The Short History About Incas Town Machu Picchu

The Inca empire lasted from 1438 to 1533 CE and was the largest civilisation in the world at the time. It was located in modern day Peru and was one of the fastest expanding empires. With the help of many strong rulers such as Sapa Inca Yapanqui, the Inca empire expanded across the coast of South America until they had spanned over 4000 km2 across the country. The main language of the Incas was Quechua, however, there were many other smaller languages as well, usually ones from the other tribes that the Incas had conquered. Even after the decline of the Incas, they lived on through their ancestors, and Quechua is still being spoken all throughout South America. In 1960, Peru made Quechua one of its official languages, with the other one being Spanish.

Although much evidence exists of the Inca empire, one of the most fascinating, and well known of these is the town Machu Picchu. This town is one of the 7 modern wonders of the world, due to display of the Inca architecture. This city, although was not the most populous of its time, aided historians in discovering the pre-Columbian lives of the South Americans.

Machu Picchu, one of the new seven wonders of the world, is an abandoned city on top of a mountain. This city was built by the Incan ruler, Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui, between 1460 and 1470. This city was built solely for religious purposes like praying as it was 2434m above sea level, and therefore, very close to the gods. The city’s existence was only known by Sapa Inca Tupac Yupanqui’s closest advisors and so, when the Spanish conquered them, they did not discover it. It was only discovered in 1911.

Although Machu Picchu is the most renowned evidence of the Icans, other artifacts have been found - idols, which most pertain to religion. This is an artifact of a depiction of an Ican god- namely the sun god- on a sacrificial, and ceremonial knife Apart from religious material, a basis for the model of a golden artifact is the llama.. These animals were highly values in Ican society for their practicality, as it was used from clothing, to transportation, and in some cases, a food source. This versatility made the golden llama idols sacrifices in exchange for good fertility of their herds.

Machu Picchu and the archaeological discoveries that occurred tells us a lot about the daily life of Inca citizens. Skeletal remains of bodies showed unique levels of bone fractures as a result of intense labour. This most likely meant that the skeleton was once a farmer. Bones of llamas and alpacas were also discovered, further proving that llamas had some significance to the Incas. Man made terraces also show us how important farming was as there were so many of them built at Machu Picchu. Temples dedicated to different gods were also discovered at Machu Picchu, which tells us a bit about the religious beliefs of the Incas.