A History of the Inca

A lot has happened since November 2020, when we had our last few episodes. Several projects that I've mentioned just a few months ago, are actually taking shape. Plus, some things are changing in my personal life that will interfere with the podcast a bit. All of this was too much to put at the beginning of a single episode, so please take a moment and listen to this update, so you are aware of wh...

With the end of our second year, I make several announcements. Afterwards, we dive into a variety of questions ranging from religion to Polynesian-South American contact. To read more on Renata Flores, click on the article below: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/28/world/americas/peru-indigenous-rap-renata-flores.html?smid=tw-share To read more on Polynesian-South American contact, click on the art...

Tupac returns to Cuzco to celebrate his latest conquests.  But this triumph would be cut short has his father lies on his deathbed.  In this episode we cover the funeral rites and summarize the feats of arguably the greatest Inca ruler: Pachacuti. If you'd like to support the show monetarily please click the following link: https://www.patreon.com/incapodcast . And thank you! Please foll...

With the empire quickly expanding, we're going to take some time to touch on what was happening beyond just Tupac conquering land.  Tupac was also building.  Estates, administration buildings, roads and coricanchas were all built under his watch.  However, he also oversaw some of the most expansive use of resettlement in the Andes with the use of the mitmae system.  Finally, we...

Late in the 15th century, there was an empire on the Northern coast of modern-day Peru: The Chimor Empire.  The Chimu made their home in the Moche Valley, the culture who had inhabited the area over 500yrs prior.  On the dry western coast of the continent, the Chimu were able to create a thriving empire that controlled trade and made exquisite works of gold.  If it hadn’t been for a...

Now that we've covered the military and the road system that would transport it, we join Tupac Inca Yupanqui as he marches North. During his campaigns he'll subdue groups by both diplomatic and military means.  He'll face groups at Cajamarca, a confederation near Quito and a fierce culture group near modern day Quayaquil.  To cap it all off, Tupac goes on a sailing trip...maybe. If you'd...

Logistics can be often overlooked when one thinks of great armies or military feats.  However, getting an army from one place to another is sometimes a feat in itself.  Especially, when the army is in over pushing 100,000, marching through mountains in a land where the agricultural season was extremely unpredictable.  However the Inca created one of the best road systems of any civi...

The Inca would expand their borders in many ways: gift giving, strategic marriages and alliances.  But their military would also come to dominate the Andes as well as the western coast of South America thanks to Tupac Inca Yupanqui.  We’ll look at what the command structure looked like within the Inca army, what took place before the army set out on campaign and how they would engage in...

Following a mule trail, history professor and explorer Hiram Bingham would soon cement his place in history by finding one of the wonders of the world.  Machu Picchu, a suspected estate of Pachacuti, is a feat of engineering that looks over the Sacred Valley.  A highly religious site, Machu Picchu is filled with huacas, temples, grave sites and is ingrained into the mountainous landscape...

Episode 22: Music Today we are looking at Andean Music thanks to a lecture from Kike Pinto, the founder and curator of TAKI/Institute, Museum of Musical Instruments and Cultural Center.  The museum is located in Cuzco and houses traditional instruments that would have been played in the times of the Inca.  But there are instruments from other groups as well.  If you’d like to hear m...

Welcome to Tales of the Andes! Fictional stories based on real events, places, ceremonies and people in and around the Andes. Tales of the Andes allows me to do some creative writing and bring the narrative to life with immersive sound and experiences.

Pachacuti has been getting up there in years.  He can still administer his empire from Cuzco, but he can no longer go on campaign.  When a rebellion breaks out in Collasuyu he can’t march with his army to put the rebels in his place.  Instead, Pachacuti must rely on his sons to go and put out the rebellion.  All the while, he is pressed by the Inca nobility to name an heir and...

Today we have an interview with my friend Stephen Berquist.  Stephen is an archaeologist finishing up his PhD at the University of Toronto.  During the interview we discuss the site Stephen worked on, Tecapa, which sits on the northern Peruvian coast.  We also discuss the Wari, empires, the Inca and a group we'll investigate more in the fall: The Chimu.  If you’d like to suppor...

In this episode we discuss the make-up of the Inca administration in and around the Cuzco area.  Of course at the top we have the Sapa Inca, son of the Sun and a divine ruler.  But who were the other key players in the government?  Well, you had the Colla, the panaca or royal ayllus, the high priest and the Inca of Privilege of course.  So who were these people and what were th...

Pachacuti has been Sapa Inca for quite some time.  He has expanded the state and has transformed the religion of the Inca.  Now it is time for him to disseminate laws to those he now governs.

Inti Raymi was the Celebration of the Sun!  A yearly festival that took place around the Winter Solstice.  Today, we’ll go through the ritual as explained to us by Cristobal de Molina.  By exploring this ritual and others in the future, you will gain a new appreciation for how thought out and involved these ceremonies and celebrations were.  If you’d like to support the show mo...

Episode 17: The Inca Pantheon Today we wade into the world of Inca religion.  We’ve touched on the subject before, but it is important to understand the broad scope of the religion as it played a key part of not only the administration, but the everyday lives of the people.  We’ll touch on the Gods, huacas, and the sacrifices made to them. Rituals we may cover another day.   If...

You may have heard of El Dorado, the mythical city made of gold.  Countless explorers have ventured out to look for it, many never returned.  At this point, with much of the world having been explored and mapped, we know, that El Dorado doesn’t exist...right?   What if I told you that it did exist, but it wasn’t a city. If there ever was an El Dorado, it existed in a single building...

We leave the narrative behind to embark on investigating different aspects of Inca life, rule and culture.  To begin, we look at one of the wonders of the Inca empire: Sacsahuaman. This building was a fort, religious center and storage facility.  It is also the largest megalithic structure in North America! Who built it? And more importantly how was it built? Press play to find out. If y...

Episode 14: (Re)building Cuzco Pachacuti has returned from his campaigns.  He has brought several groups under Inca rule and numerous spoils to Cuzco.  But Cuzco, in Pachacuti’s eyes was inadequate. It sat in essentially a swamp, it’s buildings were of wood and it lacked the glory that Pachacuti knew it deserved.  Thus, he would rebuild the Navel of the Universe into the greatest ca...

Happy Birthday to us!  It has been exactly one year since our first episode.   Pachacuti is now Sapa Inca but he wonders just how stable his young empire is.  He seeks to bring his allies in line and firmly under Inca control. Pachacuti then marches out in all directions to see what could be conquered. If you’d like to support the show monetarily please click the following link...

Welcome back everyone!  After a nearly 2 month break, A History of the Inca is back!  I hope you’re all recharged and ready to dive deeper into Pachacuti’s rule and as well as Inca society. In this episode I make some announcements, give you all a refresher on last season and then go into what we’ll be covering the next several months. Big news off the bat, we have a Patreon page! ...

Happy Holidays Everyone!  After hearing this interview on a local radio station I wanted to share it with you all.  At first I was saving it for a time when I fell behind on the podcast, but that hasn’t happened yet, and I wanted to share this interview while it is still relatively recent.  The interview is about a professor who worked for years to repatriate an Inca mummy back to B...

In this episode I attempt to answer questions submitted by you, the listener.  We have questions ranging from Machu Picchu to what my favorite book has been thus far.   Please follow the show on Twitter @Incapodcast, find us on our Facebook page: A History of the Inca or check out our website: http://ahistoryoftheinca.wordpress.com . Link to Spanish Conquest of Peru Part 1: https://...

In this episode we take a look at the archaeological evidence surrounding the rise of the Inca from their beginnings as a chiefdom to a solidified state in one of the many valleys in the Andes.  Along the way, they were hemmed in by other groups, expanded their agricultural base, formed alliances and subdued enemies. In contrast to what is described in many of the accounts, the Inca were a st...