INCA EMPIRE

VANESSA CROWDER
MARCH 2,2016
3RD PERIOD

ART
THE INCAS HAD A CULTURE OF THEIR OWN WELL BEFORE THE EMPIRE BEGAN ITS EXPANSION
IN 1438, BUT THIS CULTURE CHANGED AND GREW SIGNIFICANTLY IN THE NINETY-FIVE YEARS
THAT FOLLOWEDTHE ERA OF THE INCA EMPIRE. (AN EMPIRE IS A VAST, COMPLEX POLITICAL
UNIT EXTENDING ACROSS POLITICAL BOUNDARIES AND DOMINATED BY ONE CENTRAL
POWER, WHICH GENERALLY TAKES CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT, AND
CULTURE IN COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT ITS TERRITORY.) THE INCAS ADOPTED AND
INCORPORATED THE IMPORTANT GODS AS WELL AS THE ARTS AND THE SCIENCES OF THE
PEOPLE THEY HAD CONQUERED. THE INCA GOVERNMENT CREATED A SYSTEM THAT
SKILLFULLY ORGANIZED THE VARIOUS CULTURES IT HAD BROUGHT TOGETHER. IT BROUGHT
UNITY TO THE PEOPLE IT CONTROLLED BY PROVIDING A SET OF TRADITIONS THAT WERE
FAMILIAR AND ACCEPTABLE TO THE ENTIRE EMPIRE.

ARCHITECTURE
INCA ARCHITECTURE INCLUDES SOME OF THE MOST FINELY WORKED STONE
STRUCTURES FROM ANY ANCIENT CIVILIZATION. INCA BUILDINGS WERE ALMOST
ALWAYS PRACTICAL AND PLEASING TO THE EYE. THEY ARE ALSO REMARKABLY
UNIFORM IN DESIGN WITH EVEN GRAND IMPERIAL STRUCTURES TAKING ON A SIMILAR
LOOK TO MORE HUMBLE BUILDINGS, THE ONLY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES BEING
THEIR MUCH LARGER SCALE AND QUALITY OF FINISH. FOND OF DUALITY IN MANY
OTHER AREAS, ANOTHER FEATURE OF INCA ARCHITECTURE IS THAT IT TYPICALLY
INCORPORATED THE NATURAL LANDSCAPE YET AT THE SAME TIME MANAGED TO
DOMINATE IT TO CREATE AN OFTEN SPECTACULAR BLEND OF GEOMETRICAL AND
NATURAL FORMS.

RELIGION
RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS IN THE ANDES TENDED TO VARY AMONG DIFFERENT AYLLUS. WHILE THE
INCA GENERALLY ALLOWED OR EVEN INCORPORATED LOCAL DEITIES AND HEROES OF THE AYLLUS
THEY CONQUERED, THEY DID BRING THEIR GODS TO THOSE PEOPLES BY INCORPORATING THEM IN
LAW SUCH AS REQUIRED SACRIFICE. THE INCA ATTEMPTED TO COMBINE THEIR DEITIES WITH
CONQUERED ONES IN WAYS THAT RAISED THE STATUS OF THEIR OWN. ONE EXAMPLE OF THIS IS
PACHAMAMA, THE GODDESS OF EARTH, WHO WAS WORSHIPED LONG BEFORE THE RISE OF THE
INCA. IN THE INCA MYTHOLOGY PACHAMAMA HAVING BEEN INTEGRATED WAS PLACED BELOW THE
MOON WHO THE INCA BELIEVED RULED OVER ALL FEMALE GODS. RELIGION IN THE INCA EMPIRE.
IN THE HETEROGENEOUS INCA EMPIRE, POLYTHEISTIC RELIGIONS WERE PRACTICED. SOME
DEITIES, SUCH AS PACHAMAMA AND VIRACOCHA, WERE KNOWN THROUGH THROUGHOUT THE
EMPIRE, WHILE OTHERS WERE LOCALIZED.

ECONOMY &GOVERNMENT
WHEN THE INCAS BEGAN THEIR RISE TO POWER IN THE CUZCO VALLEY IN THE FOURTEENTH AND FIFTEENTH
CENTURIES, THEY WERE ONE SMALL ETHNIC GROUP AMONG MANY. THEN, IN 1438, INCA KING PACHACUTEC
DEFEATED A POWERFUL ENEMY, THE CHANCAS, AND FORCED THE DEFEATED STATE TO PROVIDE THOUSANDS OF
SOLDIERS TO EXPAND HIS ARMIES. WITH A MUCH LARGER ARMY, THE INCAS WERE ABLE TO CONQUER ADDITIONAL
TERRITORIES. FROM THE INCAS' CONQUEST OF THE CHANCAS UNTIL THE SPANISH CONQUEST OF THE INCAS IN
1533, THE INCA EMPIRE GREW INTO A VAST AND HEAVILY POPULATED STATE. (AN EMPIRE IS A VAST, COMPLEX
POLITICAL UNIT EXTENDING ACROSS POLITICAL BOUNDARIES AND DOMINATED BY ONE CENTRAL POWER, WHICH
GENERALLY TAKES CONTROL OF THE ECONOMY, GOVERNMENT, AND CULTURE IN COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT ITS
TERRITORY; A STATE IS A BODY OF PEOPLE LIVING UNDER A SINGLE INDEPENDENT GOVERNMENT.) THE EMPIRE HAD
A COMPLEX SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT AND A UNIQUE ECONOMY THAT CONTINUE TO FASCINATE SCHOLARS AND
POLITICIANS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY.

PRIOR INFORMATION ON INCAS EMPIRE

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