Wikijunior:Ancient Civilizations/Incas
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[edit] What countries did they live in?
They lived in the Andes Mountains in South America. Their range stretched from southern Chile through Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador and into southern Colombia.
[edit] What did their buildings look like?
The Inca lived in stone houses varying in sizes. They were all built in the Andes on flat plateaus. The temples, however, were built on circular mounds made by the Inca, sort of like a slanted cylinder. At the top there was a plateau. On this plateau the main buildings were built.
[edit] What did they eat?
The Incas ate potatoes and corn. They drank llama milk and water, they ate guinea-pigs for their daily protein, because they didn't have pigs, cows, sheep or turkeys. Occasionally, they ate llamas or alpaca.
[edit] What did they wear?
Typical Incan clothing would consist of a lightweight finely made poncho covered by a heavier, blanket-like poncho. They wore sandals and hats, some with fuzzy chinbands.
[edit] What did they believe?
The central god of the Incan religion was the sun-god, the only god that had temples built for him. The sun-god was the father of the royal family. There were many gods among the Incas, but the sun-god outshone them all. The Incas also believed that there was a heaven, a hell, and a resurrection of the body after death. The Incas worshiped the dead, their ancestors, their king whom they regard as divine, nature and it's cycles.
[edit] What did their writing look like?
The Incas did not have a system of writing with letters or symbols. Instead, they used a special system called Quipu, tying knots in ropes of different colors. The ropes were kept on special belts that the Quipu writers would always wear. The different colors ropes could show deaths, weddings, trade, and other things. Being a Quipu writer took many years of schooling, and because very few learned, they were very important.
[edit] Are some of them famous even today?
Yma Sumac is a singer who performed Incan and South American folk songs beginning in the 1940s. She is claimed to be an Incan princess directly descended from Atahualpa.
[edit] What is left of them today?
They are famous for their abandoned cities in the Andes Mountains. Some major cities are Cuzco and Machu Picchu, located in Peru. Although many cities have been found, there are still many hidden in the jungles and under the desert floor. Archaeologists hope to one day know more about these people through their amazing artifacts.
