The Incas empire was highly centralized with the king representing the highest source of authority. Elaborate.
HistoryClass 11CBSEAnswered 27 Mar 2026
Answer
- The Incas empire was centralized. The king was the highest authority. Quechu was the language of the court. Each people spoke Quechu language. A council of elders ruled each tribe independently. The tribe owed its allegiance to the ruler. Regarding population, there is no exact figure. But there were more than a million people in the empire who owed their allegiance to the ruler.
- The Incas were magnificent builders like the Aztecs. They built roads through mountains from Ecuador to Chile. Their forts were built of stone slabs. They used labour-intensive technology to carve and move stones from nearby rock falls. Many stones weighed more than 100 metric tons, but they did not have any wheeled vehicles.
- Agriculture was the main occupation of the people. They terraced hillsides and developed systems of drainage and irrigation to overcome the problem of infertility of soil. Cultivation in Andean highlands was much greater than what it is today. The Incas grew maize and potatoes.
- They were mainly interested in weaving and pottery. They were of high quality. There was an accounting system in place-the Quipu, or cords upon which knots were made to indicate specific mathematical units. It was the opinion of some scholars that the Incas wove a sort of code into these threads.
- The organisation of the Inca empire had pyramid-like structure. If the Inca chief was captured, the chain of command could quickly come apart. This was precisely what happened when the Spaniards decided to invade their country.
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