Inca Empire (1438–1532)[edit]

Main article: Inca Empire

Inca Empire

Inca expansion (1438–1533).

View of Machu Picchu built by the Incas.

The Incas built the largest and most advanced empire and dynasty of pre-Columbian America.
[14]
 The Tahuantinsuyo—which is derived from Quechua for "The Four United Regions"—reached
its greatest extension at the beginning of the 16th century. It dominated a territory that included
(from north to south) the southwest part of Ecuador, part of Colombia, the main territory of Peru,
the northern part of Chile, and the northwest part of Argentina; and from east to west, from the
southwest part of Bolivia to the Amazonian forests.
The empire originated from a tribe based in Cusco, which became the capital. Pachacutec wasn't
the first Inca, but he was the first ruler to considerably expand the boundaries of the Cusco state.
He could probably be compared to Alexander the Great (from Macedon), Julius Caesar (of the
Roman Empire), Attila (from the Huns tribes) and Genghis Khan (from the Mongol Empire).[citation
needed]
 His offspring later ruled an empire by both violent invasions and peaceful conquests, that is,
intermarriages among the rulers of small kingdoms and the current Inca ruler.
In Cuzco, the royal city was created to resemble a cougar; the head, the main royal structure,
formed what is now known as Sacsayhuamán. The empire's administrative, political, and military
center was located in Cusco. The empire was divided into four
quarters: Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Kuntisuyu and Qullasuyu.
The official language was Quechua, the language of a neighbouring tribe of the original tribe of
the empire. Conquered populations—tribes, kingdoms, states, and cities—were allowed to
practice their own religions and lifestyles, but had to recognize Inca cultural practices as superior
to their own. Inti, the sun god, was to be worshipped as one of the most important gods of the
empire. His representation on earth was the Inca ("Emperor"). [citation needed]
The Tawantinsuyu was organized in dominions with a stratified society in which the ruler was the
Inca. It was also supported by an economy based on the collective property of the land. The
empire, being quite large, also had an impressive transportation system of roads to all points of
the empire called the Inca Trail, and chasquis, message carriers who relayed information from
anywhere in the empire to Cusco.
Machu Picchu (Quechua for "old peak"; sometimes called the "Lost City of the Incas") is a well-
preserved pre-Columbian Inca ruin located on a high mountain ridge above the Urubamba
Valley, about 70 km (44 mi) northwest of Cusco. Elevation measurements vary depending on
whether the data refer to the ruin or the extremity of the mountain; Machu Picchu tourist
information reports the elevation as 2,350 m (7,711 ft)[1]. Forgotten for centuries by the outside
world (although not by locals), it was brought back to international attention by Yale
archaeologist Hiram Bingham III. Bingham, often cited as the inspiration for Indiana Jones,
"scientifically rediscovered" the site in 1911 and brought international attention to the site with his
best-selling book Lost City of the Incas. Peru is pursuing legal efforts to retrieve thousands of
artifacts that Bingham removed from the site and sold to the current owners at Yale University. [15]
Although Machu Picchu is by far the most well known internationally, Peru boasts of many other
sites where the modern visitor can see extensive and well-preserved ruins, remnants of the Inca-
period and even older constructions. Much of the Inca architecture and stonework found at these
sites continues to confound archaeologists. For example, at Sacsaywaman in Cusco, the zig-
zag-shaped walls are composed of massive boulders fitted precisely to one another's irregular,
angular shapes. No mortar holds them together, but nonetheless they have remained solid
through the centuries, surviving earthquakes that flattened many of the colonial constructions of
Cusco. Damage to the walls visible today was mainly inflicted during battles between the
Spanish and the Inca, as well as later, in the colonial era. As Cusco grew, the walls of
Sacsaywaman were partially dismantled, the site becoming a convenient source of construction
materials for the city's newer inhabitants. It is still not known how these stones were shaped and
smoothed, lifted on top of one another, or fitted together by the Incas; it is also unknown how
they transported the stones to the site in the first place. The stone used is not native to the area
and most likely came from mountains many kilometers away.[citation needed]

European colonization of Peru (1532–1572)[edit]

Main article: Spanish conquest of Peru

The etymology of Peru: The word Peru may be derived from Birú, the name of a

local ruler who lived near the Bay of San Miguel, Panama, in the early 16th
century.[16] When his possessions were visited by Spanish explorers in 1522, they
were the southernmost part of the New World yet known to Europeans.[17] Thus,
when Francisco Pizarro explored the regions farther south, they came to be
designated Birú or Peru.[18]
An alternative history is provided by the contemporary writer Inca Garcilasco de la
Vega, son of an Inca princess and a conquistador. He says the name Birú was
that of a common Indian happened upon by the crew of a ship on an exploratory
mission for governor Pedro Arias de Ávila, and goes on to relate many more
instances of misunderstandings due to the lack of a common language.[19]
The Spanish Crown gave the name legal status with the 1529 Capitulación de
Toledo, which designated the newly encountered Inca Empire as the province of
Peru.[20] Under Spanish rule, the country adopted the denomination Viceroyalty of
Peru, which became Republic of Peru after independence.
When the Spanish landed in 1531, Peru's territory was the nucleus of the highly developed Inca
civilization. Centered at Cuzco, the Inca Empire extended over a vast region, stretching from
southwest Ecuador to northern Chile.
Francisco Pizarro and his brothers were attracted by the news of a rich and fabulous kingdom.
[21]
 In 1532, they arrived in the country, which they called Peru. (The forms Biru, Pirú,
and Berú are also seen in early records.) According to Raúl Porras Barrenechea, Peru is not
a Quechuan nor Caribbean word, but Indo-Hispanic or hybrid.
In the years between 1524 and 1526, smallpox, introduced from the conquistadors in Panama
and preceding the Spanish conquerors in Peru through transmission among natives, had swept
through the Inca Empire.[22] Smallpox caused the death of the Inca ruler Huayna Capac as well as
most of his family including his heir, caused the fall of the Inca political structure and contributed
to the civil war between the brothers Atahualpa and Huáscar.[23] Taking advantage of
this, Pizarro carried out a coup d'état. On 16 November 1532, while the Atahualpa's victorious
army was in an unarmed celebration in Cajamarca, the Spanish lured Atahualpa into a trap
during the Battle of Cajamarca. The well-armed 168 Spaniards killed thousands of barely armed
Inca soldiers and captured the newly minted Inca ruler, causing a great consternation among the
natives and conditioning the future course of the fight. When Huáscar was killed, the Spanish
tried and convicted Atahualpa of the murder, executing him by strangulation.
For a period, Pizarro maintained the ostensible authority of the Inca, recognizing Túpac
Huallpa as the Sapa Inca after Atahualpa's death. But the conqueror's abuses made this facade
too obvious. Spanish domination consolidated itself as successive indigenous rebellions were
bloodily repressed. By 23 March 1534, Pizarro and the Spanish had re-founded the Inca city of
Cuzco as a new Spanish colonial settlement.[24]
Establishing a stable colonial government was delayed for some time by native revolts and
bands of the Conquistadores (led by Pizarro and Diego de Almagro) fighting among themselves.
A long civil war developed, from which Pizarro emerged victorious at the Battle of Las Salinas. In
1541, Pizarro was assassinated by a faction led by Diego de Almagro II (El Mozo), and the
stability of the original colonial regime was shaken up in the ensuing civil war.

Pizarro and his followers in Lima in 1535

Despite this, the Spaniards did not neglect the colonizing process. Its most significant milestone
was the foundation of Lima in January 1535, from which the political and administrative
institutions were organized. The new rulers instituted the encomienda system, by which the
Spanish extracted tribute from the local population, part of which was forwarded to Seville in
return for converting the natives to Christianity. Title to the land itself remained with the king of
Spain. As governor of Peru, Pizarro used the encomienda system to grant virtually unlimited
authority over groups of native Peruvians to his soldier companions, thus forming the colonial
land-tenure structure. The indigenous inhabitants of Peru were now expected to raise Old
World cattle, poultry, and crops for their landlords. Resistance was punished severely, giving rise
to the "Black Legend".
The necessity of consolidating Spanish royal authority over these territories led to the creation of
a Real Audiencia (Royal Audience). The following year, in 1542, the Viceroyalty of
Peru (Virreinato del Perú) was established, with authority over most of Spanish-ruled South
America. (Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá and Venezuela were split off as the Viceroyalty of New
Granada (Virreinato de Nueva Granada) in 1717; and Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay,
and Uruguay were set up as the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata in 1776).[citation needed]
After Pizarro's death, there were numerous internal problems, and Spain finally sent Blasco
Núñez Vela to be Peru's first viceroy in 1544. He was later killed by Pizarro's brother, Gonzalo
Pizarro, but a new viceroy, Pedro de la Gasca, eventually managed to restore order. He captured
and executed Gonzalo Pizarro.
A census taken by the last Quipucamayoc indicated that there were 12 million inhabitants of Inca
Peru; 45 years later, under viceroy Toledo, the census figures amounted to only 1,100,000 Inca.
Historian David N. Cook estimates that their population decreased from an estimated 9 million in
the 1520s to around 600,000 in 1620 mainly because of infectious diseases.[25] While the attrition
was not an organized attempt at genocide, the results were similar. Scholars now believe that,
among the various contributing factors, epidemic disease such as smallpox (unlike the Spanish,
the Amerindians had no immunity to the disease)[26] was the overwhelming cause of the
population decline of the American natives.[27] Inca cities were given Spanish Christian names
and rebuilt as Spanish towns centered around a plaza with a church or cathedral facing an
official residence. A few Inca cities like Cuzco retained native masonry for the foundations of their
walls. Other Inca sites, like Huanuco Viejo, were abandoned for cities at lower altitudes more
hospitable to the Spanish.