THE INCAN EMPIRE

Year 8 History
 THE INCAN EMPIRE

What do these
artifacts tell
you about the
Inca?
 THE INCAN EMPIRE
In 1911 a
Yale
University
lecturer
named,
Hiram
Bingham,
was in
Santiago,
Peru for a
scientific
congress.
While there
Hiram set
out to find
an ancient
Incan ruin
he had
heard
rumours
about from
a local
Peruvian.
 THE INCAN EMPIRE

So… Who were the Inca and what happened to them?

How did the largest empire in the Western Hemisphere, in one of the most
earthquake prone areas of the world, thrive without …?
draught animals
iron working
a currency
a writing system
a capital 3,500 meters above sea level
the wheel!!!
And how was this empire, that survived for around 400 years, conquered by just 140
people?
These are some questions you will be answering
 Pre-Columbian
Empires
For this unit we will be focusing on the Incan Empire
but they weren’t the only empire in the Americas at
this time. These empires are often referred to pre-
Columbian Empires. Look at this map and answer
the following questions.

What three empires are represented on this

map? What do you notice about them?
What does Pre-Columbian empires mean to you?
What does Pre-Columbian tell you about how
these empires are often viewed?
History has often been seen from a Eurocentric
point of view. This is something to keep in mind
when studying history, and particularly the Inca,
as we will see.
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Before we get started…

Sources! Sources! Sources!
Much of what we know about history comes through our understanding of sources. Some of these are
written sources while others are archaeological finds. Sources for the Inca are limited for the following
reasons.
The Inca Empire did not have a ‘traditional’ writing system (more on this later). Instead they passed down
their knowledge using oral traditions. So without written records from the Incan empire how do we know
anything about them.
The earliest written accounts of the Inca were made by the Spanish conquistadors of 1532. These Spaniards
were writing in the heat of a military invasion in unfamiliar lands. Their comments were impressions written
with neither time for reflections nor understanding of the civilisation they were observing. For example,
Incan temples were often called mosques. Most of the conquistadors’ accounts are short descriptions of
Spanish soldiers fighting in battle.
There was no effort to record Inca oral traditions in written form, until the 1550s. By this time the Incas had
experienced so much Spanish brutality that they deliberately concealed many of their activities and beliefs.

So who are some of the sources we will be using?

 THE INCAN EMPIRE
Sources! Sources! Sources!
Have a look at people who created sources on the Incan People. Think about the following questions
• What is known about the creator of the source?
• When was the source created?
Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala (1535 – after 1616)
Guaman Poma came from a noble Inca family in
Peru. He hoped his history book of the Inca and
Spanish conquest would convince the King of Spain
about the injustices of colonial rule and to make
reforms in Peru. It’s unknown whether his book ever
reached the king, but it serves as an invaluable
source about life in the Andes mountains
Pedro de Cieza de León (1518?–1560)
He was also involved in the re-conquest of Peru from
Spanish rebel forces. With government permission,
Cieza de León began interviewing local officials, Inca
lords, and high officials about the Incan empire and
its past. From these interviews and his own
research, he produced the first European chronicle of
Peru, which includes natural history, ethnography,
and the history of pre-Inca and Inca civilizations.
• For what purpose was this source made?
• What unique point of view might this source provide?
Garcilaso de la Vega
Garcilaso de la Vega was the son of a noble Inca women
and a Spanish conquistador. He was born in Cusco in
1539, during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.
He moved to Spain in 1560, when he was twenty-one,
and never returned to Peru. He published his book, The
Royal Commentaries of Peru based on oral histories
told by his Inca relatives. The book was published in
1609, thirty five years after the end of the conquest.
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa (1532 – 1592)
Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa was a Spanish sea
captain and royal scientist. He wrote a book about the
Incas called, The History of the Incas, completed in
1572. Sarmiento wrote this book in Cusco on orders
of the Spanish viceroy of Peru, near the end of the
Spanish conquest of Peru. Sarmiento carefully
collected the data for his book by interviewing the
surviving Inca nobility about their history.
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The Inca Empire vs History
How reliable are these people as sources?

Step into the shoes of the Inca and decide who

you would like to tell your story. Pick 2 sources in
the previous slide that you want to represent you.
Be careful because who you pick will decide how
history will view you and your people.

Questions to think about:

Where does this source come from?
When did they write their accounts?
Is there anything that would make their
accounts unreliable or biased?
History Sources
In pairs, write down your thoughts and be
prepared to argue at least three opinions to
support your argument.
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The Inca Empire vs History

How reliable are these people as sources?

• What can we say about the main sources we

rely on that help us understand the Inca
culture?

• Who would you want your history to be told by?

• Can you think of any other cultures that have History Sources
histories with similar situations?