Inca Empire
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The Inca Empire was a vast civilization that ruled much of South America from 1438 to 1533, becoming one of history's largest pre-Columbian states. It matters because it demonstrated sophisticated systems of government, engineering, and organization that shaped the region for centuries and left a lasting cultural legacy in the Andes.
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The Inca Empire, officially known as the Realm of the Four Parts (Quechua: Tawantinsuyu pronounced [taˈwantiŋ ˈsuju], lit. 'land of four parts'), was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilisation rose from the Peruvian highlands sometime in the early 13th century. The Portuguese explorer Aleixo Garcia was the first European to reach the Inca Empire in 1524. Later, in 1532, the Spanish began the conquest of the Inca Empire, and by 1572 the last Inca state was fully conquered.
From 1438 to 1533, the Incas incorporated a large portion of western South America, centered on the Andean Mountains, using conquest and peaceful assimilation, among other methods. At its largest, the empire joined modern-day Peru with what are now western Ecuador, western and south-central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, the southwesternmost tip of Colombia and a large portion of modern-day Chile, forming a state comparable to the historical empires of Eurasia. Its official language was Quechua.
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15th-century establishments in the Inca civilization15th century in South America16th-century disestablishments in the Inca civilization16th century in South AmericaAndean civilizationsFormer monarchies of South AmericaHistory of EcuadorHistory of Indigenous peoples of the AmericasIncaInca EmpireInca statesIndigenous culture of the Americas