Inca Sophistic And Complex Civilization

A Sophisticated and Complex Civilization The Incas were wild and uneducated nomads that were able to flourish thanks to the Spanish arrival in the Americas. This is what some people think or have heard about many pre-Columbian civilizations in the Americas, one of them, the Incas. But this could not be further away from the truth. Even if they only lasted 100 years before the arrival of the Spanish in Peru in 1532, they were able to have a progressive, and thriving civilization. The Inca’s innovations, and political, and social systems exemplify the pre-Columbian civilization’s complexity and sophistication.

The Inca Empire began as a small tribe in the Andes but managed to bring together the entire region to create an Empire (Ramirez et.

This variety of terrains offered various resources like fishing, agriculture, hunting, and the herding of llamas, guanacos, and alpacas (Duviols). While it offered many good resources, it was also a difficult territory to manage, and take full advantage of due to the many high mountains with multiple altitudes.

The resourceful innovations they built accommodated their restrictions and difficulties, making their Empire and day-to-day life more productive. One of the main innovations was the construction of road networks. In the 16th century, the roads were about 14,000 miles long, and they stretched from sea level to 12,000 feet above sea (Ramirez et. al. 214; “Road”). For a more descriptive image of how long this network was, it can be said that it stretched from today's Quito, Ecuador, to Cusco, Peru, and all the way to Santiago, Chile(“Road”). To be able to cross every kind of terrain, they connected the roads on high and low levels by building stone stairs. They also created the first known suspension bridges, which were made out of fibers and vines, to be

al. 2014). There were runners who would run on these extended roads to deliver messages all around the Empire. The road system helped the government have more control of the administration in the empire, and it improved communication because it linked cities all around the Empire(Ramirez et. al. 213). This is a sophisticated system that improved not just transportation throughout the Empire, but also to have more control and organization of the cities and people. This exposes how this innovation improved many aspects of the empire. Incas were very good farmers because farming was the only way of providing food to the entire population. This made them expand the amount of available farmland by improving the irrigation system and creating terraces, which were large steps cut into the mountains to create level spaces for farming(Daily Life in the Inca Empire”;“Ramirez et. al. 2014; “The Technology of the Incas and Aztecs”; “Inca