The Incas
The Inca had one of the largest and richest empires in South America. The empire began expanding in 1438 and extended 4,020 km of the western coast of South America and was centred on Cuzco, the capital. The Inca had a complex political system that kept a balance of authority of their emperor and local rulers. They were skilful in engineering and crafts. They made beautiful articles of gold, silver and other materials and wove fine cotton and woollen cloth. The Inca built roads and architecture of great size and skilful construction. The empire of the Inca was along the western coast of South America. It included parts of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. There was an undefined border in the east, but forts of stone were found in forests of the Amazon suggesting that there might have been Inca development there. Most of the land the Inca controlled was made up of the Andes Mountains, high, chilly, heavily forested mountains that form a double chain on the western coast of South America, with moderately moist plateaus throughout the region. Most of the land is 3,000 meters above sea level where the Amazon jungle lays. Past the Andes lies a tropically hot desert coast where there is no rain and is only watered by heavy rivers that cut their way to the sea. The shore is washed by waves of the cold Antarctic Ocean, often foggy and full of fish and sea life. It’s one of the best fishing areas in the world. The cost was the home to seals and sea-lions, and different seabirds such as the pelican. The land was home to lizards, serpents, insects, mice and rats, monkeys, lots of deer, llamas and alpacas, guinea pigs, sea lions, pumas, jaguars, lots of birds; parrots, macaws, mountain hawks and eagles. Vegetation included potatoes, beans, gourds and a grain called quinoa. They domesticated maize, peppers and fruits. The Inca used different methods of farming. They built irrigation systems in the desert coast. In the highlands they cut terraces in the hillsides because it was easier to lessen erosion and it made irrigation easier. Agriculture was an extremely important part of Inca life. Without the agriculture system the empire never would have existed. The Inca divided fields into three groups. The first field went to the local people and the second and third fields went to the state and state religious rites. The local people shared the land and worked together in the fields without oxen or horses. Instead the men dug holes with poles with a hard point, foot rest and handles while the women planted seeds opposite them. The main crops of the Inca were corn, cotton, potatoes, a root called oca and a grain called quinoa. They used corn to make a beer, chicha. The Inca grew fields and crops on different parts of mountains and plateaus. At the top they grew potatoes, middle levels grew beans and maize and at the bottom farmers grew fruits and peppers. Clothing was different in other regions. In the highlands they wore wool made from alpacas and llamas. On the coast the people wore cotton. The nobles wore fine cloth and jewellery. Women wore long dresses and square shawls called mantas.