The pre-Columbian Indian people of western South America. They comprised Quechua-speaking tribes around Cuzco (their capital), who formed a state contemporary to, and eventually superseding that of Chimú. Sixteenth-century records indicate that the ruling dynasty was founded c.1200 ad by Manco Capac, but real expansion did not take place until 1438, forming an empire stretching from northern Ecuador, across Peru, to Bolivia and parts of northern Argentina and Chile by 1525 (some 3500 km, 2175 miles, north to south). Three important rulers carried out these conquests and the development of the imperial administration: Pachacuti (1438–71), Topa Inca (1471–93), and Huayna Capac (1493–1525). After Huayna Capac civil wars broke up the empire of his son Atahualpa just before Spanish troops led by Francisco Pizarro landed on the coast in 1532. Atahualpa was captured in 1533 and killed shortly thereafter. In the same year Pizarro captured Cuzco, and by 1537, after the defeat of Manco Capac, most of the empire had been subdued by Spain.

Inca technology was of a high standard and included specialized factories and workshops producing ceramics, textiles, and metal artefacts, with fine decoration, incorporating many regional styles. Architecture included accurately fitted stone masonry. Agriculture was based on systems of hillside terracing and included the potato, quinoa, and maize, and the guinea pig (for food), domestic dog, llama, and alpaca. Religion was centralized, local gods being respected but secondary to the Sun cult as the divine ancestor of the ruling dynasty and Viracocha, the creator god.