An outline, era by era

Inca Empire (from ~1438)

Medieval / Post-Classical Era · ~500 – ~1500 CE

The Inca Empire, which its rulers called Tawantinsuyu, 'the four parts together', was the largest state in the pre-Columbian Americas. It grew from the city of Cusco in the southern highlands of Peru. Traditionally the great expansion is dated from about 1438, when Pachacuti became ruler, although the exact chronology is debated. At its height in the early 1500s the empire stretched along the Andes from present-day Ecuador and southern Colombia to central Chile and northwest Argentina.

The Incas had no writing in the usual sense. They kept records on knotted cords called khipu, ran a network of roads and storehouses, and drew labour from their subjects through a service system called mit'a. They built terraces, fortresses and stone buildings of remarkable precision, such as those at Cusco and Machu Picchu. A civil war between two sons of the ruler Huayna Capac weakened the state just before Francisco Pizarro's small Spanish force arrived in 1532. The capture of Atahualpa and the fall of Cusco in 1533 ended Inca rule, though resistance continued in Vilcabamba until 1572.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Chanka war and the rise of Pachacuti

    Event

    What happened

    In the early 1400s the Incas are one of several rival peoples around Cusco. Spanish chroniclers record that the Chanka, from the Andahuaylas region, attack Cusco, and that Pachacuti, a son of the ruler Viracocha Inca, leads the defence and wins. Pachacuti then takes the throne, traditionally around 1438.

    The rest is history

    After this victory Pachacuti began the conquests that turned a regional kingdom into an empire. He rebuilt Cusco and reorganised the state. The details come from chronicles written after the Spanish conquest, based on Inca oral tradition, so the sequence and dates are debated. Radiocarbon work suggests the imperial expansion began around the early to mid 1400s.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCieza de León, Pedro de. Crónica del Perú, Segunda parte (El señorío de los Incas). Spanish chronicle, written 1550s, first published 1880.
    2. BookRowe, John H. "Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest." In Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 2, edited by Julian H. Steward. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1946.
    3. BookD'Altroy, Terence N. The Incas. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2002.

  2. Conquests of Topa Inca and Huayna Capac

    Event

    What happened

    After Pachacuti, his son Topa Inca Yupanqui leads armies north into Ecuador and south into Chile, and conquers the coastal kingdom of Chimor. Topa Inca's son Huayna Capac, who rules from about 1493, extends the northern frontier and spends years campaigning in what is now Ecuador.

    The rest is history

    These campaigns gave the empire its greatest extent, with millions of subjects speaking many languages. The Incas ruled through local lords, moved populations and built provincial centres such as Huánuco Pampa. Huayna Capac's long absence from Cusco and his spending of the later part of his reign in the north set the stage for the succession crisis after his death.

    Sources

    1. BookHyslop, John. The Inka Road System. New York: Academic Press, 1984.
    2. BookCovey, R. Alan. How the Incas Built Their Heartland. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006.

  3. The khipu and the road system

    Event

    What happened

    By the 1400s and 1500s the Incas maintain a road network of tens of thousands of kilometres across the Andes, with rest houses (tambos) and storehouses at intervals. Officials called khipukamayuq keep records of population, labour and goods on knotted cords. Runners carry messages along the roads.

    The rest is history

    These tools let a state without writing or money move armies, collect labour service and store food and cloth. The Spanish reported the storehouses and used the roads in their own conquest. Surviving khipu, held in museums and collections, are still being studied, and scholars debate whether some also recorded narrative. The Qhapaq Ñan road system was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014.

    Sources

    1. BookUrton, Gary. Signs of the Inka Khipu. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003.
    2. BookHyslop, John. The Inka Road System. New York: Academic Press, 1984.

  4. Civil war between Huascar and Atahualpa

    Event

    What happened

    Around 1527 Huayna Capac dies, probably of an epidemic disease, and so do some of his chosen heirs. His sons Huascar, in Cusco, and Atahualpa, with the army in the north, fight a civil war over the succession. Atahualpa's generals defeat Huascar around 1532.

    The rest is history

    The war left the empire divided and its army tired just as Pizarro landed in 1532. Spanish sources say Atahualpa was resting near Cajamarca after his victory when the Spaniards arrived. The exact dates and the role of European disease in Huayna Capac's death are debated.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro. Historia de los Incas. Spanish chronicle, 1572.
    2. BookHemming, John. The Conquest of the Incas. London: Macmillan, 1970.

  5. Capture of Atahualpa at Cajamarca

    Event

    What happened

    On 16 November 1532 Francisco Pizarro, with fewer than two hundred Spaniards, meets Atahualpa at Cajamarca. The Spaniards attack, kill many of his attendants and seize him. Atahualpa offers a room of gold and silver for his release, but is executed in July 1533.

    The rest is history

    Pizarro's men entered Cusco in November 1533 and installed a puppet Inca. Local allies who resented Inca rule helped the Spaniards. Manco Inca rose against them in 1536 and withdrew to Vilcabamba. The last Inca there, Túpac Amaru, was captured and executed in 1572.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryXerez, Francisco de. Verdadera relación de la conquista del Perú. Spanish eyewitness account, Seville, 1534.
    2. BookHemming, John. The Conquest of the Incas. London: Macmillan, 1970.

  6. Manco Capac and the founding of Cusco

    Origin story

    The legend

    Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Ocllo emerge from the cave of Tambo Toco, or in another version from Lake Titicaca, sent by the Sun. They carry a golden staff and are told to settle where it sinks into the ground. It does so at Cusco, where they found the Inca line.

    The rest is history

    There are several versions, recorded by Spanish writers in the 1500s from Inca informants. Garcilaso de la Vega, whose mother was an Inca noblewoman, wrote a well-known one. Historians doubt that Manco Capac was a single real person, and the stories also served to justify the ruling lineage. Archaeology shows Cusco was occupied before the Incas, and the Killke culture there dates to about 1000 to 1400 CE.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryGarcilaso de la Vega, El Inca. Comentarios reales de los Incas. Spanish chronicle, Lisbon, 1609.
    2. BookBauer, Brian S. The Development of the Inca State. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992.

  7. The Ayar brothers

    Origin story

    The legend

    Four brothers and four sisters, the Ayars, come out of the cave of Pacariqtambo. One brother, Ayar Cachi, is tricked into returning to the cave and sealed in. Another turns to stone, and Ayar Manco survives to found Cusco.

    The rest is history

    The tale was recorded by Juan de Betanzos in 1551, who married an Inca noblewoman, and by Sarmiento de Gamboa. Scholars read it as a charter myth for the main lineages of Cusco. It is not evidence of events, but it shows how the Incas explained their own origins.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryBetanzos, Juan de. Suma y narración de los Incas. Spanish chronicle, 1551.
    2. BookUrton, Gary. The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.

  8. Atahualpa's ransom room

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that Atahualpa filled a room once with gold and twice with silver to buy his freedom, and that Pizarro killed him anyway. Some retellings add that the Incas hid vast treasure before the Spaniards could take it.

    The rest is history

    The ransom is recorded by Spanish eyewitnesses. The room at Cajamarca was said to be about 6.7 by 5.2 metres, filled to a line marked on the wall. The Spaniards melted down the objects, so little Inca goldwork survives. Stories of hidden treasure, such as Llanganates, have never been verified.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryXerez, Francisco de. Verdadera relación de la conquista del Perú. Spanish eyewitness account, Seville, 1534.
    2. BookHemming, John. The Conquest of the Incas. London: Macmillan, 1970.

  9. Machu Picchu as the lost city

    Popular belief

    The legend

    Machu Picchu is often described as a lost city of the Incas, found in 1911 by the American explorer Hiram Bingham. Some tales identify it as the last refuge of the Incas.

    The rest is history

    Local farmers knew the site, and Bingham was guided there by a local man in July 1911. Research indicates it was a royal estate built around the mid 1400s, probably for Pachacuti. The last Inca refuge was Vilcabamba, elsewhere. Radiocarbon dating published in 2021 suggested occupation from about 1420.

    Sources

    1. BookBingham, Hiram. Lost City of the Incas. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1948.
    2. BookBurger, Richard L., and Lucy C. Salazar, eds. Machu Picchu: Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.

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