THE INCA CIVILIZATION

By Anisha

WHAT IS A CIVILIZATION?

 A CIVILIZATION IS A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE LIVING

TOGETHER AND FOLLOWING THE SAME LIFESTYLE,
CULTURE, LAWS ETC.
A GROUP OF PEOPLE EXISTING TOGETHER AND IN THE
SAME WAY.

MY UNDERSTANDING

THE DIFFERENT
ELEMENTS

CLOTHING
LAWS
GOVERNM
ENT
FOOD
COMMUNI
CATION

LOCATION
LIFESTYLE
TECHNOL
OGY
BELIEFS
LANGUAG
E & SCRIPT
RESIDENC
Y

ART
AGRICULT
URE
WEAPONRY
TRADE
EDUCATIO
N
JEWELRY

WHO ARE THE INCAS?

o The Incas were American Indian people of a tribe.
o They existed in the southern highlands of Peru.
o Cuzco was the center of the Incan empire.
o They built one of the largest, most tightly controlled empires the world has
ever known.
o They existed from 1438 AD to 1533 AD.

 The Inca empire began in 1200 AD.

In 1525 AD the Inca empire start a civil war for the next five years.
In 1532 the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro captures the
empire.
In 1572 the Spanish execute the last Incans, signaling the end of the
Inca empire.

timeline

The location

 It is a 15th century Incan city which was built by the

emperor Pachacuti.
It was built on a enormous ridge between the mountains
Machu Picchu and Huayna Picchu.

Machu Picchu

daily lifestyle
Peasants- Peasants had to work hard all the time.
The only time they could rest was in religious

The Ayllu

Peasants

Nobles

festivals.
Nobles- Nobles had a much easier time. They
also had to work but had important jobs in the
government.

They were a group of families that worked together in one

portion of land.
They shared all their belongings with each other.
Everyone in the Inca Empire belonged to a particular Ayllu.

THE AYLLU

 Most of the people lived in brick and mud houses with

thatched roofs. They mostly had single rooms with one
story.
They used very less furniture, just baskets for storing
food and clothes, thin mattresses to sleep on and a stove.

Houses and residency

Men long sleeveless shirts or tunics. Capes and

ponchos in winters.
Women- long dresses.
Hairstyles- they were an important part of the Inca
fashion. The various types of hairstyles you wore told
people about your status and Ayllu.

Clothing

Children of the nobles

went to school and learnt
different skills and forms
of art.

Peasant children began

to work when they were
still quite young and
only learnt the basic
skill which would be
their job for the rest of
their life.

Education

 Corn, squash and beans were a part of the staple diet of the Incas as
they were the most available and nutritious food in their empire.
They also had tomatoes, peppers, ducks and fish when they
managed to get them.
They usually had these food on auspicious days like festivals and
rituals.

Food

 The Incas were famous for their road systems that were paved with stone.
They also built bridges for crossing rivers.
The roads were used for transporting goods, moving army troops,
communication etc.
The Incas used chaski men for delivering messages.
They also used quipus which were a series of knots made with various
coloured strings.
the number of knots, the size, and the distance between each knot
conveyed the message to officials who were trained to read quipus.

Roads and
Communication

 The Inca government was ruled by a single leader called the Sapa Inca

who was the king or emperor. He was the most powerful person in the
land.
His main wife [ the queen ] was called the Coya.
Below the Sapa Inca were may types of officials, advisors, generals and
priests.
The viceroy was called the Inkap Rantin.
most of the people in the government were family to the Sapa Inca or
related to him.

Government

 The Incas used slingshots, axes, spears and boleadoras.

All the Inca men were made to train in the army from sixteen years
of age.
Boleadoras were lassos made of rawhide or rope and had three hard
balls made of wood or rock.
Once the main battle had began and the enemy had advanced, the
Incas would use their most important weapons which were the spears
and swords.

Weaponry and warfare


o
o
o
o

Against the lawMurder

Stealing
Cursing and swearing at the gods
Cheating on taxes
There wasnt much of crime in the Inca empire as the punishments were
very harsh.
If there was any crime committed, the people were punished by being
executed ,or for a minor crime their hands were cut of.

Laws

 Inca art is best seen in metal works which are highly polished.
They used pottery and textiles in order to pay for their taxes if they
were good.
The checkerboard pattern was very famous.
They were also famous for making sun masks which were carved out
of gold.
They used

Art & Craft

 The Incas believed that in art gold was the sweat of the
sun and silver was the tears of the moon.
The Incas believed in many gods and goddesses.
They used to believe that every mountain top was the
home of a god.
They believed in afterlife and mummified the dead
persons body.

Beliefs

 The Incas mainly spoke Quechua and its various dialects.

They used quipus or drawings of a particular quipu for
others to decipher.
Quipus mean talking knots in the Quechuan language

Language and Script

 The Incas harvested beans, cocoa, maize, potatoes, sweet

potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, cucumber, squash and
cashews.
They also had crops of pepper for flavoring their food.
Tools were used such as foot plough, hoe etc.
farmers would work in groups of seven or eight.

Agriculture

 The Incas loved wearing any type of jewelry as it made

the people feel happy.
Even peasants would wear jewelry made of copper, brass,
bronze and sometimes for a special event, even gold.
The nobles and royalty would wear jewelry which would
sparkle and glitter a lot, especially gold with precious
metal on them.

Jewelry

 As the Incas did not have a currency, they would trade with
agricultural products such squash, sweet potatoes, pineapple etc.
They also used feathers, animal skin, pots, ropes, llamas, gold and
silver and cloth.
Cloth was very precious to the Incas wear as it was hard to produce
for them and only nobles and the king would use the prime and pure
cloth.

Trade

 The Incas invented the concept of freezing and

preserving food so that it does not go stale. They would
wrap up the food and keep it in a cold place inside a cave.
The Incas invented a system of communication which is
Quipu. It is still used today by some archeologists for
recording information.
They invented terrace farming which is cutting out
farmlands from hillsides.
It is still used in tea estates and other hillsides
plantations.

Technology

 The Incas built huge temples and other

structures of sun- baked bricks and rock slabs.
They built pyramids and other structures
resembling fortresses.

Architecture

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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dndon.info

Bibliography

 I thank Miss Madhu and Miss Flona for giving me such

an interesting topic to research on.
I thank Miss Priti for helping me with the technological
work.

Acknowledgements

Thank You