1. The inca empire

2. The Ancient Inca were located in the Andes Mountains in Peru.
The inca empire
The Ancient Inca were located in the Andes Mountains in Peru.

3. The city of Cuzco is considered the capital of the Inca empire.
Map of Cuzco
The city of Cuzco is considered the capital of the Inca empire.

4. Machu Picchu was the home of about 1,000 people.
The inca empire
Machu Picchu is one of the most important cities in all of the Inca empire.
Machu Picchu was the home of about 1,000 people.
Within its walls, Machu Picchu had temples, palaces, storehouses, and ordinary homes.
Machu Picchu

5. This area of in Machu Picchu is called The Temple of the Sun.
The inca empire
This area of in Machu Picchu is called The Temple of the Sun.

6. The INca empire
1000BC
1500BC
500BC
AD1000
AD1500
AD2000
The Incas settled in the Cuzco Valley sometime between AD1200-AD1300.
The Inca Empire was at its peak from about AD1493 until their end in AD1532.
The Inca Empire was destroyed by the Spanish in AD1532.

7. Intihuatana is the Stone of the Sun.
The inca empire
Intihuatana is the Stone of the Sun.
Translated, its name means “post where the sun is tied.” As it casts a shadow on the ground it was used by the Inca priests to keep track of the sun’s yearly movements.

8. The inca empire
The Incas are most famous for their stone work – stone walls, stone roads, stone temples, etc.

9. The inca empire
This is just one of the many stone walls found within Machu Picchu. Just look at how strong and precise their architecture was!

10. Another example of their beautiful stonework.
The inca empire
Another example of their beautiful stonework.

11. The inca empire
The roads of the Inca empire were used for foot travel, communication, and military purposes.
Some roads are as much as 16,000 feet above sea level.
The entire network of road system based upon 2 north-south roads.
The 40,000 km of roads linked over 3,000,000 km² of Inca territory.
It connected parts of the Inca empire from Ecuador to Chile.

12. The inca empire
To make the most of their mountain-side farmland, Inca farmers cut terraces into the hillside for farming purposes.

13. The inca empire
They planted potatoes and other root vegetables that could resist the cold weather up in the mountains.

14. Terraced fields of Machu Picchu.
The inca empire
Terraced fields of Machu Picchu.

15. Another hillside terrace farm too beautiful to miss.
The inca empire
Another hillside terrace farm too beautiful to miss.

16. The inca empire
The Inca developed hundreds of varieties of potatoes. Most of them are still unknown outside of the Inca empire.

17. The inca empire Legend:
In times of drought, farmers would tie up their llamas without any water. They believed that the desperate cries of the llamas would make the gods take pity on them and send them water in the form of rain.

18. The inca empire
The Inca used quipu (bundled knotted strings), for accounting and census purposes.
A quipu usually consisted of colored, spun thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. Some quipus had only a few cords. Others had thousands of cords.

19. The inca empire
The different colored strings had different meanings depending upon what was being counted. The Incas organized everything with quipus – raising armies, building roads, and storing corn.

20. The wool was made from the hair of llamas and alpacas.
The inca empire
Inca weavers used dies made from plants, shells, and insects to color their wool. Their weavings are famous for being very colorful.
The Inca did not have a written language and sometimes used weaving as a form of expressing their ideas.
The wool was made from the hair of llamas and alpacas.

21. A woman and her child in modern day Peru.
The inca empire
A woman and her child in modern day Peru.

22. The inca empire
Francisco Pizarro and his Spanish army arrived in South America in 1532.

23. The inca empire
The death of the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, in 1532 marked the end of the Inca empire.

24. This painting shows the funeral of the Inca ruler, Atahualpa.
The inca empire
This painting shows the funeral of the Inca ruler, Atahualpa.

25. The inca empire
This painting shows Francisco Pizarro and his followers founding Lima, Peru after the defeat of the Inca.