The Inka called their empire Tawantinsuyu, which means "the four regions together." At its peak, the empire covered much of western South America. The Inka Empire rose rapidly and burned bright. In little more than 100 years, it grew from a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to become the largest empire in the Americas. The Qhapaq Ñan, or Road of the Inka, made this triumph possible. A ...
The Inca (also spelled as Inka) Empire was a South American empire that existed between the 15th and 16th centuries. The Inca Empire was the largest pre-Hispanic civilization in South America and ruled the area along the continent’s Pacific coast. At its height of power, the Inca Empire stretched from northern Ecuador all the way south to central Chile and ruled over a population of 12 ...
The Inka, like the Aztecs (or Mexica) of Mesoamerica, were relative newcomers to power at the time of European contact. When Francisco Pizarro took the Inka ruler (or Sapa Inka) Atahualpa hostage in 1532, the Inka empire had existed fewer than two centuries. Also like the Aztecs, the Inka had developed a complex culture deeply rooted in the traditions that came before them. Their textiles ...
The Inka empire spanned from Ecuador to Chile, and was connected by a road system used for official business only.
The Andean highlands. While the original Inka homeland was the Cuzco valley of south-central Peru, the Inka empire eventually encompassed the Andean highlands and much of the Pacific coastal zone from northern Ecuador at the Colombian border, to north-central Chile and northwestern Argentina, in the vicinity of Santiago and Mendoza.