What Is The Rise Of The Inca Empire

The Inca Empire flourished roughly between 1400 through 1500. Cuzco was the capital city of the Inca Empire. The location of the city was in the Andes Mountains, which is now Southern Peru. Cuzco derived from Qosqo means dried up lake-bed. Scholars were impressed by the engineers of the Inca people. The building were built of stone and were fitted so perfectly that it was nearly impossible to slide a paper through the mated areas. The lay out of the city is said to be in the form of a puma, some scholars disagree The Inca people claimed they were born of Inti, the Sun God in Tiwanaku. Where they also believed the Gods originated from. The Inca Empire was unified during the late 14th to early 15th century, by the Inca ruler Pachacuti. However, Pachacuti was not intended to be the ruler, his father Viracocha first chose his brother Urco. But one day, the Chanka tribe attacked and Pachacuti was able to rally his army and defeat their rival and by doing so his father Viracocha chose Pachacuti to be his successor. This decision lead to the expansion of the Inca Empire, which reached from Chile to the south to
Ecuador to the north by the time Pachacuti died.
The capital city, Cuzco had its peak of 150,000 people living there. The city was mainly made exclusively to house royalty, nobility, and priest. As suggested, not everyone was allowed to live in the city and some were required to live there. Commoners were not allowed to live there, the only exception were servants that worked for nobles, artisans, or builders. The highest ranked nobles were required to live in the city for a certain amount of time throughout the year.
The government was monarchy, ruled by an Emperor, known also as Sapa Inca, who lived in the city Cuzco. It is said that the Sapa Inca was a direct descendent of the sun god that is why he was regarded in a godlike way. When a new emperor was chosen, a new palace had to be built in the city for them to live in. The previous emperor was mummified and placed in his own palace to rest. In some occasions, the mummies were brought outside wearing their finest clothes and were given food and drinks as offerings. At times, the people went to the mummies to consult them about issues they had and each emperor had their own attendant to interpret their wishes.
The empire had no need for money or trading because of the way it was set up.
Every village was provided with their daily needs such as clothes, food, and tools and were protected by the military as long as they were able to pay their taxes. Everyone had to from adults to children and even the handicap. The empire was built in such a way that if a village was not able to pay their taxes, their resources would be cut off until it was paid off. In order to pay for taxes they did manual labor or gave up some of their goods. An interesting thing was the way people greeted each other in the city. They greeted each other by saying “Ama Sua, Ama Quella, Ama Culla”, which means do not lie, do not steal, and do not be lazy. Found it odd because in today’s society we say hello or hi, but to them it was probably normal because of the way they lived and their
government. Like all great things, everything comes to an end it is only a matter of time. The Inca Empire maintained its power by force, which was unpopular with their citizens. The force caused civil conflict. Another factor to the fall of the Inca Empire, were the Spaniards. Not only did the Inca Empire face the Spaniards, but the diseases they brought with them from Europe. Roughly 70-85% of the population were killed by the diseases such as small pox. The diseases spread faster than the invasions the Spaniards were doing. Invasion, rebellion, and diseases brought down the once powerful Inca Empire and its capital city, Cuzco.