December
23
/ 2022
The Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. From their capital, Cuzco, in the central Peruvian Andes, the empire stretched over 2,400 miles (3860 kilometers) along the length of the Andes (modern-day Bolivia and Peru to Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia), and was home to 12 million people in the 1400s and early 1500s, hosting various languages, impressive cities, temples, massive road networks, engineering terraces, and grand fortresses. They also produced extraordinary artifacts – from ornate headdresses, golden figures and ceremonial knives, to handbags, textiles and baby slings. Here we look at some of their finest productions. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"102482","attributes":{"alt":"An Inca handbag made of cotton and feathers, 15th – early 16th century, Peru. (Metropolitan Museum of Art / Public Domain)","class":"media-image","height":"630","style":"width
