It was the western hemisphere’s largest empire ever,
with a population of nearly 10 million subjects.
Over an area of more than 900,000 square kilometers,
its people built massive administrative centers,
temples, and extensive road and canal systems.
They did so in an inhospitable, extreme terrain,
all without the use of wheels, horses, iron, or even written language.
Yet within 100 years of its rise in the fifteenth century,
the Inca Empire would be no more.
According to legend,
the ancestors of the Inca rulers were created by the sun god Inti,
and they emerged from a cave called Tambo Toco.
Leading four brothers and four sisters was Ayar Manco,
who carried a golden staff with instructions
to find the place where it would sink into the ground,
showing fertile soil.
After many adventures and extensive searching,
Ayar Manco and his siblings reached the Cuzco Valley,
where the staff pierced the ground.
After fighting off the fierce local native population,
they founded their capital,
and Ayar Manco became Manco Capac, the first Sapa Inca, or king of the Incas.
Archaeological evidence suggests
that the Incas first settled in this valley around 1200 CE.