Unwritten Record of Immoderate Greatness

Long history of any civilization is definitely an important element of their greatness and development but there is another equally impacting factor to immoderate greatness of all civilizations: the amount of conquered land. One of the most fascinating things about Inca Civilization is that they not only had time to develop and advance in many aspects, but also was able to control an enormous area of the South American landmass at such a difficult environment. The land that the Incan Empire controlled totals up to 950,000 km2, being the largest in the New World, proving that the land under Inca’s control was not only larger than Mayans and Aztecs but all the small groups of indigenous people spread around the two continents. The land occupied by the Aztec culture was only 7800 km2and Mayan culture’s land under control was not even a quarter of the area under Inca Empire’s control in comparison. The Incas, after conquering the Chimu kingdom and many other small societies, made their land cover up the entire length of the Andean Mountain Range, the longest mountain range in both of the continents of Americas. Under Thupa Inca, the Incan society was able to expand rapidly and the entire kingdom stretched approximately 4800km from north to south. Compared to the current world, the empire stretched partially into the Amazon rainforest to the east, covered almost the entire pacific coast on the westbound, reached up to what is now Ecuador to the north and covered parts of Chile and Argentina to the south. Compared to the tiny little areas controlled in the Mesoamerican regions by the Aztecs and the Mayans, Incans were clearly demonstrating their capabilities of being able to run an enormous kingdom in “the harshest environmental conditions known to man”, the top of the Andean Mountain Range, at a very early stage of our human history.

        The accomplishments of the Inca Civilization were clearly superior to the two Mesoamerican cultures in many different aspects such as their conquered land and their far-stretched history to the beginning of human existence but the Incas also excelled in architectural skills and technologies to build great and marvelous buildings. Arguably, a lot of the structures that the Incans built were definitely superior to even the pyramids of the Mayans and the temples of the Aztecs. It is still a mystery for today’s historians as to the exact method that the Incans used to build the structures that they built. A common example of the masterpiece of Inca’s architectural accomplishment would be the famous representation of the Inca culture: Machu Picchu. From the common buildings that were built at countryside to the most marvelous structures such as the terraced city of Machu Picchu or the Huallamarca Pyramid, most of the architectural structures built by the Incans were made of gigantic boulders fitted together so perfectly that not even a knife edge could fit through. How were the ancient buildings, on top of steep mountainside, built with the rocks and boulders that can only be found at the very bottom of a valley? Just by human labour, it would need hundreds of people to move the rock from the bottom to the top and it would face many obstacles such as streams and steep hills. This is one of the most complicated and mysterious questions that historians are trying to figure out even today and the fact that Incans had managed to accomplish such great tasks without modern tools or materials clearly tell us how great and skilled their entire society was. Although it seems impossible, the researchers speculated, with good reasons, that one of the mottos of Inca Civilization was that “human labour could accomplish anything.” Their use of a tool named scribe to perfect the shape of a rock and their use of series of boulders to irrigate farms were just ingenious compared to the tasks of the Mayans and Aztecs. Also, the Incans had very well-developed systems of roads; highways that followed the top of the mountains, amazingly stable bridges that connected at the perfectly convenient spots and the long roads that went through the deserts near the coastal regions. The roads were all made up of, similar to the buildings, huge rocks interconnected together and laid on the ground for transportations to be efficient and the roads to be strong. The roads connected every city to the capital city, Cusco, and many other roads connected other major cities to each other. The length of the roads that the Incan Empire had built added up to be quite longer than half the circumference of the Earth, which is an engineering feat that was unheard of. Compared to the road systems that Aztecs and Mayans had, the Incan highways were clearly superior and it shows us how fascinating the Inca civilization would be if it were to have existed today. The amazing tasks that Incan architectural engineers were able to accomplish communicates to us the only one true thing that we can be completely certain about the Incans and that is the fact that Incans were the most civilized, developed and advanced civilization in the New World’s history.

        The Mayans and Aztecs were developed and were amazing in many aspects but when compared to the Inca Civilization, their light seems to fade away because of the Inca’s immoderate greatness. That is partly because of the large land that the Incas managed to control without any written record, their amazingly long, rich and valuable history that helped shape such a unique civilization and because of their amazing architectural skills which were superior to anything in the world at the time. The fact that the Incans worshipped the sun as their most divine god had most likely prompted the entire civilization to be built up on top of an enormous mountain range. The marvelous tasks and advancements that the civilization managed to accomplish in the region makes them not only the greatest civilization of the Americas but the most mysterious and marvelous society of people the world has ever seen. Even up to today, no one can be sure of exactly how all the buildings were built, what the Nasca Lines represent or the reason that the Incans first settled in such a bizarre environment but as this entire essay clearly proves, the seemingly disappeared civilization of Incans were indeed one of the greatest parts of the history. Although the Spaniards, in the 16th century, sadly managed to conquer and perish the most mysterious and amazing civilization of the world, the rich culture and mysteries are still a great part of the South America. Its historical treasure is culturally still alive but by the loss of the empire, a lot of valuable traditions were lost so we must learn from our past to never make any mistakes such as destroying valuable parts of our world’s heritage and culture that once existed in South America’s Andean Mountain Range: The Incas.

Reference Page – APA Style

Books:                                         

Burland, C.A. (1985) The Incas. London: Macdonald Educational Limited.

Gregory, J. W. (1931) The Ayar-Incas. New York: Blackwell Publishing.        

Gruber, Beth. (2007). Ancient Inca: Archaeology Unlocks the Secrets of Inca’s Past. Washington D. C.: National Geographic.

Newman, Garfield. (2007). Echoes from the Past: World History to the 16th Century. Toronto, Ontario: McGraw-Hill Ryerson Limited.

Smith, Michael Ernest. (2003). The Aztecs. New York: Blackwell Publishing.

Motion Pictures:

Barnes, Michael. (Director). (1997). Secrets of Lost Empires: Inca. [Film] NOVA Production.

Westbrook, Joel. (Producer). (1995). Inca: Secrets of the Ancestors. [Film] Time-Life Video and Television.

Web Sites:

        Inca Empire – MSN Encarta. Retrieved October 25th, 2008 from MSN Encarta. Web site:  

Mayan History – Crystalinks. Retrieved October 25th, 2008 from Crystalinks. Web site:  

The Inca civilization: Inca rulers (Inca emperors) of the Inca Empire (Tahuantinsuyo). Retrieved October 24th, 2008 from Rediscover Machu Picchu. Web site:

The Inca – All Empires.  Retrieved November 1st, 2008 from All Empires: Online History Community. Web site:

World Info. Retrieved November 1st, 2008 from Angelfire. Web site:

Yucatán(peninsula) – Hutchinson encyclopedia article about Yucatán(peninsula). Retrieved October 25th, 2008 from The Free Dictionary by Farlex. Web site:

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