The Mysteries Of Inca Empire

The Inca empire which was also known as the Incan empire and Inca empire was a pretty vast and flourished empire. It was situated in the Andean range of South America from the early time of 15^th century A.D. The empire boundary was stretched from Argentina to Southern Columbia. The origins of this empire were laid at the city of Cuzco which is now known as Southern Peru. Today we can see the evidence of the Inca Empire in the form of ‘Machu Picchu’ (7^th wonder of the World) where the Incans used to worship their gods.

Inca’s History

It is believed that this empire was a result of the creation of Sun God “Inti” who happened to send his son Manco Capac to Earth. The rumours suggest that near about 1200 A.D to gain the full authority and access to the empire he killed his brothers and led his sisters into a valley near Cuzco. Cuzco at that time was situated at a point between two powerful empires called Wari and Tiwanaku. Inca empire flourished with time because they were able to expand as the infrastructure was handy. They took the advantage of hydraulic systems and highways that were made by the earlier ruling emperors.

Several references (some from History.com) suggests about different emperors responsible for the growth of this empire but according to Inca oral history which was recorded by Spanish implies that emperor Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui was the one who was responsible for the expansion of this terrific empire. He ruled from 1438 to 1471.

Customs and traditions of Inca

The exploration about this place and people continues till date (most of which is still unexplored) but there are so many different ideas behind it which comes across as shocking to many of us.

• The Incas were very peculiar and overwhelmed about the idea of a deformed skull. They made holes in skulls of living people in-order to heal deep wounds of the head. They would tightly wrap the head of a newborn baby with bandages so that the pressure points won’t allow growth on that part.
  • They are also said to have practised cannibalism as they thought that they will acquire the powers of the person by having their flesh.

• They used to perform a ceremony for sacrifice called “Capacocha” where they randomly selected children(the dead body of one shown above in the image) from their Empire and sacrifice them to Sun God by either killing them or buried them alive.
• Incas had a strong belief in the concept of the afterlife. Men and Women were wrapped up in tapestries for their burial and objects such as weapons, gold, jewellery and pottery remained with the deceased. The dead bodies were buried in sitting positions and placed in vaults.

• The biggest mystery of all time about this empire was its economy. During 15^th and 16^th centuries, Inca was flourishing like a master of all kingdoms, always rich in food, textiles and many more but the shocking part is, it never happened to have any money or marketplaces at all. It is said that probably they used the barter system.

• The empire was almost destroyed with the help of a smallpox epidemic brought by European invaders which killed about 90% of the population. This information was gained from a few observers which had one Incan historian called Blas Valera.
• Though this civilization comes from a long back, they never invented or discovered the art of writing. So, all the information gathered about them comes from the Spanish invasion.
• In spite of all the limited resources, they built some magnificent things like bridges for the river were made up of plants weaved into ropes. Their road systems were systematic and extensive. Records about all the taxes were maintained without any prior knowledge of accounts.

Youtube video: https://youtu.be/kM1O2lbjwdI

Sources: https://www.ancient.eu/Inca_Civilization/

https://www.cosmosvacations.in/tour/mysteries-inca-empire-perus-amazon/1302/

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