold the soils and plants in place.
• Crops – maize, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, peppers, melons, cotton, potatoes.
Religion
• The Incan Empire belonged to the emperor, who was believed to be a descendant of the sun god.
• Incans believed the sun god enjoyed displays of gold, so they made and wore gold jewelry.
• They built special cities devoted to religious ceremonies. (i.e. – Machu Picchu)