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Inca Culture
Jami Kelly
Salt Lake Community College
Anthropology 1030
Professor Tiffany Collins
11/30/15

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2
Inca Culture

The first known Incas, a noble family who ruled Cuzco and a small surrounding high
Andean agricultural state, date back to A.D. 1200 (Clark 2000). When referencing Inca it
actually is the very first royal family to rule Cuzco and their 40,000 descendants. For centuries
historians have used the term in reference to the nearly 100 nations conquered by the Inca
(Clark 2000) Not until Pachacuti became the new ruler in 1438 would the Inca culture expand, as
he conquered the different cultures and territories surrounding Cuzco. The Inca Empire gained
control over three thousand miles worth of land (Chazan, 2008 p. 391). From Quito, Ecuador to
Santiago, Chile the empire controlled many different landscapes, making it a very diverse culture
(The Inca Empire: Children of the Sun 2015). Building and expanding the Empire State, which
was called Tawantinsuyu, consisted of constructing this massive empire through the emperors
military (Inca 2015).The empire had control over ten to twelve million people within these
residing areas, with over a hundred different languages spoken (The Inca Empire: Children of the
Sun 2015). To have over a hundred nations with different languages and different cultures
subdued to the power of the Inca Empire is very impressive.
An interesting aspect of Inca Culture is that after the ruling emperors death occurs they
mummify the body and the political figure is still an active part of the politics and ceremonial

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Aspects of life. The relatives that were not chosen to take over power are put in charge of the
Emperors riches and his ceremonial process. The descendants of the emperor are known as the
panaqa. The son that was chosen to take over the empire was not a part of the previous
emperors panaqa. (Chazan 2008 p. 394) The chosen leader of the empire has to now gain his
own financial wealth, conquer the land, and win the hearts of the people for him to be a
successful emperor. The dynamics of this process contributed to the expansion of the Inca
Empire because each ruler had to build his own fame and fortune. The fame of creating your own
empire seems like an ingenious idea especially to a ruling force just barely starting out. If you
have anxious sons who want your approval and want to be just as amazing if not better than their
ruling father, they will go out and do whatever it takes, especially if they have to gain their own
wealth. They probably had wealth growing up, but then it is stripped away when they are given
their fathers earthly powers.
According to the Article Inca 2015, the Inca Empire needed a way to reach the subjects
that they were ruling, so they built an elaborate roadway system. Although, some of the roads
had existed before the elaborate road-system was created, they enhanced and improved these
roadways. The road system they built is an all weather road system. What this means is the roads
were built to withstand any type of weather while people were embarked on them. A system of
roadways adding up to approximately 15,000 miles crisscrossed the kingdom, with relay runners
capable of advancing messages at the rate of 150 miles per day (Inca 2015). The Inca road
system was the precursor of todays. To imagine being able to travel for miles back and forth all
on foot on elaborate road ways almost eight hundred and fifteen years ago speaks volumes about
how well organized and developed this culture was.

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There are not any written documents from the Inca to give us any inclination of what
their culture might have been like. But the Incas did have a kind of document. Most likely
because of the hundred nations that were conquered, and Quechua had not quite yet become a
universal language, they came up with a different system of recording information. The empire
would crumble if the road way system was not sufficiently transporting goods or information.
This system they used for recording information is called Khipu.
The system organizes colored pendant strings tied onto a main cord. Khipu knots are of
three basic types: a long knot with four turns, a single knot, and a figure-eight knot.(Chazan Ch.
13 P. 399) Khipu is a highly complex system and there was no record left to indicate what knots
or colored ropes or sequences might even mean. It does seem mind boggling that the Incas
decided to use a knot system instead of a writing system to record the information they needed to
transmit.

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References
Chazan, M. (2008) World Prehistory and Archaeology: Pathways through time. Boston, MA:
Pearson Education, Inc.
Clark, L. (2000) The Lost Inca Empire. Retrieved from
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/lost-inca-empire.html
History.com Staff (2015). Inca. Retrieved from
http://www.history.com/topics/inca
Ushistory.org Staff (2015)The Inca Empire: Children of the Sun Ancient Civilizations Online
Textbook
http://www.ushistory.org/civ/11c.asp