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The Inca civilization in ancient Peru between A.D. 14000 and 1533, with a huge land extension, making it the largest empire in the world at that time. The Andean environment were not easy for Incas, but the clever people still build beautiful cities on high mountaintops like the great city of Machu Picchu.
The historical origins came form a myth, in which the god Viracocha was the creator of all things. The Cuzco Valley was the beginning of the Inca civilization, and the empire became stronger and stronger since the Late Intermediate Period, when the land’s expansion stretched 5500 km north to south, with 40000 Incas ruling over it.
The Incas kept records of the kings, Sapa Inca, who was an absolute ruler and was extremely admired by normal citizens. The compartmentalization was very clear, with the ruler on the top and recruited administrators or farmers in the bottom. The Incas used the same system we use today. Taxes were paid in many products including labor, and they also had a special writing system of knots and strings, called the quipu. The Incas imposed their religion and administration on conquered people and collected tributes form them, and they also brought certain benefits products.
The Inca capital of Cuzco was the religious and administrative center of the empire and had a population of about 150,000. It had sacred temples and many other rich architecture.
The religion of the Incas had reverence from two earlier civilizations, the War and Tiwanaku. Most of the beliefs of the Incas was preoccupied with controlling the natural world and avoiding disasters. Many sacred sites were established on mountaintops, caves, and springs, which could be used to make astronomical observations. They also organized religious ceremonies according to the astronomical calendar. Inca religious rituals also involved ancestor worship, sacrifices, and pouring of libations.
Master stone masons constructed large building, walls, and fortifications using finely worked blocks. The most common Inca buildings were the qollqa, storage warehouse, kallanka, community gathering halls, kancha, group of small single-rooms, and terracing, maximization of land area for agriculture. The transportation of goods by llamas and porters crossed the empire through a 40,000 km road network, and the well-regulated facility was a very powerful visual symbol of Ica authority over their empire.
Inca art is best seen in highly polished metalwork, ceramics, and textiles, with designs in different technically-accomplished and standardized shapes. Andean artwork offered recognizable motifs that either represented the specific communities making them or the imposed designs of the ruling Inca class ordering them. Artworks using precious metals were mad exclusively for Inca nobles, and many included notable decoration, textiles, architectural sculptures.
The Inca empire fell apart very quickly because of the Spanish conquistador who came upon Peru about 500 years. Ago. With the unfamiliar European diseases, most Incas got sick and died, ending the mighty empire. Still, the Inca language, Quechua, still is spoken today by 8 million people, along with many remained buildings and writings, which tells us how great the civilization was.
Compartmentalization: divisions into different sections and categories.