Conquistadors: Native Arts of the Americas after 1300
	Mesoamerica :: South America :: North America		Images courtesy of Saskia Ltd.
	SOUTH AMERICA Inka The Inka empire: The Inka were a highland tribe who established themselves in the Cuzco Valley around 1000, with the city of Cuzco as their capital. In the fifteenth century, their empire stretched from modern Quito, Ecuador, to central Chile. The Inka's story, like those of the pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica, ended in extermination by the Spanish conquistadors in the sixteenth century. Engineering: The Inka mastered the difficult problems of Andean agriculture with expert terracing and irrigation, and knitted together the fabric of their empire with networks of roads and bridges. Stone steps ascended steep terrain, and rope bridges crossed canyons Relay runners carried messages throughout the empire along main highways and connecting roads. Record-Keeping: Unlike the Aztecs, the Inka never developed writing. Their complex communication system, however, featured a knotted record-keeping device called a quipu. Clothing and status: Clothing communicated the social status of the person wearing the garment. Machu Picchu: The imperial Inka were great architects, masters of shaping and fitting stone, and grasped the relationship of architecture to site. An example is the mountain city of Machu Picchu, a rare site left undisturbed since Inka times. The Inkas carefully sited buildings so that windows and doors framed spectacular views of sacred peaks and facilitated the recording of important astronomical events. 30-5: Machu Picchu (view from adjacent peak), Inka, Peru, fifteenth century. Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu The Puma City: The Inka capital, Cuzco, was largely destroyed during the Spanish conquest and subsequent colonial period. Some descriptions state that Cuzco's plan was in the shape of a puma, with a shrine-fortress on a hill representing its head and the convergence of two rivers forming its tail. A great plaza was nestled below the animal's stomach. The puma referred to Inka royal power, but feline symbolism dates back to the beginnings of Andean art. The Golden Enclosure: The Inka were masters of the technique of dry-joining ashlar construction, and could fashion walls with curved surfaces. A prime example is a wall from the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco. Originally known as Coricancha (Golden Enclosure), it was dedicated to the creator god Viracocha and the gods of the sun, moon, stars, and the elements.
	30-06: Wall of the Golden Enclosure (surmounted by the church of Santo Domingo), Inka, Cuzco, Peru, fifteenth century. View of Cuzco View View The end of the Inka: The Temple of the Sun was badly burned at the time of the Spanish conquest. Soon afterward, smallpox spreading south from Spanish-occupied Mesoamerica killed the last Inka emperor and his heir before they ever laid eyes on a Spaniard. The Inka empire quickly plunged into a civil war that only aided the Europeans in their conquest.
	Mesoamerica :: South America :: North America