The Incas (Peoples of America) (Audiobook, MP3+PDF)
The Incas were a small ethic group from the southern Peruvian highlands who created the greatest empire ever seen in the independent Americas—an empire of 10 to 12 million people.Inca history, largely presented to us by the conquering Spanish, reveals a rich culture of stunning achievement.In many ways, Inca life was defined by its unique geographical setting in the Andes, whose climate influenced everything from the crops the Incas grew to the altitudes in which they lived. This course focuses on Inca life at the height of empire, the society’s origins, its military, religion, ruling structure, and finally, the Incas’ legacy today.
Though the Incas left no written records of their great civilization, the archaeological remains and accounts of Spanish conquistadors and priests paint a picture of a well-ordered, vast empire. In the mountains of Peru and Ecuador, traces of Inca culture remain today in the road system that winds through the Andes, where people practice a religion that mixes the Catholicism of the Spanish conquerors with the animism of the Inca. Living in small homes and storehouses that date back to Inca times, these people have been celebrating traditional festivals and market days for more than 800 years.
De Gamboa, a well-educated sea captain and cosmographer of royalty, wrote the document in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire, just forty years after the arrival of the first Spaniards. The royal sponsorship of the work guaranteed Sarmiento direct access to the highest Spanish officials in Cuzco. It allowed him to summon influential Incas, especially those who had witnessed the fall of the Empire.
Defying many of the supposed rules of civilization building, and lacking the advantages of a written language, hard metals, the wheel, or draught animals, the Incas forged one of the greatest imperial states in history. They were isolated in a forbidding landscape and lacking in what many would consider some essential components of progress (writing, iron, the wheel, trading markets). Yet the Incas created one of the most influential and innovative empires the world has ever seen, demonstrating an astonishing mastery of engineering, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture, medicine, politics, and more.
