The Inca Empire's Inventions

The Inca Empire was a nation that existed from the 14th to the 16th centuries. It was the largest state in the Americas before Columbus arrived.  The empire extended from modern day Colombia to Chile at its greatest extent. The Inca started to conquer neighboring peoples in the 15th century and eventually grew to the size that it did.

The geography of the Inca empire was not exactly helpful to the Inca. The Andes Mountains made travel and the spread of information more difficult than it would have been otherwise. The empire was comparable to modern day Chile in one specific way: its width was significantly less than its length which made defense significantly harder because the empire could be cutoff by a state near the size of itself. The capital of the Inca empire was Cusco, located in modern day Peru. 

The Inca grew under the leadership of a few great emperors like Mayta Capac, their 4th emperor, who made the Inca into the foundation of what they would become by attacking neighboring peoples and Capac Yupanqui, the emperor right after Mayta Capac, who extended the Inca past the Cusco Valley. The empire came to an end after an expedition led by Pizarro overthrew the emperor after a civil war a few years previously. The Inca then rebelled a few years later and were defeated by the Spanish, becoming part of the new Spanish Empire. There was a remnant of the Inca after the Spanish invasion, but that was eventually consumed by the Spanish in 1572.

Some people today are descended from the Inca from almost half a millennia ago. They are called the Quechua and make up a part of the population of countries like Peru and Bolivia in which the Inca Empire used to control. Some Quechua still practice the Inca's traditions today like herding cattle and llamas, but with some modifications to fit modern standards.