Incas

Pre-Inca Empire

2500 BC - Around this time people in the region began farming. They grew potatoes, corn, cotton, and other crops. They also started forming villages.

900 BC - The Chavin civilization begins to form in the northern Andes highlands.

850 BC - The Chavin build the city and temple of Chavin de Huantar. It is located around 160 miles north of where Lima, Peru is today.

700 BC - The Paracas civilization begins to form.

200 BC - The Chavin civilization collapses.

100 AD - The Nazca civilization begins to flourish. The Nazca are known for their complex textiles and ceramics. They are also famous for the Nazca Lines drawn in the desert floor. These lines form the shapes of large animals when viewed from the air.

200 AD - The Paracas civilization collapses.

600 AD - The Huari civilization begins to form in the area.

800 AD - The Nazca and Moche civilizations come to an end.

1000 AD - Many more cultures begin to form in the area during this time including the Chimu.

1200 AD - The Chimu build their capital city Chan Chan.

Inca Empire Time Line

Inca Empire

1200 AD - The Inca tribe, led by Manco Capac, founded the city of Cuzco in the Cuzco Valley region.

1200 AD to 1400 AD - The Inca live in and around the city-state of Cuzco. During this period of time they do not try to expand their area of control.

1438 AD - Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui becomes the leader of the Inca. He begins to conquer nearby tribes and expand the control of the Inca Empire. He reorganizes the government into the Tawantinsuyu and builds the city of Machu Picchu.

1471 AD - Tupac Inca Yupanqui, Pachacuti's son, becomes emperor. He will greatly expand the Inca Empire.

1476 AD - Emperor Tupac defeats the Chuma Empire and their lands become part of the Inca Empire.

1493 AD - Huayna Capac, Tupac's son, becomes emperor. The Inca Empire will reach its peak under the reign of Huayna Capac.

Decline and Fall of the Inca Empire

1525 AD - The sons of Emperor Huayna, Atahualpa and Huascar, fight over the crown. The Inca Empire fights a civil war for the next five years.

1532 AD - Atahualpa defeats Huascar and becomes the emperor. At the same time, Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrives in Peru. Pizarro captures Atahualpa and holds him for ransom.

1533 AD - The Spanish execute Atahualpa and install Manco Inca as Emperor.

1535 AD - Francisco Pizarro founds the city of Lima, Peru and names it the capital of the region.

1537 AD - Manco Inca flees to Vilcabamba and forms an Inca government separate from the Spanish.

1541 AD - Francisco Pizarro is killed.

1572 AD - The Spanish execute the last of the Inca emperors, Tupac Amaru, signaling the end of the Inca Empire.

Map of the Empire Tawantinsuyo Inca

Ethnic Groups

Cuzco

Machu Pichu

Cuzco and Machu Picchu

Cuzco, Fort

Cuzco

Cuzco, Fort Sacsayhuaman

Cuzco

Cuzco, Inca street

Pre-Hispanic writing systems Picto-graphic

• In Mesoamerica

• Logo-graphic

• Logo-syllabic

In Mesoamerica there was a grotto graphic and logo-graphic systems

• Tlaxiaco (Ball court where it rains)

• Chimalpopoca (Smoking shield)

The logo-syllabic or glotto-graphic system represents the spoken language

To include the study of Mesoamerican and Andean systems of recording information, the term Semasiographic has been used

• Semasiographic comes from semasia (From the Greek) that means meaning with a graphic presentational style to indicate those graphic systems of communication where marks communicate meaning directly and within the structure of their own system.

• Semasiographic systems of communication convey ideas independently from language and on the same logical level as spoken language. They are called to be supralinguistic

Types of semasiographic systems

• 1) Conventional: Meaning is indicated by the interrelationship of symbols that are arbitrarily codified. Mathematical notation. Meaning is also conveyed by relative placement, by the spatial relationships of the parts to each other. Scientific, musical choreographical notations belong to this category

• 2) Iconic: We are seeing these in our ever increasing visual culture, stop signs, bathroom dry hands, telephone, @ or

Iconic

Pre-Columbian people used both glottographic and semasiographic systems

• In the Andes, the systems used for recording information are different from the Mesoamerican ones

• Quipus function semasiographically, but unlike Mesoamerican system, their elements are conventional rather than iconic.

• Quipus store abstract information through color, texture, form and size (of the knots and the cords), and relative placement, but they do not picture things or ideas.

• Quipus are like mathematical and scientific notation, and somewhat like musical notation where arbitrary codified symbols hold meaning according to their interrelationships.

Quipus means of recording knowledge and communication

Other forms of semasiographic conventional system in the Andes

• Some scholars believe that Inca tunics and ceramic were used also as means of communication or record keeping.

• The squares or tucapu or t’oqapu that form the typical checkboard like design or called (collcapata) can alternate in color and contain a standard pattern that a scholar has called the “Inca Key”

• The collcapata designs and the different types of tunics that the Inca ruler worn, convey information on alliance or of power and succession.

• The design it is also thought to suggest the rows of stone to which agriculture tribute flowed from the four quarters of the empireTawantinsuyu or the “Land of the Four Quarters”

Tunics

Inca Keros (Ceremonial beakers) made of chachacoma (Alder-tree) wood, with polychrome decorations

More tunics

Tunics

Tunics

Keros, with tocapu to convey messages

Nobles incas

Inca