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Inca musicians performing next to MTV building at Times Square, Manhattan.

The Inca Empire

The Inca, a South American people, built one of the largest and wealthiest empires in the western hemisphere beginning in the mid-1400s. Located on the western coast of South America, the empire extended more than 4000 km (more than 2500 mi) and included regions of present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. The city of Cuzco, situated in southern Peru, served as the Inca capital.

The Inca Empire was conquered by the Spanish in the early 16th century.

The Incas built a wealthy and complex civilization that ruled more than 9 million people.

The Inca system of government was among the most complex political organizations of any Native American people. Although the Incas lacked both a written language and the concept of the wheel, they accomplished feats of engineering that were unequaled elsewhere in the Americas.

They built large stone structures without mortar and constructed suspension bridges and roads that crossed the steep mountain valleys of the Andes.

The Incas conquered a number of neighboring peoples as they expanded their area of influence outward from their home in the Cusco valley of highland Peru.
Inca lands eventually totaled about 906,500 sq km (about 350,000 sq mi). This territory centered on the peaks of the Andes, but extended to the Pacific Coast and the Amazon basin.

The political center of the empire was in what is now Peru, and its territory included parts of present-day Ecuador, Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwest Argentina.

The terrain included high grass plateaus, low-lying jungles, deserts, and fertile river valleys.

From: http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/nativeamericans/incaempire1.htm