印加英文简介.docVIP

The?Inca?ruled?a?large, wealthy empire in South America. They accomplished amazing feats of engineering and built a complex civilization. The?Inca?had?no?written language, but they still recorded many details about their life. They kept track of gold, land, crops, and other things by using knotted strings. The length and color of the strings, and the spacing of the knots, all had meaning. Specially trained people could “read” the strings. WHAT WAS THE INCA EMPIRE? The?Inca?Empire?was?a vast kingdom in the Andes Mountains of South America. Inca emperors controlled a huge area and ruled millions of people. It was the largest civilization in South America before the arrival of Europeans. According?to?Inca?legend, the Inca first lived near Lake Titicaca in southeastern Peru. The legend says the first Inca emperor, Manco Capac, led the Inca north to the fertile valley of Cuzco. They arrived in Cuzco (in southern Peru) about ad 1200 and conquered the people there. Cuzco became the Inca’s capital city. Over?time,?the?Inca?conquered many neighboring groups. The Inca Empire grew large and rich. Centered in Peru, the empire extended over high mountains, grassy plateaus, fertile valleys, jungles, and coastal land. It covered parts of what are now Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. REMARKABLE BUILDINGS The?Inca?constructed?impressive buildings out of stone. The Inca did not use the wheel. So to move large boulders, they used wooden rollers and ramps made of dirt. They shaped the boulders into blocks with axes and smoothed them with sand and water. Then they stacked the blocks to make walls, arches, and other structures. The?Inca?shaped?their building blocks with great accuracy. The blocks fit together so tightly that a knife will not fit between them! For this reason, they didn’t need to use mortar (a binding material put between blocks or bricks). The?Inca?built?many?large temples, palaces, plazas, and forts. Cuzco itself was a marvel of Inca engineering. Gold plating nea