Incas were amazing people! Let’s learn five interesting Incas facts for kids.
The Inca civilization thrived in Peru between 1400 and 1533 but their empire was a little shorter lived. Their empire of states grew very quickly starting in 1438. The area they controlled grew and grew and they eventually governed over 10 million people. This empire did not last long though as they had competition from Spanish Conquistadors who wanted the lands for their own empire. The Spanish also brought with them disease which made it harder for the Inca people to defend their land. The Inca empire ended in 1533 when the Spanish took control of the lands.
The Inca people did not have a written language so they needed a way to keep a record of information and share it with other people. They did this through the use of a Quipu which was made of strings. One main string or a stick was used to hang other strings from, the way these strings were knotted, how many knots were on the string or the colour of the string could tell you all sorts of information. This was a super portable way to store and share information as it was lightweight. Even though it seems simple, a Quipu could tell people many things.
Quipu told people about statistics, financial accounts, and even stories. They were used to help people who knew the stories to remember important details. The job of remembering these stories and telling them passed down through families.
The Inca people were ruled by a king and their first king claimed to be related to their god of the sun. The King was very important and his clothing showed this. The Inca king would never wear the same clothing after he had worn it once. His clothing would be worn for a day then taken to be burned so they would never be worn again. The king even had a woman who organised this who was known as his ‘chosen woman’.
The Inca empire’s roads were very long, they stretched for over 25,000 miles. That’s a very long way to go on foot so why did Inca people not use wheels to help with travel?
Historians had believed they did not know the wheel existed so they did not use it, but that’s not true. Archeologists have now found wheels used by the Inca people but they are only seen on toys. So, why did they only use them for toys?
It is because of the type of land the Inca people lived in. The Inca’s live in high mountainous climates so their roads were very rocky and steep so they rode llamas to travel long distances. Even if they made wheels they wouldn’t help travel because of the rocky roads used by the Inca people.
The Inca people were known for their great farming. They used the terrain they lived in to their advantage. Even though they lived in the mountains they were able to grow enough crops to eat well all year long. They did this by creating layered farms which look like steps. One of the things the Inca people grew were potatoes. The Spanish who conquered the Inca people helped spread potatoes to the rest of the world. So, next time you are enjoying some chips you can thank the Inca people.
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about the Inca as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic this period of time is, you can move on to learn about ancient civilizations like: The Inuit, The Anglo Saxons, Vikings, Ancient China, Celts and Egyptians.
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