Rising from obscurity in Peru's Cusco Valley during the 13th century, a royal Inca dynasty charmed, bribed, intimidated, or conquered its rivals to create the largest pre-Columbian empire in the ...

Despite its relatively short reign, the Inca Empire—stretching from southern Colombia down to Chile and Argentina—developed a highly elaborated yet diverse and syncretic religious system which ...

Though the 16th-century Spanish conquistador invasion ended the Inca Empire, the legacy of the ... the royal Incan retreat and religious shrine. Machu Picchu was only one of many cities ...

At the height of its existence the Inca Empire was the largest nation on Earth ... its rule resulting in a universal language - a form of Quechua, a religion worshipping the sun, and a 14,000 ...

Although this empire was highly organised militarily ... that you have several ceremonies with the llama." The greatest Inca religious rite was the Festival of the Sun. A Spanish chronicler ...

All gold belonged to the ruler of the empire, the Inca himself, who claimed to be descended from the sun god. Llamas were the Incas' most important domestic animal, providing food, clothing and ...