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Sacsaywamán (Click here), the temple-fortress at Ollantaytambo (Click here) and possibly, Machu Picchu (Click here). He also improved the network of roads that connected the empire, further developed terrace agricultural systems and made Quechua the lingua franca. Under his reign, the Incas grew from a regional fiefdom in the Cuzco Valley into a broad empire of about 10 million people known as Tawantinsuyo (Land of Four Quarters), covering most of modern Peru, in addition to pieces of Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile. All of this was made more remarkable by the fact that the Incas, as an ethnicity, never numbered more than about 100,000.

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The Inca empire was connected by a network of chasquis (runners) that could relay fresh-caught fish from the coast to Cuzco in 24 hours.

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ATAHUALPA’S BRIEF REIGN

After Christopher Columbus’ historic journey to the New World in 1492, life for people in the Andes would continue much as it always had for another four decades. A succession of leaders followed in the wake of Pachacutec. His son, Túpac Yupanqui expanded the empire’s northern limits, establishing the city of Tumipampa (now Cuenca, within Ecuador). His son, Huayna Cápac, who began his rule in 1493, would continue the push north, taking over Ecuador all the way to the border with Colombia. Consequently, he spent much of his life living, governing and commanding his armies from Ecuador, rather than Cuzco.

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History of the Inca Realm, by celebrated Peruvian historian María Rostworawski, examines every aspect of Inca society – from trading systems to the role of women.

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By the 1520s, small pox and other epidemics, transmitted by European soldiers, were starting to sweep through the indigenous populations of the entire American continent. The epidemics were so swift, in fact, that they arrived in the Andes long before the Spanish ever did, claiming thousands of indigenous lives – including, in all likelihood, that of Huayna Cápac, who unexpectedly succumbed to some sort of plague in 1525.

Without a clear plan of succession, the emperor’s untimely death left a power vacuum. The contest turned into a face-off between two of the deceased emperor’s many children: the Quito-born Atahualpa, who commanded his father’s army in the north, and Huáscar, who was based in the capital of Cuzco. The ensuing struggle plunged the empire into a bloody civil war, reducing entire cities to rubble, with Atahualpa emerging as the victor in April of 1532. The vicious nature of the conflict left the Incas with a lot of enemies throughout the Andes – which is why some tribes were so willing to cooperate with the Spanish when they arrived just five months later.

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THE SPANISH INVADE

After conquering the Caribbean islands and the Aztec and Mayan cultures of Mexico and Central America, the Spanish were ready to turn their attention to South America. In 1522 Pascual de Andagoya sailed as far as the Río San Juan in Ecuador. Two years later, Pizarro headed south but was unable to make much headway. Skirmishes with natives – one of which left Pizarro’s right-hand man, Diego del Almagro, missing an eye – forced them to turn back. In November 1526, he sailed again, this time with more success: in 1528 he landed in Tumbes (in what is today the north coast of Peru), a rich coastal settlement that served as one of the many far-flung outposts of the Inca empire. There, he was greeted by natives who offered him meat, fruit, fish and chicha (fermented corn beer). More significantly for the Spanish, a cursory examination of the city revealed an abundance of objects crafted in silver and gold.

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The Angry Aztecs and the Incredible Incas is one of a series of kids’ books that delivers spine-shivering facts (hello, human sacrifice!) on various cultures – perfect for tykes who love being grossed-out.

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A classic of the genre, John Hemming’s The Conquest of the Incas, first published in 1970, is a wonderfully written, highly regarded tome