Above is the Empire at its peak. Most of it was conquered by Pachacuti and his son. The rest was conquered by Huayna Capac.

The Inca Empire is considered one of the fastest rising empires, which also had a rapid descent.  It has an interesting and unique historical timeline according to many people.

Little is known of the Incas’ early history, but they themselves have a few legends.  In one of them, siblings were sent by the father, Inti (the Sun God) to teach and rule the people.  In another, Manco Capac and his sister/wife had to find a place to settle and founded the city of Cuzco.  Manco Capac soon became the first Inca king.  Before all this, the Incas were a small tribal domain, who resided in only Cuzco.  The eighth ruler, Virococha, was just about to give his throne to a son of his when a neighbouring tribe, the Chancas, attacked.  Virococha and his heir fled and let his other son, Casi Inca Yupanqui to deal with the warring Chanca tribe.  But the abandoned son had a vision:  The creator god allegedly told him to spread their “true” religion, and in return, he would be a great ruler and conqueror.

Inspired by this vision, Cusi Inca Yupanqui broke the the siege of the Chancas and went on to defeat them.  After that, he was crowned ruler and renamed Pachakuti (He Who Remakes The World).  Pachakuti was the Sapa Inca ruler from 1438-1471.

Over the next 50 years, Pachakuti and his son Tupac Yupanqui, who reigned from 1471-1493, conquered most of the Incan Empire when it was at its peak.  Huayna Capac (1493-1526), the next ruler, conquered the rest of the Empire.  In the 15^th century, the Empire was the largest pre-Hispanic state in the Americas.

Life was relatively peaceful for  awhile, but later, 168 Spanish adventurers lead by Fransisco Pizarro were making their way to the Empire in 1475.  After a while, Sapa Inca Huayna Cupac found it difficult to keep his large empire together when it was close to the end of his reign.  There were rebellions going on in the Empire, risks of Chaga’s disease, etc.  In 1527, there was word that strange, bearded white men arrived on a “floating wooden house” at Tumbes (Northern Peruvian Coast).  Around the same time, a smallpox epidemic killed over 200,000 people.  The following year, Sapa Inca Huayna Capac died without having chosen an heir to the throne.  It is said he predicted the demise of the Empire, before his passing.  His two sons, Huascar and Atahualpa, fought over the kingship in a civil war which lasted 5 years.  Finally, Atahualpa executed his half brother and became Sapa Inca in 1532.  However, a few days later, he was captured by Pizzaro and was eventually killed, himself.  By November 1533, the Inca Empire had ended, with both brothers dead and the Spanish controlling Cuzco.  In 1572, all Inca resistance had died out.

There are a few probable reasons for the downfall of the Inca Empire.  Huayna Capac had the strain of keeping the over-extended Empire together.  The war of succession weakened the people, as did the disease epidemics.  In conclusion, there were a number of reasons why the Incas failed against the 168 Spanish soldiers.  Without all the various setbacks, the Incas would probably have prevailed against the Spanish.

Citations:

"Inca History." World Book Encyclopedia. 2003 ed. Vol. 10. N.p.: World Book,

     Inc., n.d. Print.

"The Beginning of the End." Conquistadors. The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations,

     2000. Web. 10 Jan. 2010. <http://www.pbs.org/opb/conquistadors/peru/

     peru.htm#txt>.

"Peru." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online School Edition. N.p., 2010. Web. 11 Jan.

     2010. <http://school.ebonline.com/all/eb/

     article-28006?query=the%20inca%20empire&ct=null>.

Jennings, Justin. "Inca Empire." EBSCO Host. EBSCO Support Site, n.d. Web. 11

     Jan. 2010. <http://web.ebscohost.com/src/

     detail?vid=5&hid=111&sid=b4c98a1b-61d9-4e7a-9cad-6184d2b8c073%40sessionmgr114&bda

     ta=JnNpdGU9c3JjLWxpdmU%3d#db=khh&AN=18956174>.

Picture:

Bailey, Adriana. Inca Empire. 23 June 2008. Mountain Geography 3251: Term A

     Summer 2008. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Jan. 2010. <http://www.colorado.edu/

     geography/class_homepages/geog_3251_sum08/>.