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Inca Empire: A History from Beginning to End
In the space of less than one hundred years, the Inca people expanded from being a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to becoming one of the largest and most powerful empires in the Americas. At the height of its power, the Inca Empire stretched for more than one thousand miles down the Andes Mountains and the west coast of South America. It incorporated more than two hundred distinct ethnic groups and somewhere around fourteen million people were ruled by a much smaller number of Incas.
Inca engineers designed and built an extensive and sophisticated system of roads and created buildings and walls from massive blocks of worked stone. Inca temples were opulent and featured the abundant use of gold, silver, and precious stones. Massive Inca armies won victory after victory as they steamrollered potential competitors. The Inca government controlled every aspect of the lives of its subjects, from the food that they ate to the clothes that they wore.
By around 1500 CE, the Inca Empire had reached its greatest extent and looked set to persist for a very long time indeed. Instead, within little more than thirty years, it had been reduced to a small rump state, and within seventy years, it had vanished entirely. This is the story of the rapid rise and sudden fall of the mighty Inca Empire.
Inca engineers designed and built an extensive and sophisticated system of roads and created buildings and walls from massive blocks of worked stone. Inca temples were opulent and featured the abundant use of gold, silver, and precious stones. Massive Inca armies won victory after victory as they steamrollered potential competitors. The Inca government controlled every aspect of the lives of its subjects, from the food that they ate to the clothes that they wore.
By around 1500 CE, the Inca Empire had reached its greatest extent and looked set to persist for a very long time indeed. Instead, within little more than thirty years, it had been reduced to a small rump state, and within seventy years, it had vanished entirely. This is the story of the rapid rise and sudden fall of the mighty Inca Empire.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
37 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 17, 2020
233 people are currently reading
194 people want to read
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Hourly History
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 24, 2021
A good and very, *very* short primer for the ignoscenti (like me)
January 2, 2025
Published in October 2024 by Hourly History.
Hourly History has published a large catalog of short histories and biographies. The idea is that each book can be read in about an hour. That's not enough to make the reader an expert, but it is enough to make the reader more knowledgeable than most people and it lets the reader know if this is a topic they want to delve into more deeply.
I thought I was pretty well-informed on the topic of the Incas when I started Inca Empire: A History from Beginning to End . I am a Spanish and a history teacher, so I know way more than most people. However, that's not saying much. Let's face it, the average American hasn't heard of the Incas and the ones that have are likely to confuse them with the Aztecs or the Maya.
A short history is not much of a problem when it comes to the Incas. Their Empire existed for only about 95 years before the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in 1532. The Spanish arrived with small numbers (less than 200 soldiers) but superior technology, including horses, a cannon, firearms, and armor.
A strength of the Incan Empire also led to its downfall. The Inca understood the value of a dependable highway system to move goods, information, and troops. Unfortunately, European diseases spread to the heart of the empire before the Spanish even arrived. The emperor and his designated heir probably died from diseases brought from Europe, kicking off a brutal civil war that meant the empire was ill-equipped to meet a foreign threat, even a tiny one.
Until I read this short history, I was completely unaware that a rump Incan state survived the original conquest and continued on for another 35 years on the Eastern slopes of the Andes and into the Amazon basin.
My review:
This e-book was in serious need of...
Read more here:
https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2025...
Hourly History has published a large catalog of short histories and biographies. The idea is that each book can be read in about an hour. That's not enough to make the reader an expert, but it is enough to make the reader more knowledgeable than most people and it lets the reader know if this is a topic they want to delve into more deeply.
I thought I was pretty well-informed on the topic of the Incas when I started Inca Empire: A History from Beginning to End . I am a Spanish and a history teacher, so I know way more than most people. However, that's not saying much. Let's face it, the average American hasn't heard of the Incas and the ones that have are likely to confuse them with the Aztecs or the Maya.
A short history is not much of a problem when it comes to the Incas. Their Empire existed for only about 95 years before the Spanish Conquistadores arrived in 1532. The Spanish arrived with small numbers (less than 200 soldiers) but superior technology, including horses, a cannon, firearms, and armor.
A strength of the Incan Empire also led to its downfall. The Inca understood the value of a dependable highway system to move goods, information, and troops. Unfortunately, European diseases spread to the heart of the empire before the Spanish even arrived. The emperor and his designated heir probably died from diseases brought from Europe, kicking off a brutal civil war that meant the empire was ill-equipped to meet a foreign threat, even a tiny one.
Until I read this short history, I was completely unaware that a rump Incan state survived the original conquest and continued on for another 35 years on the Eastern slopes of the Andes and into the Amazon basin.
My review:
This e-book was in serious need of...
Read more here:
https://dwdsreviews.blogspot.com/2025...
December 7, 2021
The content is so overly simplified that it's not fitted for adults.
January 6, 2021
Inca Empire: A History from Beginning to End
by Hourly History
In the space of less than one hundred years, the Inca people expanded from being a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to becoming one of the largest and most powerful empires in the Americas. At the height of its power, the Inca Empire stretched for more than one thousand miles down the Andes Mountains and the west coast of South America. It incorporated more than two hundred distinct ethnic groups and somewhere around fourteen million people were ruled by a much smaller number of Incas.
Inca engineers designed and built an extensive and sophisticated system of roads and created buildings and walls from massive blocks of worked stone. Inca temples were opulent and featured the abundant use of gold, silver, and precious stones. Massive Inca armies won victory after victory as they steamrollered potential competitors. The Inca government controlled every aspect of the lives of its subjects, from the food that they ate to the clothes that they wore.
By around 1500 CE, the Inca Empire had reached its greatest extent and looked set to persist for a very long time indeed. Instead, within little more than thirty years, it had been reduced to a small rump state, and within seventy years, it had vanished entirely. This is the story of the rapid rise and sudden fall of the mighty Inca Empire.
Leona's Review:
The books from Hourly History are always short but there is a lot of information.
This book gives the names of the rulers, their accomplishments, and about their empires until the Spaniards came.
The time of the Incas was about 100 years and "in less than 40 years after the Spaniards arrived the
Inca Empire had gone from being the most powerful in South America to complete and utter destruction."
The Inca people did not write so there is little knowledge about them or their building of the stone structures.
It would have been intersting to have known more about these people.
Hourly History has free downloads of books about people and places.
I always give their books a 5 star rating.
Table of Contents:
introduction
The Andean Civilazations
Origin of the Incas
The Kingdom of Cuzco
The Rise of the Empire
The Spanish Conquest
The Fall of the Inca Empifre
Conclusion
by Hourly History
In the space of less than one hundred years, the Inca people expanded from being a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to becoming one of the largest and most powerful empires in the Americas. At the height of its power, the Inca Empire stretched for more than one thousand miles down the Andes Mountains and the west coast of South America. It incorporated more than two hundred distinct ethnic groups and somewhere around fourteen million people were ruled by a much smaller number of Incas.
Inca engineers designed and built an extensive and sophisticated system of roads and created buildings and walls from massive blocks of worked stone. Inca temples were opulent and featured the abundant use of gold, silver, and precious stones. Massive Inca armies won victory after victory as they steamrollered potential competitors. The Inca government controlled every aspect of the lives of its subjects, from the food that they ate to the clothes that they wore.
By around 1500 CE, the Inca Empire had reached its greatest extent and looked set to persist for a very long time indeed. Instead, within little more than thirty years, it had been reduced to a small rump state, and within seventy years, it had vanished entirely. This is the story of the rapid rise and sudden fall of the mighty Inca Empire.
Leona's Review:
The books from Hourly History are always short but there is a lot of information.
This book gives the names of the rulers, their accomplishments, and about their empires until the Spaniards came.
The time of the Incas was about 100 years and "in less than 40 years after the Spaniards arrived the
Inca Empire had gone from being the most powerful in South America to complete and utter destruction."
The Inca people did not write so there is little knowledge about them or their building of the stone structures.
It would have been intersting to have known more about these people.
Hourly History has free downloads of books about people and places.
I always give their books a 5 star rating.
Table of Contents:
introduction
The Andean Civilazations
Origin of the Incas
The Kingdom of Cuzco
The Rise of the Empire
The Spanish Conquest
The Fall of the Inca Empifre
Conclusion
December 30, 2022
This is a very short (40 page) history of the Inca Empire.
I didn't know too much about it so I found it fairly informative.
Key Points
1450 - Year that Macchu Pichu was constructed, around team Incas were near peak of power
1524 - Death of Huayna Capac, the last Sapan Inka who enjoyed a peaceful reign. At this time he population is estimated at 14,000,000 with only 100,000 being Inca and the rest being subjects.
1532 - Arrival of Francisco Pizzaro on November 15, 1532
1572 - Death of Tupac Amaru on September 24, the Last Inca, official end of Inca empire
Accomplishments of the Inca:
(1) There were fantastic at building and many of their buildings still stand, apart from Macchu Pichu also in Cuzco
(2) They built some fantastic roads that were pretty effective (I walked on the road from Cuzco to Macchu Pichu, it's pretty sweet)
(3) They were great administrators, collecting tax and making sure everyone got fed
Unanswered questions about the Inca
(1) How did they build those buildings? We don't know how they lifted those huge rocks
(2) They did some cranial surgery that is more advanced than existed in Europe and we don't know how they did it.
(3) We haven't yet decoded their accounting system which used some kind of beads on string.
Overall I got a good sense of the timeline and it definitely made me curious to learn more about Peru and the history of that region.
I didn't know too much about it so I found it fairly informative.
Key Points
1450 - Year that Macchu Pichu was constructed, around team Incas were near peak of power
1524 - Death of Huayna Capac, the last Sapan Inka who enjoyed a peaceful reign. At this time he population is estimated at 14,000,000 with only 100,000 being Inca and the rest being subjects.
1532 - Arrival of Francisco Pizzaro on November 15, 1532
1572 - Death of Tupac Amaru on September 24, the Last Inca, official end of Inca empire
Accomplishments of the Inca:
(1) There were fantastic at building and many of their buildings still stand, apart from Macchu Pichu also in Cuzco
(2) They built some fantastic roads that were pretty effective (I walked on the road from Cuzco to Macchu Pichu, it's pretty sweet)
(3) They were great administrators, collecting tax and making sure everyone got fed
Unanswered questions about the Inca
(1) How did they build those buildings? We don't know how they lifted those huge rocks
(2) They did some cranial surgery that is more advanced than existed in Europe and we don't know how they did it.
(3) We haven't yet decoded their accounting system which used some kind of beads on string.
Overall I got a good sense of the timeline and it definitely made me curious to learn more about Peru and the history of that region.
May 18, 2021
A taste of this Mesoamerican civilization, the good and the bad, which gets to the point and gives an overview of life, a snapshot of how, before Europe arrived and decimated the indigenous people with Smallpox, War and slavery, this part of the world was likely one of the world most advanced empires. How much of their genetic makeup is still extant is still a matter of conjecture, & studies of genetics I've seen elsewhere show a lack of evidence of their continued life, thus showing a possible genocide on the European part... but I'm sure further scrutiny may show a mixture of truth and lies in this. I've also seen recent documentaries blowing up the myth that they had no written language, so it's possible there's contradictions in some works written before this. Still, this book is short and shows much knowledge that's backed up with evidence, so the reader does learn something about this fascinating civilization of which we learn more and more by the day as archeology carries on apace.
A well-written and informative piece of work x
A well-written and informative piece of work x
April 13, 2025
El ascenso del imperio inca se debió principalmente a alianzas comerciales y pactos políticos que brindaban abastecimiento militar y alimenticio a cambio de impuestos en especie. A pesar de que no usaban un sistema de escritura, su ascenso fue rápido.
Poco importó para los genocidas españoles de hace medio milenio los avances científicos de la civilización inca, pues la ambición de los invasores se enfocaba en el oro. La crueldad extrema y la transmisión de enfermedades desconocidas en Abya Yala facilitaron el desmoronamiento del Reino de Cuzco.
Pocas cosas me generan tanta repugnancia como la desmedida ambición del reino de España, quien sigue sin indemnizar a los pueblos originarios de la actual América. En ese sentido, las autodenominadas "instituciones democráticas" de España no pueden hablar de absolutamente nada porque son nuestro enemigo histórico.
September 22, 2021
I didn't know much about the Inca Empire other than the name. It was amazing how quickly they rose to prominence and later how quickly they were destroyed by man and disease. Unfortunate that they had no written alphabet to give us insight into them. Their human sacrifices appalled me, but then the Spanish were good at killing too. So sad that so much of colonization was basically for power and greed.
July 22, 2024
The collapse of the Inca Empire is explained
The Inca Empire was created and existed for a short piece of time. With the arrival of European armies they collapsed quickly from war and disease. The remaining puzzle relates to their ability to construct walls and buildings with 500 ton blocks of stone without any known techniques known to us today.
The Inca Empire was created and existed for a short piece of time. With the arrival of European armies they collapsed quickly from war and disease. The remaining puzzle relates to their ability to construct walls and buildings with 500 ton blocks of stone without any known techniques known to us today.
June 1, 2021
Wonderful and Tragic history of a dynasty
I knew very little about the Incas. Found out more than I ever thought I would know. The mystery about their lives and history will tragically never be known. Because it can’t be deceivers.
I knew very little about the Incas. Found out more than I ever thought I would know. The mystery about their lives and history will tragically never be known. Because it can’t be deceivers.
November 6, 2021
No written history
A short interesting book about a civilization I only heard of because of documentaries. It's a worthy hour long book that is a recap of what is known. I want read more and know more about the Inca empire now.
A short interesting book about a civilization I only heard of because of documentaries. It's a worthy hour long book that is a recap of what is known. I want read more and know more about the Inca empire now.
July 18, 2025
Easy come, easy go
It’s a shame that the Incas didn’t have more time to consolidate their empire after the civil war.
It would have been interesting to see how their early attempts at communism evolved without a trading class.
It’s a shame that the Incas didn’t have more time to consolidate their empire after the civil war.
It would have been interesting to see how their early attempts at communism evolved without a trading class.
August 31, 2021
Avery short History of the Incas
The book is well done it's pretty short it's a quickest tree And that's it But it's well done I liked it
The book is well done it's pretty short it's a quickest tree And that's it But it's well done I liked it
May 30, 2022
Well written, fast read.
August 3, 2022
Inca Empire
This is a great book with a good storyline about the rise and fall of the Inca Empire. I t. is very interesting.
This is a great book with a good storyline about the rise and fall of the Inca Empire. I t. is very interesting.
February 29, 2024
A map would have been nice. I could visualize though. Thorough yet concise.
April 21, 2024
A nice succinct summarization of the major points in Incan history.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews