The Incas were most notable for establishing the Inca Empire which was centered in modern-day South America in Peru and Chile. It was about 2,500 miles from the northern to southern tip. The Inca Empire lasted from 1438 to 1533. It was the largest Empire in America throughout the Pre-Columbian era. The Inca state was known as the Kingdom of Cuzco before 1438. Over the course of the Inca Empire, the Inca used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate the territory of modern-day Peru, followed by a large portion of western South America, into their empire, centered on the Andean mountain range. However, shortly after the Inca Civil War, the last Sapa Inca (emperor) of the Inca Empire was captured and killed on the orders of the conquistador Francisco Pizarro, marking the beginning of Spanish rule. The remnants of the empire retreated to the remote jungles of Vilcabamba and established the small Neo-Inca State, which was conquered by the Spanish in 1572.
"Sapa Inkakuna". Painting from the 18th century. It portrays the Inca royal lineage and belongs to the Cusco School, unknown author.
"The first Ynca Manco Capac and Queen Coya Mama Ocllo Huaco her Husband both children of the Sun gather the savages". Illustration of 1752, extracted from the Voyage dans l'Amérique Méridionale.
Portraits of Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo. Cover of the first edition in French (1633) of the Comentarios Reales de los Incas, under the title: "History of the Incas, kings of Peru".
Most stories agree that the first Incas left Lake Titicaca.
The Inca Empire, called Tawantinsuyu by its subjects, was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The administrative, political, and military center of the empire was in the city of Cusco. The Inca civilization rose from the Peruvian highlands sometime in the early 13th century. The Spanish began the conquest of the Inca Empire in 1532 and by 1572, the last Inca state was fully conquered.
Manco Cápac, First Inca, 1 of 14 Portraits of Inca Kings, Probably mid-18th century. Oil on canvas. Brooklyn Museum
An Inca prince accompanied by nobles, priests and warriors
The first image of the Inca in Europe, Pedro Cieza de León, Crónica del Perú, 1553
Sapa inkakuna, a 17th-century Cusco painting with the Inca lineages mentioned by colonial chronicles and their relationship with the royal queens of Cusco, which hide behind a complex representation of the Inca social organization.