The Inca civilization flourished in ancient Peru between c. 1400 and 1533 CE. The Inca Empire eventually extended across western South America from Quito in the north to Santiago in the south. It was the largest empire ever seen in the Americas and the largest in the world at that time.
Undaunted by the often harsh Andean environment, the Incas conquered people and exploited landscapes in such diverse settings as plains, mountains, deserts, and tropical jungle. Famed for their unique art and architecture, they constructed finely-built and imposing buildings wherever they conquered, and their spectacular adaptation of natural landscapes with terracing, highways, and mountaintop settlements continues to impress modern visitors at such world-famous sites as Machu Picchu.
History
As with other ancient Americas cultures, the historical origins of the Incas are difficult to disentangle from the founding myths they themselves created. According to legend, in the beginning, the creator god Viracocha came out of the Pacific Ocean, and when he arrived at Lake Titicaca, he created the sun and all ethnic groups. These first people were buried by the god and only later did they emerge from springs and rocks (sacred pacarinas) back into the world. The Incas, specifically, were brought into existence at Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) from the sun god Inti; hence, they regarded themselves as the chosen few, the 'Children of the Sun', and the Inca ruler was Inti's representative and embodiment on earth. In another version of the creation myth, the first Incas came from a sacred cave known as Tampu T'oqo or 'The House of Windows', which was located at Pacariqtambo, the 'Inn of Dawn', south of Cuzco. The first pair of humans were Manco Capac (or Manqo Qhapaq) and his sister (also his wife) Mama Oqllu (or Ocllo). Three more brother-sister siblings were born, and the group set off together to found their civilization. Defeating the Chanca people with the help of stone warriors (pururaucas), the first Incas finally settled in the Valley of Cuzco and Manco Capac, throwing a golden rod into the ground, established what would become the Inca capital, Cuzco.
The rise of the Inca Empire was spectacularly quick. First, all speakers of the Inca language Quechua (or Runasimi) were given privileged status, and this noble class then dominated all the important roles within the empire. Thupa Inca Yupanqui (also known as Topa Inca Yupanqui), Pachacuti's successor from 1471 CE, is credited with having expanded the empire by a massive 4,000 km (2,500 miles). The Incas themselves called their empire Tawantinsuyo (or Tahuantinsuyu) meaning 'Land of the Four Quarters' or 'The Four Parts Together'. Cuzco was considered the navel of the world, and radiating out were highways and sacred sighting lines (ceques) to each quarter: Chinchaysuyu (north), Antisuyu (east), Collasuyu (south), and removedisuyu (west). Spreading across ancient Ecuador, Peru, northern Chile, Bolivia, upland Argentina, and southern Colombia and stretching 5,500 km (3,400 miles) north to south, 40,000 Incas governed a huge territory with some 10 million subjects speaking over 30 different languages.
The Inca Empire was founded on, and maintained by, force, and the ruling Incas were very often unpopular with their subjects (especially in the northern territories), a situation that the Spanish conquerors (conquistadores), led by Francisco Pizarro, would take full advantage of in the middle decades of the 16th century CE. The Inca Empire, in fact, had still not reached a stage of consolidated maturity when it faced its greatest challenge. Rebellions were rife, and the Incas were engaged in a war in Ecuador where a second Inca capital had been established at Quito. Even more serious, the Incas were hit by an epidemic of European diseases, such as smallpox, which had spread from central America even faster than the European invaders themselves, and the wave killed a staggering 65-90% of the population. Such a disease killed Wayna Qhapaq in 1528 CE, and two of his sons, Waskar and Atahualpa, battled in a damaging civil war for control of the empire just when the European treasure-hunters arrived. It was this combination of factors - a perfect storm of rebellion, disease, and invasion - which brought the downfall of the mighty Inca Empire, the largest and richest ever seen in the Americas.
The Inca language Quechua lives on today and is still spoken by some eight million people. There are also a good number of buildings, artefacts, and written accounts which have survived the ravages of conquerors, looters, and time. These remains are proportionally few to the vast riches which have been lost, but they remain indisputable witnesses to the wealth, ingenuity, and high cultural achievements of this great but short-lived civilization.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Inca_Civilization/
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The French government has a department for trying to keep the language and culture stagnant. I had a teacher near the end of high school who did French class for French immersion students, I was one. And when he noticed how absolute dogs hit we still were at French after 11 years he went full Matt Christman, it scared everyone else, but I was totally with him, he wasnt yelling cause he was mad at us, he was yelling to us about how much we had been failed. During this full class long tirade, 80 minute class, so probably a full 70 minute rant, he brought the French language institutions in France into his detailed materialist explanation to us but I think to himself as well, as to why we sucked so hard at a language we had been learning since we were 5. That's how I learned about it.
Norman LeBlanc, you fucking rocked. He scared the shit out of the other kids cause he was genuinely passionate about Geography and French language studies (for French immersion you did everything in French except English class for the first 6 grades and then it kinda opened up more later, sucked for high school cause you needed a certain amount of french classes to pass the immersion thing and it was the exact amount on offer). He asked the class rhetorically in this rant if he was 'christ on the cross'. The PA box fell while he was teaching and barely missed him. He called down to the office and said 'hello, the PA box needs to be replaced. It fell. Almost on my head.' And after whatever the reply was he said 'yes. It was a close call, I felt a gust of air from it, pushing me forward. Like my fury.' And then he hung up. He gave us a french style essay exam where he had us write ten pages on the nature of competition, I apparently changed his worldview with mine. For grade 12 Geography he found out the school had laptops (this was 2009) that no one was using, gave us an entire semester worth of questions, said we could use the laptops, the library or come up and talk to him, but there wasnt gonna be normal lessons. I thrived so hard in that environment and he taught 4 classes and needed a period to catch up on grading. He was a trained opera singer who heard my presentation of a french grindcore band when we had to find some french music and do a presentation on it that he had me teach him how to do death growls. Apparently the only reason he wasnt retired was cause he bought a really nice house and they started building a sewage treatment plant across the street soon after.
idk chapotraphouse enough to know what matt christian can do
i had an english teacher i liked as a kid. he was cool in my eyes, i always got the highest grade since i was the only kid in class with a good accent and good grammar.
every time i see him he doesn't even look at me. hell, one time a family member saw him and talked about my english certification, he didn't give a shit. i looked up to this person and this is what i get
my chemistry teacher (she was a teacher for multiple classes, including art) was cool and helped me find a high school that suited me really well, i wouldn't be the person that i am without her help. my school had computers but we just never used them. i was the only kid who was curious enough to go to the computer room and actually open one of them, it had windows xp. and i only used it once
there was one point when english class was only in english and not in romanian due to a different english teacher, i was the only kid who got the hang of it. not sure how i still remember this stuff