Inca Reading 1

8/19/2019 Inca Reading 1

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VIP Questions:

Each civilization has

elements of their

society that make

them different from

other around them.

In the space below,

please record at least

2-3 examples of each

element of Incan

Civilization.

Geography

(SPACE):

Social Structure:

Political Systems:

The Inca: People of the SunBy: World Studies America: Latin America

The runner sped along the mountain road. He lifted a horn made from a shell to his lips and

blew. A second runner appeared and began running along side him. Without stopping, the first

runner gave the second the message he carried. The second runner was gone like the wind andwould not stop till he reached the next runner.

The Inca used relay runners to spread news from one place in their empire to another. Incan

messengers carried news at a rate of 250 miles a day. Without these runners, controlling the

vast empire would have been difficult.

Rise of the Inca

The large and powerful empire of the Inca had small beginnings. In about 1200 AD, the Incas

settled in Cuzco, a village in the Andes Mountains. This would become the capital city and is

still a city in Peru today. Most Incas were farmers. The grew maize (corn) and other crops

Through war and conquest, the Incas won control of the entire Cuzco Valley.In 1438, Pachacuti became the ruler of the Incas. The name Pachacuti means “he who shakes

the Earth.” Pachacuti conquered the people of the Andes and the Pacific coast. He demanded

loyalty from the people he conquered. If they were disloyal, he forced them off their land and

would replace them with people loyal to the Inca.

Later, Pachacuti’s son, Topa Inca, became the emperor of the Incas. He expanded the empire.

In time, it stretched some 2,500 miles from Ecuador to Argentina. The 12 million people ruled

by the Inca mostly lived in small villages, not large cities.

Incan Civilization

The Inca were excellent famers, builders, and managers. The Incan capital, Cuzco, was the

center of politics, trade, learning and religion. In the 1500s, one of the first Spanish people tovisit Cuzco described it as “large enough ad handsome enough to compare to any Spanish city.”

The emperor, along with nobles who helped him run the empire, lived in the city near the

central plaza. Nobles wore special headbands and earrings that showed their high rank. Most

of the famers and workers outside of Cuzco lived in old-fashioned adobe mud huts.

Government and Records

The government of the Incan empire was carefully organized. The emperor chose nobles to

govern each state. Each noble conducted a census so that people could be taxed. A census is an

official count of all the people in an area. Local officials would collect from of each villager’s

Reading

Questions:

Please write all

of your answers

on the back

page.

Only answers on

the answer page

will be graded.

1. Match the

correct

vocabulary

word with the

definition.a. Quipu

b. Topa Inca

c. Census

d. Cuzco

e. Inti

2. An extensive

system of

_____________________________ helped

Incas govern

their vast

empire.


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Achievements:

Culture:

Economics:

crops as a tax. The villagers also had to work on government buildings, as payment to the

government. However, the Incan government took care of the poor, sick, and elderly.

The Inca did not have a written language. Instead, Incan government officials and traders

would use quipus, or knotted strings that would record information. Each quipus had a main

cord with several colored strings attached to it. Each color would represent a different item,

and knots of different sizes and distances stood for numbers.

Roads and Bridges

The Inca built more than 14,000 miles of roads. The roads were still able to go over some of

the most extreme mountains in the world. The system of roads was vital to helping the Inca

control their empire. Not only could messengers use to roads, but armies and trade parties

could also use the roads for quick travel. The Inca also needed bridges to help cross the large

gorges between the Andes Mountains. Also, there were very fast moving rivers that would

sweep away people who fell into them. So, the Inca developed rope bridges to carry people

safely over the dangerous spaces. They made them using braided vines and reeds from plants

and some of them remain in use today.

Incan Buildings

The Inca were master builders with stone. They constructed cities, palaces, temples, and

fortresses without the use of modern tools. Using only hammers and chisels, Incan

stoneworkers cut large stones so precisely that they would stay together without cement. The

stones also fit so perfectly that even today a piece of paper cannot be slipped between them.

Many Inca structures can still be seen in Peru. The most famous Incan ruin is Machu Picchu.

The city included buildings, stairs carved into the side of a mountain and roads cut into bare

rock.

Religion

Like the Maya and Aztec, the Inca worshipped many gods and practiced human sacrifice. The

sun god, Inti , was one of their most important gods. The Incas believed that Inti was their

parent and referred to themselves as “the Children of the Sun.” Another important god was

Viracocha, or the creator of all people in the Andes.

3. Can we

assume all

people were

equal in Incan

Civilization? Use

evidence fromthe article to

support your

answer. (CER)

4. Labor and

food werecollected as

taxes to the

government. Is

this a fair

policy? Why or

why not?

5. What tools

did the Incanbuilders use in

construction?

6. The most

important god

for the Inca was

Inti, the

___________ god.


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Reading Questions: Answer Sheet

Please record all of your answers to the reading questions, on this sheet. As always, the more detail you include thebetter.

1._______1. An official count of the people in an area a. Inti

_______2. Knotted strings used by the Incas to record

information

b. quipu

_______3. The emperor who expanded the empire until

it was 2,500 miles long

c. census

_______4. Capital of the Incan empire d. Topa Inca

_______5. The most important Incan god of the Sun e. Cuzco

2. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__

4.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. _____________________________ and ___________________________________

6. _____________________________

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Inca Reading 1