Maya Inca Aztec

The Inca existed from 1200 to 1535 AD and was located South America from the Equator to the Pacific coast of Chile. Due to their powerful army, the Inca turned out to be the largest Native American society. It only ended when, in 1535 when the Spanish came and took over their territory.

The cities were mostly built on slopes of the Andes Mountains, steps led up to them. The cities mostly consisted of stone buildings and religious buildings. The blocks of stone are smashed together so tightly, that not even a razor blade could fit through them. The heart if the city was mainly used for government purposes, while the people lived in the places surrounding that. Their houses were made from the same stone material and the roofs were made of grass.

When the population started to increase, the people needed more protection. That is why they built fortresses on high mountain slopes so that they could see far off and defend themselves in case any invaders were coming near.

Religious centers were built on the highest places of the empire, because they were the closest to the sun, which represented a very important god, Inti, the Sun God. There were six major gods in the Inca society, representing the moon, the sun, the earth, the thunder/lightning and the sea.

Even though the Inca Empire had an army of 40,000 men, and the Spanish conquerors had an army of only 180 men, the Spanish were the victors in the war, because the Spanish guns were no match against the bows and arrows of the Inca. Francisco Pizarro led the Spanish army, whose army overthrew the Inca society completely by 1535.

The Inca’s also had a weird belief that gold was ‘the sweat of the sun’ and silver was ‘tears of the moon’. They loved metals a lot, and spend a billion hours a year to built temples, fortresses, agricultural terraces, and roads.

The Art:

They used these vases for carrying water

Since birds could fly as high as the mountains and dive into the sea, people believed them to be duality between highlands and coast, between heaven and earth.

This is an ancient drawing of what was belived to be the thunder god

This is supposed to be a native spirit

This is an ancient stone idol

http://www.seapyramid.net/pictures/pics2.htm http://www.incaspirit.com/text/painting.htm http://www.mabeegerrermuseum.org/southamerica.html http://www.smcm.edu/art/arth100/empire/AIS/inca/art.htm


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