Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egyptian Civilization

Location: Northeastern Africa, along the Nile River.
Time Period: Circa 3100 BCE to 30 BCE.
Notable Achievements: Pyramids, hieroglyphic writing, advances in
medicine, monumental architecture (such as the Sphinx and the temples
of Karnak and Luxor).
It’s the year 2490 B.C. Wooden boats cruise along the Nile River
in Egypt as thousands of workers stack giant stone blocks into a
pyramid. This 200-foot-tall structure honors a pharaoh named Menkaure.
This pharaoh’s father, Khafre, ordered construction of a 450-foot-high
pyramid nearby, and his grandfather Khufu built the Great Pyramid at
Giza—the largest of the three—at about 480 feet. Covered in polished
white limestone, the pyramids seem to glow in the sunlight.

The Egyptians working on the pyramids are helping create a culture that
will last more than 3,000 years—it will be one of the longest-lasting
civilizations in the world. During that time, ancient Egyptians created
works of art and engineering that still amaze us today.

History of ancient Egypt

People settled in Egypt as early as 6000 B.C. Over time, small villages
joined together to become states until two kingdoms emerged: Lower
Egypt, which covers the Nile River Delta up to the Mediterranean Sea in
the north, and Upper Egypt, which covers the Nile Valley in the south.
(The Nile River flows from south to north, so for the ancient Egyptians,
the southern part of the country was "up.")

Around 3100 B.C., a king (later called a pharaoh) united these two lands
to be one country, and so historians begin the long history of ancient
Egypt here, dividing it into different periods. (They don’t always know the
exact date of historical events. So that’s why you’ll see a "ca" next to
some of the years. It stands for "circa" meaning "around.")

Early Dynastic Period, about 525 years (ca 3100 B.C. to ca 2575
B.C.): These early pharaohs worked to keep the two lands under their
control. To do this, they claimed they were being watched over by the
falcon god Horus, and so the people of Egypt should respect them. They
also used record keeping in the form of hieroglyphic writing to record
things like royal decrees and the taxes that the people paid in the form
of grain. (A dynasty is a series of rulers from the same family.)

Old Kingdom, about 425 years (ca 2575 B.C. to ca 2150 B.C.): By
this time, the pharaohs had enough power and wealth to build pyramids
in their honor; that’s why the Old Kingdom is sometimes called the “Age
of the Pyramids.” The pharaohs at this time were mostly associated with
the sun god Ra, a tradition that would remain for much of Egypt’s
history.

First Intermediate Period, about 200 years (ca 2130 B.C. to ca

1938 B.C.): These pharaohs lost power after drought hit Egypt. Instead,
local leaders took control of their own communities, and they stopped
passing along grain to the central government. Eventually, these local
rulers formed independent states.

Middle Kingdom, about 300 years (ca 1938 B.C. to ca 1630

B.C.): Around 1938 B.C., Mentuhotep II reunited the country and began
an era known for producing some of Egypt’s greatest pieces of art. For
the first time, Egyptians wrote stories for entertainment, and pharaohs
started construction of Karnak Temple in the modern-day city of Luxor.

Second Intermediate Period, about 90 years (ca 1630 B.C. to ca

1540 B.C.): Weak pharaohs again lost control. Invaders from western
Asia called Hyksos ruled in the north; people from Kush, a kingdom south
of Egypt, took control in Upper Egypt.

New Kingdom, about 465 years (ca 1540 B.C. to 1075

B.C.): Egyptians took back control and crowned some of Egypt’s most
well-known rulers: The female pharaoh Hatshepsut ruled for 21
years; Akhenaten tried to start a new religion, and his son, the boy
king Tutankhamun, reigned for 10 years. Ramses II built more
monuments to himself than any other pharaoh. This was ancient Egypt's
most prosperous and powerful period.

Third Intermediate Period, about 420 years (ca 1075 B.C. to ca

656 B.C.): This was a time of drought, famine, and foreign invasions.
But some pharaohs thrived. Although King Taharqa was a foreign ruler
from Kush, a kingdom south of Egypt, he repaired crumbling temples and
even began building pyramids again for the first time in about 800 years.

Late Period, about 300 years (ca 656 B.C. to 332 B.C.): This period
marks the last time that ancient Egypt was ruled by native Egyptians.
Leading an army from Persia (what is now Iran), King Darius I took
control.

Macedonian and Ptolemaic Egypt, about 300 years (332 B.C. to

30 B.C.): In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great conquered the ruling
Persians, then gave control to the Greek general Ptolemy I Soter. From
then on, Egypt was ruled by Greek pharaohs. The last one, Cleopatra VII,
lost a war to the Roman ruler Octavian. Egypt would be under Roman
rule for the next 600 years.
Life in ancient Egypt
Most people in ancient Egypt were farmers. They lived with their families
in houses made of mud bricks that were near the Nile River.

The Nile flooded each year, leaving behind fertile soil for planting crops
like wheat, barley, lettuce, flax, and papyrus. As the Egyptians learned
how to move river water to their fields, they were able to grow more
food, including grapes, apricots, olives, and beans.

During flood season, farmers couldn’t tend their crops. So instead, some
worked building pyramids, tombs, and monuments. Other people worked
as scribes (people who recorded events), priests, and doctors.

Women in ancient Egypt had more freedom than those in other ancient
cultures. Like men, they could be scribes, priests, and doctors, and they
usually had the same rights as men. Women could own their own homes
and businesses.

Ancient Egyptians also like to have fun! They swam and canoed in the
Nile, played board games, and they enjoyed making music and dancing.

The afterlife
In fact, Egyptians enjoyed life so much that they believed that the
afterlife would be almost exactly the same—except without things like
sadness, illness, or pesky mosquitoes. Even pets like cats, dogs, or
monkeys would join them there.

Being mummified—the process of preserving a body—was an important

part of how Egyptians believed their soul would enter the afterlife. So
were tombs. These burial chambers were filled with things a person
would need there: food, games, and even underwear!

According to legend, ancient Egyptian gods also helped people in the

afterlife. Some, like the jackal-headed god Anubis, helped guide people
to the underworld, where they would be judged by its ruler, the god
Osiris.

Egyptians believed other gods helped them in real life, too. For instance,
Osiris’s wife, the goddess Isis, helped cure human sickness, and the
goddess Tefnut caused the rain to fall.

Why ancient Egypt still matters

Today, millions of tourists visit the country of Egypt each year to see the
pyramids, tombs, and temples. But these monuments aren’t all this
ancient culture left behind.

Ancient Egyptian astronomers created a calendar much like ours—based

on the sun’s rotation—and are thought to be the first civilization to
measure a year using 365 days. They were also math geniuses:
Historians think that division and multiplication were first developed by
these people. (Plus, how else would they have figured out how to build
pyramids without a lot of math?)

This was also one of the first civilizations to have a written language
using a system called hieroglyphic writing, in which symbols—not letters
—represent words or sounds. (These people even created writing sheets
out of a plant called papyrus.) Hieroglyphs are carved into most temples
and tombs to record names and dates, describe events like battles, and
give instructions for passing on to the afterlife.

FAST FACTS
 The ancient Egyptians worshipped over 2,000 gods and goddesses.
 Cleopatra, Egypt’s last pharaoh, lived closer to our time than to the
building of the Pyramids at Giza.
 Ancient Egyptian bakers sometimes kneaded bread dough with
their feet.
 These ancient people often referred to their pet cats
as miu. (Sound familiar?)
 Ancient Egyptians called their homeland Kemet, meaning “black
land.” It refers to the dark, fertile soil left behind after flooding
from the Nile River.

Ancient Rome
Location: Centered around the city of Rome, encompassing a
large portion of Europe, North Africa, and parts of the Middle East
at its height.
Time Period: 753 BCE to 476 CE (Western Roman Empire) and
1453 CE (Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine
Empire).
Notable Achievements: Engineering feats (aqueducts, roads, and
bridges), legal system (Roman law), military strategy and
organization, and significant cultural and architectural
contributions (such as the Colosseum and Roman Forum).

Tens of thousands of Romans take their seats in an enormous stadium

made of stone and concrete. It’s the year 80, and these people are
entering the newly built Colosseum for the first time. Men wearing togas
and women in long dresses called stolas will spend the next hundred
days watching gladiator games and wild animal fights to celebrate the
opening of this amphitheater.

These ancient people were living in the center of a vast empire that
spanned across Europe, northern Africa, and parts of the Middle East.
Lasting over a thousand years, the ancient Roman civilization
contributed to modern languages, government, architecture, and more.

History of ancient Rome

Around the ninth or tenth century B.C., Rome was just a small town on
the Tiber River in what’s now central Italy. (One myth says that the town
was founded by two brothers—Romulus and Remus—who were raised by
a wolf.) For about 500 years, the area was ruled by a series of kings as it
grew in strength and power.

But around the year 509 B.C., the last king was overthrown, and Rome
became a republic. That meant that some citizens could vote for their
leaders and other important matters. Only male Roman citizens could
cast votes; women and enslaved people—often brought back as
prisoners from military battles—could not.

Elected officials included two consuls who acted sort of like today’s U.S.
presidents and kept each other from taking too much power. Both
consuls worked with senators, who advised the consuls and helped
create laws. Senators were appointed by other officials and could hold
their positions for life.

The Roman army fought many wars during this period, first conquering
all of what’s now Italy. In 146 B.C., they destroyed the city of Carthage
(in modern-day Tunisia, in northern Africa), which was Rome’s greatest
rival for trade in the western Mediterranean Sea. Next they conquered
Greece.

For 500 years, the republic system mostly worked. But then a series of
civil wars divided the people. In 59 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar, a politician
and military general, used the chaos to take power. Serving as consul,
Caesar made new laws that benefitted his troops and other regular
citizens. Then he conquered what’s now France and invaded Britain.

Even though his troops and many Roman citizens supported him, the
Senate worried he was too powerful and wanted him gone. Knowing this,
Caesar marched his loyal army into Rome. It was an illegal act that
started a civil war, which Caesar would eventually win.
At first, he was named dictator for 10 years. (Before that, a dictator
served during times of emergencies for only six months.) He canceled
people’s debts and granted Roman citizenship to people outside of Italy
so they could vote. Caesar also traveled to Egypt, making an alliance
with the pharaoh Cleopatra.

In 44 B.C., Caesar named himself dictator for life. Fearing he was

becoming a king, a group of senators killed him on the floor of the
Senate. Caesar was gone, but his supporters chased down the assassins.
His heir and nephew, Octavian, and general Mark Anthony battled for
power.

Octavian eventually won and renamed himself Augustus Caesar. (The

family name, Caesar, would become a title that future emperors would
use to connect themselves back to Gaius Julius Caesar.) He convinced
the Senate to give him absolute power and served successfully for 45
years. After his death, he was declared a god.

For the rest of its existence, Rome was ruled by emperors who were not
elected—they reigned for life. The Senate was still part of the
government, but it had very little power. Some emperors, like Claudius,
were good at their jobs; others, like Nero and Caligula, were so cruel that
even their guards turned against them.

By A.D. 117, the Roman Empire included what’s now

France, Spain, Greece, Egypt, Turkey, parts of northern Africa, England,
Romania, and more. At one point, one out of every four people in the
world lived under Rome’s control.

But emperors and the Senate found this vast empire difficult to rule from
the city of Rome. In the year 285, it was split into a Western Roman
Empire and an Eastern Roman Empire. Known as the Byzantine Empire,
the Eastern Roman Empire was ruled from the city of Constantinople,
now the modern-day city of Istanbul in Turkey.

The Byzantine Empire would last for almost another thousand years, but
the Western Empire—Rome—began to fall apart. Civil wars, plagues,
money troubles, and invasions from other groups made the empire
unstable. In the year 476, a Germanic king overthrew Romulus Augustus,
the last Roman emperor.

Life in ancient Rome

Most people in the city of Rome lived in crowded apartment buildings
called insulae that were five to seven stories high. Wealthier Romans
lived in houses called domus that had a dining room and an atrium—an
open-air courtyard that often had a pool at the center. Some Romans
even had vacation homes in Pompeii and Herculaneum, two Roman cities
that were destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79.

Rich or poor, Romans gathered to relax, socialize, and clean themselves

at Roman baths. Like modern spas, these structures had exercise rooms,
swimming pools, saunas, hot and cold plunge pools, and massage
spaces. The people also gathered to watch plays, chariot races, and
gladiator battles.

Roman citizens enjoyed relaxing, but enslaved people in ancient Rome

had a much more difficult life. Many worked in fields, mines, and on
ships. Others, like educated Greeks who tutored wealthy children, were
forced to work in rich people’s homes. However, some enslaved people
were able to buy or earn their freedom and eventually become Roman
citizens.

Roman women sometimes worked as midwives—helping to deliver

babies—or became priestesses. But in Roman society, women’s main
role was to look after the home and family. Although Romans could
easily get divorced, children legally belonged to the father (or a male
relative if he was no longer living).

Romans believed in many gods, including the sky god Jupiter; Mars, a
god who protected Romans in war; and Vesta, the goddess of the home.
People would worship these gods and goddesses both at public temples
and in their homes.

Why ancient Rome still matters

Today, the city of Rome is the capital of Italy, with around three million
people. Visitors can still see many ancient Roman ruins, from the
Colosseum to the Roman Forum, where much of ancient Roman politics
took place.

But beyond the crumbling buildings, Rome’s impact is seen all over the
world today, from huge sports stadiums inspired by the Colosseum to the
way that we vote for politicians. The republic’s system of checks and
balances on power even inspired the founders of the United
States government.

If you drive in Europe or the Middle East today, you might be on a route
created by the ancient Romans. Those engineers built a system of
50,000 miles of roads that connected the empire, allowing troops to
easily conquer new land and traders to travel and bring back wealth. (It’s
where we get the saying, “All roads lead to Rome.”)
You can also thank Roman engineers for perfecting a system for getting
running water. They built aqueducts, which were long channels that
delivered fresh water from up to 57 miles away for people’s baths,
fountains, and even toilets. (Some ancient aqueducts still provide water
to modern-day Rome!)

Julius Caesar even gave the world its 365-day calendar with an extra day
every fourth year, or leap year. The month of July is named after him,
and August is named after his successor, Augustus.

FAST FACTS
 The planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are named
after Roman gods.
 Roman gods inspired the names of two Western months: January
(Janus) and March (Mars).
 Romans spoke Latin, the language that modern French, Italian,
Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian are based on.
 Ancient Romans used animal and human urine to clean their
clothes.
 A hill in modern-day Rome called Monte Testaccio is an ancient
garbage dump made up of smashed pots and jars.
 Romans sometimes filled the Colosseum with water and held naval
battles inside.

Aztec civilization
Location: Central Mexico.

Time Period: Circa 1345 CE to 1521 CE.

Notable Achievements: Large and complex urban centers (such as

Tenochtitlán), advanced agricultural techniques (chinampas, or floating
gardens), intricate art and sculpture, and a sophisticated calendar
system.

The year is 1450. Twin pyramids covered in red and blue paint rise nine
stories tall on an enormous platform in the center of the city of
Tenochtitlan (pronounced ten-och-TEE-tlahn), the capital of the Aztec
Empire. Zoos, botanical gardens, and markets buzz with people. Nearby,
farmers riding canoes tend to floating gardens growing maize, tomatoes,
beans, and more. Nearly 300,000 people call this city home—making it
one of the largest cities in the world at the time.
Lasting about 200 years, the Aztec Empire was the last great civilization
of Mesoamerica (the region from modern northwestern Mexico to the
Central American country of El Salvador) before Europeans conquered
the land. Today, 500 years after the Aztec civilization fell, the ruins of
Tenochtitlan lie beneath modern-day Mexico City.

History of the Aztec civilization

The people who would eventually create the Aztec Empire called
themselves the Mexica (pronounced meh-SHEE-kah). They believed that
they came from the mythical land of Aztlan, which is why later historians
called these people the Aztec.

Around the year 1300, this nomadic group arrived in what’s now
central Mexico, traveling from perhaps as far away as modern-day Utah.
The area was already well populated by other groups, so the Aztec
settled on uninhabited islands in Lake Texcoco, establishing their capital
city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in the year 1325. (The Spanish later
drained this lake.)

For the next hundred years, the Aztec lived under the region’s ruling
group, the Tepanec. The Aztec paid taxes to them and served as soldiers
in their military. But this didn’t last. In 1428, the Aztec joined two other
city-states to overthrow the Tepanec. And soon, the Aztec took control of
the alliance and became the region’s rulers.

Over the next hundred years, Aztec kings conquered territory until the
empire spanned about 80,000 square miles from the Gulf of Mexico in
the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. Dividing the territory into
states, the Aztec ruled over a total of about six million people.

The local leaders of these states could govern without too much
intervention from their Aztec rulers—but they had to pay tribute to the
emperor back in Tenochtitlan. These tributes could be things like food,
cotton textiles, feathers, and precious stones like turquoise.

But tributes could also be human sacrifices to the gods. Sometimes

women and children were sacrificed, but most victims were warriors from
these neighboring states who were taken in battle. These people were
often sacrificed atop the Templo Mayor, meaning “Great Temple” in
Spanish, at the center of Tenochtitlan.

By the end of the 1400s, their subjects were so unhappy with the tribute
system and the brutal sacrifices that that they started to rebel against
Aztec rule. And then in 1519, Spanish explorers led by Hernán Cortés
arrived. The Spanish first pretended to befriend King Moctezuma II but
then took him prisoner. With the help of other local groups who no longer
wanted to be ruled by the Aztec, the Spanish conquered Tenochtitlan in
1521, ending the Aztec Empire. However, many Aztec descendants still
live in Mexico today.

Life in the Aztec civilization

Tenochtitlan was on an island in a lake, and so the Aztec people figured
out how to turn the marshy land into “floating” farms called chinampas,
which are still used today.

First, they placed square fences made of intertwining branches in the

swamp. As the water passes through the branches, mud and debris
caught on the fences to create a wall. People also grew plants like willow
trees in the walls to further stabilize them. Then they filled the walled-off
squares with sediment until it rose above the water, appearing to float.
Farmers tended to the chinampas on canoes in between each plot of
farmland.

The Aztec also brought fresh water into the city with long stone channels
called aqueducts, providing water for flower gardens, private homes, and
city fountains.

Young Aztec children were homeschooled. But as teenagers, both girls

and boys attended school to learn about philosophy, nature, music, and
the military; they also learned a trade. Women were expected to raise
children and look after the home, but some women could also be doctors
or educators; most men were farmers, but some worked a craft like
pottery, carpentry, or metal work.

All adult men had to serve in the Aztec military, and noble members of
Aztec society were honored as top warriors. But life was difficult for
conquered people living under Aztec rule: They were often forced to
serve in the military, enslaved, or sacrificed to the Aztec gods.

The Aztec built temple-pyramids throughout their empire. These

structures were used for sacrifices, worshiping the gods, and also might
have been the resting places of the emperors. They sometimes did this
by building on top of the remains of pyramids built by the Olmec.

The Aztec believed in many gods, but the most important were
Huitzilopochtli, (wee-tsee-loh-POHCH-tlee) the god of war and the sun,
and Tlaloc (TLAH-lohk), the god of rain. The two pyramid-shrines atop
Templo Mayor were dedicated to these gods.

Why the Aztec civilization still matters

Today, archaeologists are still uncovering the secrets of the Aztec
Empire beneath Mexico City—it wasn’t until 1978 that utility workers
stumbled upon the ruins of Templo Mayor.

When we speak, we echo many of the words that the Aztec used in their
language, Nahuatl. “Chocolate,” “tomato,” “avocado,” and “chili” come
from these Indigenous words. Many of the foods we enjoy today—like
corn tortillas, hot chocolate, and popcorn—were also eaten by the Aztec.

The chinampas farming technique perfected by the Aztec is still used in

Mexico today. The Aztec empire also created a legal system with judges
and trials and governing systems with different departments, similar to
our modern-day federal government.

FAST FACTS
 Aztec people used cocoa beans as money.
 The Aztec believed that the gods sent them a sign—an eagle
devouring a snake while standing on a cactus—to settle in
Tenochtitlan. The symbol is still used today on Mexico’s flag.
 These people played ullamaliztli, a game made with a 16-pound
rubber ball in which players had to pass the heavy ball using only
their torso–no hands or feet allowed.
 The Aztec used two calendars: a 365-day calendar and a 260-day
ritual cycle. The two calendars lined up every 52 years.
 The busiest market days in Tenochtitlan drew 50,000 people.
(Compare that to the size of your grocery store!)

Inca civilization
Location: South America, primarily in present-day Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia,
and Chile.
Time Period: Circa 1438 CE to 1533 CE.
Notable Achievements: Extensive road networks (the Inca road system),
advanced agricultural techniques (terracing and irrigation), monumental
architecture (such as Machu Picchu), and a unique system of record-
keeping (quipu).
The year is 1475. It’s wintertime, and the Inca (EENG-kah) royal family is
vacationing in Machu Picchu, a small city that serves as their royal
retreat in what’s now Peru. The Inca capital city, Cusco, is now too cold,
so the royals have traveled about 50 miles down the Andes mountains.

Wearing golden jewelry and colorful ponchos made of alpaca wool, the
royals, priests, and other high-ranking officials feast, hunt, worship their
gods, and entertain guests. Meanwhile, the other 750 residents work to
maintain the city, serving the royals and growing food like potatoes,
corn, and beans on the hillside.

At their most powerful, the Inca had the largest empire in the world at
the time—today, it’s still the largest empire to ever exist in the Americas.
Stretching from modern-day southern Colombia to southern Chile, they
ruled over western South America from the Andes to the Pacific Ocean.
Although Spain conquered the Inca Empire in 1533, many Inca people
retreated into the mountains, where their culture, language, and
practices remain today.

History of the Inca civilization

Historians think that Inca people arrived in the valley where they would
later build their capital city, Cusco, around 1100. It was a difficult place
to live: Rain didn’t fall often, so crops were tough to grow. That meant
that groups often fought for the best land near rivers. Over time, the Inca
conquered nearby people, gaining more power and eventually taking
control of the Cusco Valley around 1300.

In 1438, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (pah-chah-KOO-tee EENG-kah YOO-

pahn-wee) became the ninth Inca emperor. With his sons as military
captains, the emperor began a massive expansion of the Inca territory
beyond the Cusco area. He gave government jobs to people who spoke
Quechua, the Inca language. This king also ordered construction of
Machu Picchu around the year 1450.

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui gave power to his son Topa Inca Yupanqui in
1471. He expanded the empire more than any other Inca leader and
eventually controlled most of western South America. At this time, the
Inca ruled over 12 million people who spoke about 30 different
languages.

The Inca demanded that conquered people who didn’t speak Quechua,
like the Chanka who spoke Aymara and the Chimú who spoke Mochica,
had to serve in the army and build military outposts, temples, and roads.
Those roads were impressive. Troops and Inca officials moved
throughout the empire on a system that included two main highways,
one along the coast and another along the Andes. Many smaller roads
connected the two. The road system also included tunnels, bridges, and
storehouses to provide travelers with supplies and rest stops.

Throughout the empire’s history, small groups of conquered people often

rebelled against the Inca, and rebellions were happening in the 1500s,
too. Then around 1526, two sons of an Inca king fought over who should
rule next, and a civil war began. At the same time, diseases like smallpox
brought by European explorers killed around 65 percent of the
population. This is when the Spanish encountered the Inca.

The search for gold was one of the main reasons that the Spanish
wanted to explore and conquer the Americas. (That’s because when
Christopher Columbus returned to Spain from his first voyage in the
Americas, he told stories of people adorned with gold.) Led by Francisco
Pizarro, a group of 180 Spanish went searching for a large city with
temples covered in gold—it was Cusco. For years the Inca had mined
gold and silver from the Andes mountains to create beautiful pieces of
jewelry and art.

In 1533, Pizarro teamed up with enemies of Inca emperor Atahualpa to

capture him. To save his own life, Atahualpa offered Pizarro enough gold
and silver to fill the room that he was being kept in.

But the bargain didn’t save him—or the empire. After the treasures were
gathered, Pizarro melted down all the gold and silver pots, jewelry,
figurines, and other items, then split the treasure among the Spanish
invaders. (Historians estimate that it was worth about $387 million in
today’s money.) Then Pizarro executed Atahualpa, ending the Inca
Empire.

Life in the Inca civilization

Most Inca people were farmers or herders, looking after alpacas and
llamas. Extended families lived together on the same land, making their
own clothing and blankets from alpaca and llama wool. Their homes were
made of stone or adobe mud and topped with a roof of dried grass. All
members of the family were expected to help, including children.

Because the Inca lived in the mountains, they often had to build terraces,
or flat areas cut into the hillside, to plant their crops in. They also had to
dig canals so they could direct mountain streams and rain to crops like
quinoa, corn, avocados, and potatoes.

The harsh climate meant that food was sometimes scarce, so the Inca
figured out how to preserve some crops to make them last a long time.
For example, they would slowly squeeze the moisture out of potatoes
over several days. The dried-out potato could last up to 10 years.

The Inca believed that their rulers were sons of the sun god Inti (in-TEE)
and mummified them after death by removing their organs, preserving
the body with alcohol, and freezing their remains in the cold, dry
mountain air. Like ancient Egyptian pharaohs, these royals were buried
with their treasures. Average people also sometimes mummified their
dead by simply placing them in cold, dry caves. They would sometimes
bring out the mummified ancestors during ceremonies like weddings or
harvest festivals, or to important community meetings.

Historians have found evidence that some of these mummified people

were sacrificed to the Inca gods. However, the Inca did not perform
human sacrifice nearly as often as the Aztec people did.

The Inca didn’t have a written language. Instead, they used knotted
cords called quipu (KEE-poo) to keep records. Experts think that things
like the style of the knot and the color of the string all contained
information. Researchers are using computers to try to untangle these
long-lost codes.

Why the Inca civilization still matters

The Spanish never found Machu Picchu, so it wasn’t known to the outside
world until 1911, when Peruvian guide Melchor Arteaga led explorer
Hiram Bingham to the site. Experts were amazed to see ruins of Machu
Picchu’s buildings still standing despite being on a mountain that
experiences earthquakes. Today, people from all over the world travel to
visit Machu Picchu, hiking along the Inca trail that was used 500 years
ago.

Some Peruvian people still use Inca weaving techniques to make clothes
today, and over eight million people still speak Quechua, the language of
the Inca. You probably use a few Quechan words, too, like condor, jerky,
llama, poncho, puma, and quinoa.

FAST FACTS
• Evidence shows that the Inca performed brain surgeries.
• The Inca called their capital city, Cusco, the "belly button of the world."
• Machu Picchu means “old peak” in the Quechua language.
• A system of relay runners carried messages up to 150 miles a day
along the Inca roads.
• When Inca people became young adults, they received new names that
described their personality, like Jaguar or Star.
• The Inca cut the stones of their buildings to fit together without any
binding material. That way, when an earthquake struck, the stones could
bounce around before settling back into place.