Andean South America · Post-Classical Era
Inca Empire
The largest empire in the pre-Columbian Americas
1438 CE – 1533 CE · 95 years
The largest pre-Columbian American empire, administering a vast Andean road network without a conventional writing system.
Where it sits on the calendar
Government
Centralized empire
Writing system
Quipu (knotted-cord recording, not full writing)
Estimated peak population
12,000,000
How it ended
Invasion or conquest
Traits
How Inca Empire ended
Collapsed under Spanish conquest, compounded by a civil war and introduced epidemic disease.
See other civilizations that fell the same way →Notable for
- Over 40,000 km of road network across the Andes
- Precision dry-stone construction at Machu Picchu
- Quipu cord-based record keeping without alphabetic writing
Who else was alive at the same time
5 other civilizations in this dataset overlap with Inca Empire's 95-year span.
See every overlap involving Inca Empire →