The
Inca Empire
The huge architectonic and engineering heritage, as well
as its cosmology, political organization and scientific development,
make the Inca Empire the most important civilization in South
America history. The Inca Empire was probably the largest
unified political region at the time of its extinction. Unfortunately,
the Inca Empire disappeared in hands of Spanish conquerors
without revealing its advanced scientific and technological
knowledge, which for the most part still remain a mystery
for the modern science.
The Incan organization relied on a precise state planning,
a fantastic public infrastructure (roads, bridges, tunnels,
buildings, army, etc.) and a collective property of the land.
The Inca Empire was conceived like an ambitious and audacious
civilizing project, based on a mythical thought, in which
the perfect harmony of the relationships between the human
being, nature and Gods was truly essential. The Inca people
lived in a delicate equilibrium with their environment as
they believed the entire nature as holy. In fact, the Sun
(Inti), the Mother Earth (Pachamama) and the
Andean Peaks (Apus) were Gods influencing decisively
human lives. The Incan code was based on three key rules:
do love, do work, and do
learn.
The capital of the extraordinary civilization was the fabulous
city of Cuzco (Navel of the World), which was planned
to be shaped like a puma. The Incan ruled over vast
territories of the west South America continent (~ 2 000 000
km2) with about
a population of 15 million. The official language of
the empire was Quechua (today even spoken by ~ 5 000
000 people). The Kingdom was named Tahuantinsuyo. The
empire was politically divided in four regions or suyus.
The regions of Argentina and Chile, that were under the Inca
rule, pertained to the South Province (Coyasuyo).
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