Inca — Children of the Sun
Builders of the largest empire in the ancient Americas — a realm of golden sun-temples and mountain cities, bound by roads across the roof of the world.
Origin
The Inca built Tawantinsuyu, the largest empire in the pre-Columbian Americas, from their sacred capital Cusco high in the Andes. In barely a century it stretched four thousand miles down the spine of the mountains, from Colombia to Chile. The Inca were master engineers — raising Machu Picchu, weaving a road network of forty thousand kilometers, and fitting stone so precisely that no blade can slip between the blocks.
The Heroes
- Manco Cápac — the legendary founder of the Inca line.
- Pachacuti — the great emperor who built the empire and raised Machu Picchu.
- Túpac Inca Yupanqui — who carried Inca arms to the edges of the known world.
- Atahualpa — the last emperor, who fell to the conquistadors.
Symbols of the Lineage
Machu Picchu on its mountain saddle. The golden disc of Inti, the sun. The stepped chakana, the Inca cross. The condor, puma, and serpent — the three worlds. The knotted quipu, and the terraces that climbed the mountains.
Beliefs & Worldview
The Inca worshipped Inti, the sun, from whom the emperor himself descended, and Pachamama, the mother earth, and Viracocha, the creator. The cosmos was three realms — the heavens of the condor, this world of the puma, and the underworld of the serpent — and the people honored the sacred mountains, the apus, and lived by the law of reciprocity that bound them to one another and to the land.
Timeline — Major Events
- c. 1200 — The legendary founding of Cusco.
- 1438 — Pachacuti begins the great expansion.
- mid-1400s — Machu Picchu is built.
- 1532 — Pizarro captures Atahualpa.
- 1572 — The last resistance falls at Vilcabamba.
Cultural Artifacts
Machu Picchu, lost to the world for centuries. The Qhapaq Ñan, the great Andean road. The quipu that held the empire's records in knotted cord. The flawless masonry of Sacsayhuamán, and the gold the Spanish melted but could never truly take.
The Living Lineage
Millions of Quechua and Aymara people carry the Inca legacy across the Andes — the language, the weaving, the festivals of the sun. Machu Picchu draws the whole world to the mountains. To claim Inca heritage is to claim the children of the sun who built an empire across the roof of the world.
Recommended Reading
John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas; the chronicles of Garcilaso de la Vega.
Children of the Sun
The builders of a mountain empire deserve an heirloom worthy of it. Each piece in the Inca Collection renders Machu Picchu, the golden sun of Inti, and the condor in black and gold — the glory of the children of the sun, fixed for the wall. Explore the collection →