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Originally a tribe of warriors who lived in a semiarid area of the southern sierra, the Inca relocated to the fertile Cusco Valley around 1200 ACE. Within two hundred years or so, they had expanded their domain through the conquest of other tribal and cultural areas until the Inca Empire stretched from Ecuador to Chile. The culture of the Incas, which thrived and prospered between 1400-1532 ACE, was centered in Cuzco in the Peruvian Andes. Over time the Incas, eventually integrated the tribal cultures from the coastal and mountain areas of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru; and, the northern areas of Argentina and Chile into a single society ruled by the Inca (a divine, emperor like personage descended from the sun god, Inti) who had been selected by a royal lineage council of advisers. More than one million people were subjected to the Inca theocracy. Below the Inca was an aristocracy comprised of royal family members which included his immediate family, as well as, all his concubines and children. Next in authority were the tribal heads of the clans, a council of elders who owed their allegiance to the Inca; while, the commoners were grouped into units of ten headed by a boss. As long as the commoners cooperated, their communities had enough to get by on, but, there was no opportunity for individual growth or advancement.
All commoners except
religious and state officials were subjected to a work tax called Mita, under
which they were obligated to work a certain amount of time for the state. Work
service included: cultivating fields and terraced farmlands; building bridges,
forts, roads, royal residences, and temples, and mining.
Male commoners could be summoned for military service on a moments notice. The Incas also imposed their language, Quechua, on all the peoples they conquered. Like the other ancient Peruvian cultures, the Inca did not have a form of writing. They utilized "rememberers" who kept the official records and folklore on different colored knotted cords called "quipu" which they used as a mnemonic tool. Since religion and state were one to the Inca, their empire ended when their last ruling Inca, Atahualpa, was executed by the Spanish in 1533 ACE. Pre-Inca and Inca cultures included the Chavin Culture, Paracas Culture, Moche Culture, Nazca Culture, Tiahuanacu Culture, Huari Culture, Chimu Culture, Inca Culture Chavin Culture existed from 1200 to 200 BCE. Arising in the Andean highlands of north central Peru around the same timeframe as the Olmecs in Central America, the Chavins also revered a jaguar man god.
Distinctive jaguar designs
were found on the bone and stone carvings, the metal work, and the textiles of
the Chavin. Their main city and the center of Chavin urban and ceremonial
culture was Chavin de Huantar...Continue on
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Peruvian Ancient Civilization 
