History of the Incas

Buenos días explorers!

Before travelling to Machu Picchu to visit the Lost City of the Incas, we thought it would be really important to learn something about the Incas first in order to better understand what the Lost City actually is and to provide you with a complete travel experience at the end.

During our stay in the Cusco region, we met a lot of interesting people and we learned a lot about the history of the region and the indigenous called the Incas. Here are some interesting facts we gathered along our travels: 

The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE, and their empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south, making it the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the world at that time.

The true history of the Inca is still being written and the are many myths surrounding it. According to one story, four brothers emerged from Lake Titicaca. During a long journey, all but one disappeared. Manco Capac survived to plunge a golden staff into the ground where the Rios Tullamayo and Huantanay meet. He founded the sacred city of Cuzco.

The Inca Civilization was an agrarian civilization and at its height in 1500 AD reached more than 10 million people.

They shared a common polytheistic religion based on the worship of the Sun and the Sapa Inca (their king) as his son. That’s why they are also called the “children of the sun”. 
Each June, the Incas held their most important festival - the festival of the Sun. The people believed the Sun was holding this festival. So everyone wore their best and feasted and were joyous. All the nobles came to Cusco. 
The festival lasted nine days and on the fourth day, everyone in the empire would stretch out their arms to the sun and make kissing noises, to make sure the sun knew how grateful they were.

The Inca civilization achieved highly  developed art forms such as pottery, weaving techniques, metallurgy, music and architecture. A great example of their architectural achievement is Machu Picchu built by Inca Pachacuti around 1460AD. Their exquisite buildings were built without the use of modern tools and the wheel and they have withstood five centuries in an earthquake prone zone.

The decline of the Incas started before the Spanish arrived in Inca territory. Their arrival accelerated its decline and eventually its fall. The conquest of Peru officially started in 1532 when a group led by Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived.

Despite its glory, the Incas was a brittle empire, held together by promises and threats. When Pizarro executed the last emperor, it rapidly collapsed. Catholic priests demanding allegiance to a new Christian god soon replaced the Children of the Sun.

As you can see the history of the Incas is very rich and fascinating. Keep it locked to our blog so you won't miss out on any further updates of our trip and astonishing history lessons!