Fourteen thousand years of unique cultures preceded the Inka in the Andes. Four in particular— , , , and — influenced Inka traditions and laid the groundwork for the rise of the Inka Empire and the , or Great Inka Road system. In less than one hundred years, the Inka used skill and innovation to improve existing infrastructures and develop a sophisticated empire.
When the Spanish conquistadors reached in 1532, the Great Inka Road system gave them easy access to the empire. Already weakened by civil war and smallpox, the Inka Empire fell. Under Spanish rule, the Inka Empire’s infrastructure rapidly deteriorated. The Spanish brought new diseases, animals, and plants, and introduced new beliefs and laws, all of which transformed the lives of Andean peoples and their land. Despite over 500 years of colonial pressures, today more than seven million Inka descendants continue their traditions and an Andean way of life that is centered around community-based values, including reciprocity and a deep respect for the land.
was the first great unifying culture in the Andes. Its scattered settlements, the largest of which was Chavín de Huántar, shared a distinctive art, architecture, and way of life that influenced a number of ethnic groups.
Temple facade, Chavín de Huántar, Peru, 1980. Photo by Ramiro Matos, NMAI.
head ornament 800–200 BC. Chongoyape, Peru. Gold. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (16/1972)
stirrup-spout bottle (front and back), ca. 800–100 BC. Tembladera, Peru. Ceramic. Photo by R.A. Whiteside, NMAI. (23/7099). This vessel takes the shape of strombus and mullu, or Spondylus princeps shells, which have been sacred materials to Andean people since the Chavín period.
Map showing the location and extent of the culture.
Located near Lake Titicaca, the city of was the core of a culture whose religion, art, and architecture influenced much of the southern Andes. To foster trade and the distribution of resources, the Aymara people of Tiwanaku built roads all the way to the Pacific Coast.
The sun gate, , Bolivia, 2009. Photo by Wayne Smith, NMAI. The figure at the top is the creator god . Worship of this deity originated in the Tiwanaku region and spread through the Andes.
incense burner, AD 600–900. Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Ceramic. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (20/6313). This ceremonial vessel depicts a puma, an animal symbolically associated with the earth in the Andean world.
incense burner, AD 600–900. Tiwanaku, Bolivia. Ceramic. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (24/4450). This ceremonial vessel depicts a condor, an animal symbolically associated with the sky in the Andean world.
Map showing the location and extent of the culture.
The were empire builders. From the highlands of Peru, they expanded their territory and spread their religion. To control remote areas, the Wari established provincial centers and an extensive road network.
temple, Wari Wakaurara, Ayacucho, Peru, 2010. Photo by Ramiro Matos, NMAI.
painted vessel with snake, AD 800–1000. Chancay Valley, Peru. Ceramic. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (23/1070). A sacred animal, the snake is symbolically linked with water and fertility.
painted jar, AD 800–1000. Nazca region, Peru. Ceramic. Photo by R.A. Whiteside, NMAI. (16/9700).
Map showing the location and extent of the culture.
The well-organized capital, Chan Chan, was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere in its day. The Chimú built a road network, canals, and irrigation systems to help them expand along the northern coast of Peru.
Ornamental walls with pelican designs, Chan Chan, Peru, 1987. Photo by Joanne Pillsbury.
stirrup-spout bottle in the form of a duck, AD 1100–1400. North coast of Peru. Ceramic. Photo by R.A. Whiteside, NMAI. (23/6883)
stirrup-spout bottle in the form of a puma, AD 1100–1400. North coast of Peru. Ceramic. Photo by R.A. Whiteside, NMAI. (23/190)
Map showing the location and extent of the culture.
The Inka began their rise in the early 1200s. Based in Cusco, they grew first into a small kingdom, adapting many practices and policies of earlier cultures. In 1438 Inka rulers began to conquer neighboring territories, eventually creating the largest empire in the Western Hemisphere.
The Temple of , Raqchi, Peru, 2014. The remains of the central wall are all that have survived of this temple dedicated to the creator god. At 18 meters (59 feet) high, they suggest the monumentality of the original structure. Photo by Doug McMains, NMAI
Inka , AD 1450–1532. Juan Benigno Vela (Pataló), Ecuador. Ceramic, paint. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (1/2780). This ceramic shape is known as an arybalo and is a form unique to the Inka period. Arybalos were vessels used for carrying liquids like water and (corn beer).
Inka cylindrical cup with human face in relief, AD 1470–1532. Cusco region, Peru. Silver. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (16/9875)
Map showing the location and extent of the Inka Empire.
Under Spanish rule, the Inka Empire rapidly deteriorated. The Spanish brought new diseases, animals, and plants, and introduced new beliefs and laws, all of which transformed the lives of Andean peoples, their land, and their road. The Spanish established new cities and founded Lima as their colonial capital. Cusco was stripped of its power and remodeled with cathedrals, public halls, and houses built in the Spanish style. Many of the city’s great Inka buildings were destroyed.
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (Quechua, ca. AD 1535–1616). Voyages of discovery of the New World, 1615, The First New Chronicle and Good Government. The Royal Library, Copenhagen (GKS 2232 4°). By 1527, was becoming fragile, with various conquered peoples rising in revolt. Smallpox, introduced to the Americas by European conquistadors, swept into the region, killing many, including Huayna Capac, the eleventh Shapa Inka, or Inka ruler. This set off a war between his sons, Atahualpa and Huascar. won the power struggle in 1532, just as the Spanish arrived.
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (Quechua, ca. AD 1535–1616). The Spanish fight the Inka, 1615, The First New Chronicle and Good Government. The Royal Library, Copenhagen (GKS 2232 4°). With their horses, guns, and steel swords, the Spanish had technological superiority over the Inka, who fought with maces and slings and wore armor made of quilted cotton.
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (Quechua, ca. AD 1535–1616). The execution of Atahualpa, 1615, The First New Chronicle and Good Government. The Royal Library, Copenhagen (GKS 2232 4°). and the Spanish adventurer Francisco Pizarro met face to face in 1532. Backed by Native rebels from the north, Pizarro and his men took Atahualpa hostage and demanded a huge ransom in gold and silver. To pay it, the Inka stripped their temples and palaces of precious metal, enough to fill one room with gold and two rooms with silver. After receiving the ransom, Pizarro had Atahualpa strangled. was in Spanish hands in July 1533.
Map showing Pizarro’s invasion routes.
Spanish invaders destroyed the system that maintained the Inka Empire. They imposed a new religion and tried to erase cultural traditions. They imported plants and animals that altered the environment. Within one hundred years, nearly eighty percent of the Native population died of European diseases. Spanish explorers were driven by a thirst for gold and silver.
The sacred mountains of were rich with mines, which soon became Spain’s principal source of wealth. The Spanish forced Indigenous people to provide labor on behalf of the Spanish crown. Unlike the Inka, the Spanish gave nothing in return. Many people died working these dangerous mines. The Spanish brought cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs into regions where llamas and alpacas traditionally grazed. They planted their imported crops in the most fertile areas, leaving poorer land for Andean people and displacing native crops. Continued abuses by the Spanish rulers prompted many regions in South America to seek independence from Spain. The six countries that were part of the Inka Empire gained independence from Spain between 1810 and 1825.
The Church of the Society of Jesus, built by the Spanish in the Plaza de Armas (Hawkaypata), Cusco, Peru, 2014. Photo by Doug McMains, NMAI.
people at the Huancayo Market, 1924. Huancayo, Peru. Photo by A. Hyatt Verrill. (NMAI N10150)
Christian cross in front of the palace of , ca. 1865. Cusco, Peru. Photo by Ephraim George Squier. (NMAI N19013)
, the Inka Temple of the Sun, with the Church of Santo Domingo built on top of it, Cusco, Peru, 2014. Photo by Doug McMains, NMAI.
figure of man plowing with oxen, 1910–1940. Paracaya, Peru. Ceramic. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (26/3409)
Aymara sheep figurine, 1920–1950. La Paz, Bolivia. Silver, glass. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (10/6985)
head ornament for a mule, 1880–1920. Lake Titicaca, Peru. Sheep’s wool, camelid wool. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (15/8322)
Map showing the location and extent of the , juxtaposed with the contemporary countries that were part of the Inka Empire and their dates of independence from Spain.
Though Spain dismantled their government and religious systems, Andeans have found ways to keep their traditions alive. They continue to speak the and Aymara languages. They adopted the Catholic religion but blend its customs with older beliefs. Inka ceremonies and pilgrimages now incorporate Catholic saints.
The Spanish distorted the Andean value of (reciprocity) only to benefit themselves. Native people described their relationship with Europeans as a "funnel law—the narrow end was for the Indians and the wide end for the whites." Despite colonial pressures, ayni as envisioned by the Inka ancestors is still practiced today as a way of preserving the reciprocal, community-based way of life in Andean villages.
Andean people adapted European technologies—such as glassmaking, ceramic glazes, and metallurgical techniques—and married them to traditional craftsmanship. Quechua- and Aymara-speaking Inka descendants today participate in varied professions and activities in rural areas and in cities in Peru, Bolivia, and the other countries that were part of the Inka Empire.
people, Pisac, Peru, ca. 1950. Photo possibly by Beate Salz. (NMAI P18570)
Parade during the Corpus Christi festival, Cusco, Peru, 2014. Photo by Doug McMains, NMAI.
child and her goat, Toqra, Pisac, Cusco Region, Peru, 2015. Photo by Isabel Hawkins.
family, Toqra, Pisac, Cusco Region, Peru, 2015. Photo by Isabel Hawkins.
Andean Carnival Festivities, Image #88343383, iStock by Getty Images.
Llama caravan driven by people, 1924. Ayacucho Region, Peru. Photo by A. Hyatt Verrill. (N10172)
Since Inka times, the Great Inka Road has been used by people and llamas, Jujuy, Argentina, 2011. Photograph by Alex E. Nielsen.
Virgilio Oré (), Noah’s Ark, (front and back), 2008. Ayacucho Region, Peru. Ceramic. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (26/7958)
Aymara woman from Bolivia, Image #16470306, iStock by Getty Images.
Quechua figurine of a llama carrying bars of tin, 1900–1930. Ayacucho, Peru. Silver. Photo by Ernest Amoroso, NMAI. (10/6987)
Archaeologist Vicentina Galiano Blanco () from Cusco, Peru, works as part of the Peru Ministry of Culture to collaborate with Andean communities to restore and preserve Inka cultural heritage and the numerous ancestral sites of the Inka Empire, Huinchiri, 2015. Photo by Isabel Hawkins.
Family from San Isidro, northwest Argentina, Image #70969465, iStock by Getty Images.
Indigenous people in Quito, Ecuador, Image #91002845, iStock by Getty Images.
