Ethnos

Inca

The Inca Empire (called Tahuantinsuyu in Quechua, or Tawantinsuyu in modern Aymara) was an empire located in South America from 1438 CE to 1533 CE.

The meaning of the native word Tahuantinsuyu in Quechua is "four corners", which referred to the four provinces whose corners met at the capital Cuzco. The foreign name Inca Empire is derived from the word Inca which means "Emperor".

The Inca people began as a tribe in the Cuzco area around the 12th century CE. Under the leadership of Manco Capac they formed the small city-state of Qusqo, or Cuzco in English. But under the command of Pachacuti in 1438 CE they began a run of conquest and peaceful assimilations that, within a hundred years, grew to encompass most of the civilized world of South America. At its height, Tahuantinsuyu included what are now Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and also extended into portions of what are now Chile, Argentina and Colombia. However, they had a short run as an empire, by 1533 CE Atahualpa, the last Inca, was killed on the orders of the Conquistador Francisco Pizarro, marking the turning point in the quick decline of the empire itself. ***