Original subtitles

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in 1911 young American Explorer Hiram

Bingham arrived in Peru's sacred valley

Bingham was looking for a fabled lost

city the last word out of the Inca in

their doomed battle against the Spanish

he met a local farmer who said he knew

of a place which might interest the

American a place overgrown normal but

forgotten what Bingham saw astonished

him peeking through centuries of

vegetation were dozens of granite

buildings vast terraces were cut into

the mountainside criss-crossed by

hundreds of steep stone steps

the effect on the young Explorer was

dazzling like a dream

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when Bingham arrived here at matcha

pitch you he thought he had discovered

the lost city of the Inca a place so

secret it remained hidden as Europeans

over an the entire continent of South

America for Bingham this site was the

Holy Grail the key to unlocking the

mysteries of the Inca the largest

pre-columbian empire in the Americas but

match you pitch you provides only a

glimpse of an incredible Empire it's

only one part of a remarkable tale this

is the story of a people whose 600 years

ago built an empire that stretched from

barren coastal desert to lush tropical

jungle from the edge of the Pacific

Ocean to the high plains of Chile in

Argentina it's a story of wealth power

innovation and bloodshed all happening

in some of the toughest landscapes on

the planet fundamentally this is the

story of an empire unlike any other one

with a completely different world view

to the Europeans who come to conquer it

and is that different way of seeing the

world of gaming and holding power over

so many people that make the Inca

absolutely fascinating

the question I want to answer is how did

they do it

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there are very good reasons why the inca

have long fascinated us their empire was

the biggest in the Americas before the

arrival of Europeans at its height in

the fifteenth century over ten million

people were under their rule

their vast Kingdom was connected by a

sophisticated road network stretching

for thousands of kilometres but most

remarkable of all is the apparent speed

of their rise to power in the 14th

century the Inca were one of many

independent peoples who lived high in

the Andes yet they emerged from their

Cusco stronghold and seemingly in the

space of just 150 years built a vast

multi-ethnic Empire which spanned a

continent from the Pacific to the Amazon

incorporating huge swathe of the

modern-day countries of Ecuador Peru

Bolivia Chile and Argentina

for many years our understanding of the

inca has been dominated by the

chronicles written by the spanish

conquistadors but these chronicles are

written often with a specific agenda in

mind to justify the Spanish conquest the

Spanish came across an empire which they

had no frame of reference for

effectively a Neolithic Empire run

without the pen or the sword no writing

no wheel no animal which could carry a

human no markets no currency so hold a

peculiar complex society in European

eyes I think it's time to question

whether we need to re-evaluate the Inca

rise to power perhaps early historical

records have been misleading is there a

different far more intriguing story to

be told about the emergence of the Inca

Empire

the most important thing to bear in mind

is that this wasn't an empire like the

British Empire of the Roman Empire where

history's were carefully written down

and power came in the form of a dozen

legions or a barrel of a gun this was a

non-western empire and that often made

it difficult for Westerners to study in

order to understand the Inca you need to

get inside the Incan mind and think like

they thought

and that means getting far away from

that Jupiter

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one of the major differences between the

inca world and our own is the concept of

time the inca thought differently than

we do about the past present and future

this has significant implications for

understanding all aspects of inca

history and not least how long it really

took them to build their empire the way

that we think is so ingrained that it's

very hard to try and change our

perspective on things but it's something

that we have to do if we're to

understand the Inca Empire we have to

get inside the Inca mind for us we have

life we are born and then we die and

this is essentially a linear path

everything that happens before a moment

of our lives we would call history and

it happens behind us everything that was

going to happen beyond this point in

this line we would call the future

crucially therefore everything that we

understand about our ancestors in the

world that has gone before

creates and effects our lives along this

line and everything that we do in our

own life will affect the future and this

is a linear concept of time that is

completely different to how the Inka

understood time so for the Inka start

with the first line which they might

call Chi Pecha Kucha is essentially a

lifeline but there are two parallel

lines Kahn and pata an OCO Pacha which

is the past and the future and these

lines run in parallel because they can

happen at the same time so at any

particular moment of life on this line

they can transect between the past and

the future and this point here is a

particular moment of experience in the

present which is affected directly by

the past or the future we get a sense

that there were multiple histories there

were multiple pasts and there were

multiple references and different things

that different ancestors had done

depending on who was telling the story

so because of this it becomes very

difficult to determine exactly what was

the historical sequence

of the development of the Inca Empire in

a way that would make sense to us as a

nice european chronicle the inca don't

talk the same language of time as we do

and so we need to think about the

chronology of their history quite

differently by understanding this we can

begin to unravel the true story of the

rise of the Inca Empire if you contrast

the historical information to the

archaeological information we get a very

different picture studies of the

emergence of the Incas as a power over

neighboring societies surrounding Cusco

so that they were probably a prepotent

society perhaps even a state as early as

almost a hundred years before their

emergence as a ruling Empire

this means the origins of the Inca date

back much further than we originally

thought I think it also means that when

they started to build their empire the

Inca built upon the achievements of

people who went before

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a few hours drive south of Cusco there

are the remains of a long-forgotten

settlement

remnants of buildings and streets which

stretch over nearly two square

kilometers

but these ruins aren't Inca they were

built by a people who rose and fell long

before the Inca dominated this region

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these people were called the wari and

this place was known as peaky actor and

I believe the Inka learnt a great deal

from what the wari built here

throughout this part of South America

you can find the remains of cultures

stretching back thousands of years these

past societies had their own worldviews

belief systems and ways of living their

lives and it's understanding the

interrelationships between them that is

important

no society suddenly appears

independently on its own but some

societies can be so successful that

their influence spreads far and wide

that was the case with the wari

the wari were the first to unite

multiple areas about from north to south

covering most of modern-day really picky

ACTA was one of the wari Empire's most

impressive settlements it's been

estimated that cumulatively it would

have taken six million days of

back-breaking labor to build it this is

a vast and beautiful site and a really

important one for the wari but is when

you walk around that you get a sense of

experience of the place because they

have these incredibly long corridors

with these dominating high walls it must

mean quite a disorientating experience

perhaps led through one of these

doorways you enter out into these open

spaces or patios that would have been

covered in white paint to perhaps murals

picking actor dominated this region

towards the end of the first millennium

and walking through these ruins today it

seems to me the wari laid the

foundations of how to build an empire in

the Andes

many of the ideas of so-called Inca

statecraft which we think of actually

had their roots in the worry not least

the road system you can't create a road

system in a time period that the Incas

were around him

there was a great expansion of people

and ideas at a time far deeper than that

inter critical to the success of the War

II was their understanding of this

brutal environment and the innovations

they developed to overcome it the worry

were masters of landscape transformation

canals that brought the water down from

the mountain peaks where the rains fall

into the rich agricultural regions where

they terraced the landscape in order to

turn the mountain sides into productive

agricultural lands the ingenious

solutions we see at work at picky actor

are I believe crucial in helping us to

understand not only the success of the

wari but also the Inka who came after

them

this aqueduct is part of a 48 kilometers

on network of canal systems taking water

from the high mountains right into the

heart of the site of picky actor and

down to the agricultural terraces below

this region receives barely enough water

to support large-scale agricultural

settlement and in times of drought this

land can become an incredibly difficult

place for humans to thrive

90% of the rainfall in the Andes falls

on the jungle regions only 10% makes it

to the western coasts only through

increased efficiency in agricultural

technologies in production can humans

respond effectively to drought that's

what the wari introduced the lesson of

the wari is that before you can build an

empire in this part of the world you

first need to master the landscape

itself the wari agrarian technology was

a drought adaptive technology it was

much more efficient in the use of water

than previous systems had been and that

gave the worry an adaptive edge in

bringing their new system to these local

groups that were living in that region

at the time

interestingly the challenges faced by

the wari still affect people here today

1,000 years later Peru's climber

remains one of the most extreme and

vulnerable in the world

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most of the rainfall that falls on the

Andes comes from South Atlantic sources

coming in as partly monsoon or system

across the Amazon and brought up into

the Andes whereas the western side of

the Andes and the coast is is a desert

effectively because the winds that come

across the Pacific on throw away most of

the population of Peru today live on

that desert street I've come to the

village of mattes high in the Andes

where a dry spell is made life tough for

local farmers like felicitous para su

casa es Christa Johnson Brando forested

potential and all my eco transplanted

Catina Mecca tell me every backup

well durante los IKEA when I problemas

con la comida Devine in la comida en

chemin era putting baby corns the four

levers there's a cosecha pepper one of

them maize worms of interest our other

as he authorities in Maris have

responded to the dry spell by bussing in

containers of fresh water from Cusco it

has helped but it's in no way a

sustainable solution durante la Secchia

in those estaba menos nice Katie no naka

ends warranty squander name Strega

Nona's Gracia este Blanco is to smash

the Caloris llego

y que piensa que pasar con el pueblo see

been a mistake es por futuro

es más difícil para la y cosas Charla's

las plantas que piensa que pasar con el

público naka no sequel será el cambio

del temporal eso siempre paying Samos

theorem

prophetess no say s Tom Spencer people

they loss Nieto's say

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what's happening in maddest 'day also

happened here many centuries ago but the

wiry did not have the option to bus in

tanks of water to sustain them

the end of the first millennium we know

that conditions were were both dry and

really quite cold up in the mountains

and that's the time when the wiry

disappeared from the archaeological

record

the wari understood their environment

but a prolonged route may have proved

too much even for them

climate change could have been one of

the factors which put a lot of pressure

on the wiry now the societies knew how

to deal with short-term climate change

they had in place a lot of strategies

that enable them to cope but climate at

those altitudes is one of the real

pressure points

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however ingenious the wiry solutions

were to the challenges they faced their

power waned

but there can be little doubt that the

Inca built on the knowledge of what the

wari left behind

we have people continuing to live in the

Cusco region continuing the oral

traditions and the historical traditions

of the wari within the Cusco region that

the inca could have picked up upon the

inca also had the benefit of the

monuments that the Ori had built and

right in their backyard the wari created

a large and powerful State they were

able to harness the harsh environments

using ingenious large-scale construction

projects like this technologies often

associated with the Inca but the reason

I like this one is that you can see the

original wiry construction behind reused

and restored by the Inka with this

lovely stonework at the front the inca

are using wiry technology but the

crucial difference is they're also

upscaling it

to see exactly how they did this I'm

heading north into the heart of the

Cusco Valley

this mountainous land is not naturally

suited to large-scale agricultural

production

the challenges presented by the harsh

climate are considerable

but here the incas remarkable ability to

problem-solve revolutionized agriculture

and play the key role in the expansion

of their empire

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this is Mariah it lies three and a half

thousand metres above sea level and is

one of the most remarkable human

landscapes on earth

Mariah consists of three huge limestone

depressions into which terraces have

been carved this is the place where Inka

skills in engineering and agriculture

combined perfectly it's a place which

synthesizes beauty and technology and

transformed the lives of the Inka and

those they would soon rule these

terraces can be up to three meters in

height and they had this thick retaining

wall which is angled back to hold back

the soil behind and what's behind is

actually really clever at the bottom you

have a series of broken stones for

drainage above that a layer of coarse

soil which acts as a bedding and then a

metre of topsoil which they continually

turn over to aerate the soil and these

stone walls absorb the heat of the Sun

during the day and that radiates through

at night protecting the crops against

frost

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the ingenuity of the terraces lies not

just in their ability to increase the

amount of land the Inka could cultivate

they were a mechanism for manipulating

the environment altering the ambient

temperature of the whole site and making

the production of crops a high altitude

possible today the temperature at the

top of the terraces is 16 degrees

centigrade down here at the bottom you

have this crucible effect when the

temperature is much warmer no air flow

and these stone terraces circle round

radiating the heat here you can see it's

over 22 degrees now

the difference in temperature from the

top of this site to the bottom means

that each Terra Satmar I represent a

different ecological zone as you move up

the side of the Andes

the implications of this are profound it

means this was a place where Inca

engineers created their own

microclimates allowing them to

experiment in cultivating a variety of

different crops which would not normally

have been grown at these altitudes

tomatoes squashes pumpkins types of

tobacco that's not so beneficial perhaps

but it underlies the point that although

we marvel at the zen aesthetic of machu

picchu and so forth really what's much

more important in my view is the legacy

of their agriculture

the Incas were essentially reconfiguring

the biotic landscape by changing the

terrain changing the heat and water

retention capacities through their

terracing systems which developed a

series of warm weather estates in a cold

weather climate these terraces show how

the Inka understood the advantages of

this vertical landscape in effect they

farmed upwards they managed to turn the

harsh contours of the land to their

advantage and by growing different crops

at different elevations it gave them a

huge diversity in the crops that they

grew this had two key advantages one

they had a healthier and more diverse

diet and two it helped mitigate against

the impact in the past that had created

hunger unrest droughts and floods pests

and frost this is what I mean when I say

the Inka scaled up war ii technology in

craig r acculturating a family or even a

city it was about scientifically

managing production so they could feed

an empire

by creating this food surplus it

provided time to devote to other things

like expansion beyond their borders it

was also a great calling card as they

approached other cultures because Mirai

shows that the Inca are problem solvers

unable to create these very efficient

and effective managed landscapes in a

region where climate was unpredictable

and catastrophic where people could

often face starvation and hunger the

ability to provide a reliable regular

and good-quality amount of food was a

source of supreme power for the Inca

but that's only part of the story for

the Inca state to flourish they needed

to not only grow enough food but also to

distribute it quickly and efficiently

which could be a serious problem when

you live in such a challenging landscape

as this

but a few miles north of Mirai is a

place which I think might hold the

answer

you

this is an amazing spot below me is the

town of Aliante humble and above it

clinging to the side of a cliff is a

series of tall buildings at first glance

they may not seem like the most

impressive thing but these structures

are critical to the foundations of the

entire increment

these are Colchis store houses and they

are iconic buildings found all over the

Inca Empire

sometimes they're by the side of roads

sometimes near centers of population

like here at Olympic Ambo these weren't

just barns for storing food they were

sophisticated silos that were critical

to the well-being of the people and the

maintenance of power in here would be

stored everything from maize to potatoes

textiles to weapons and vast numbers of

seeds that could be used for next year's

planting they were often located in

strategic places well-ventilated and not

prone to flooding

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the combined storage space of this

network would have run to hundreds of

thousands of cubic meters that means

that people across the Empire could be

supplied with everything they needed

whenever circumstances demanded

one of the ways that we can understand

the scale and the order of the Inka

warehousing system is by looking at the

experience of the Spaniards who came in

in 1548 into the Upper Montero Valley or

the central highlands of Peru there were

2,000 of them and they stayed there for

multiple weeks and they said at the end

of that period they couldn't recognize

it that made a dent in the warehouses

and the contents of the facilities these

storehouses tell me that the Inka

understood the need to provide food

security for the people they ruled it's

actually quite a modern idea in the UK

during the fuel protests of 2000

Supermarket bosses told the government

they only had enough fuel to distribute

food to the people for another three

days after that they'd start to go

hungry this focuses the mind on food

security because it's not just about

growing food it's about storage and

distribution that is perhaps most

important and the Inka understood this

that's why they created this vast system

of storage facilities and a distribution

network that got the food to the people

and this was important during times of

drought an environmental disaster

the inca storehouses in times of

scarcity and times of drought could be

used to feed the populace is to feed the

masses in order to save them from

certain death and destruction to the

people who did the farming they were a

source of security and insurance if you

will against the bad years knowing that

the Inca state would be able to provide

for them but I suspect these storehouses

Ceph more than a practical

administrative function the storehouses

provided a highly visible symbol of the

Inca state to its people demonstrating

both its reach and its benevolence

there was a basic level of understanding

that the Inka would care for the poorest

members of its society it was a basic

social contract if you will these

storehouses were an important logistical

element of a growing Empire but they

also hint at the developing nature of

Inka power itself

you get a sense of the different type of

Empire when you come to a place like

this you see how much effort they went

to to provide for people's needs it's

almost an attractive type of Empire that

people would want to become part of why

wouldn't you want to join an empire that

provided for you in times of need good

times and bad the creation of these

storehouses tells us a lot about the

great incre ability to organize and plan

the use of their resources they embody

an empire which could offer solutions to

the people of the Andes but in order to

truly understand the nature of Inka

power I think we also have to look at

how they approached these people in the

first place power in effect they pitched

their empire to the people they would

rule to find out how they did it I'm

taking the road west towards the ocean

you

this is the temple of Patrick

Kamik on the pacific coast of peru

and you can see the distinctive method

of Inca Empire building at work here

for thousands of years before the Inca

this was one of the most important and

powerful religious sites in South

America

you

they didn't destroy this religious

center stamp out its idolatry or even

forbid people from worshipping the

Oracle here at pachacamac exactly the

opposite in fact they incorporated the

Oracle of Patrick hammock within their

own pantheon of deities even building a

shrine to it in Cusco this willingness

to tolerate and absorb other religions

tells us a great deal about Inca power

it tells me that as they expanded into

new territory they wanted to avoid

conflict the Incas were very effective

at expanding out of their homeland

because the practice economy of force

that is they didn't conduct military

operations except as a last resort they

tried diplomacy they tried bribery they

tried all sorts of accommodations to

bring people into their empire fighting

was inefficient it meant the loss of

their own men and of the people whose

labor they could use but the threat of

force needed to be visible and real it

is a carrot and stick approach if you

like of the threat of military violence

but equally the promise of gaining

through the authority of the Inca and

their access to resources

the Inca would often arrive in the new

province with a massive army putting on

an overwhelming display of force

emissaries would be sent to local rulers

bearing expensive gifts of jewelry and

livestock these same emissaries would

explain the benefits of joining the Inca

Empire if the answer was no the Inca

spared no prisoners losing generals can

expect to be flayed alive but if the

answer was yes then the people would be

showered with gifts of food and drink

their Lords would be instructed in

Quechua the Inca language and their

children would be taken to Cusco to

learn the ways of the empire above all

they will be allowed to continue to

practice their own religion

punch a comics an excellent example of

how the Inca co-opted powerful religious

shrine and incorporated in to the Inca

Imperial period they probably persuaded

the priests of Pacha kama to participate

those that would be willing but they

also transformed then pachacamac from

its focus as a local shrine into an Inca

one and that kind of melding and that

kind of blending if you will of Inca

ideology with local ideology was a

really good example of the way that Inca

imperialism worked the tolerance

demonstrated here at pachacamac happened

all over the Inca realm and I think it

goes to the heart of explaining how the

Inca built such a large empire if you

submit to the rule of the Inca Empire

then you will be allowed to keep most of

your lands you'll be able to keep your

social order all you will have to do is

pay certain taxes to the Incas and we

will allow you to continue to live

essentially as you had done previously

it appears that many peoples in the

Andes decided that was probably the best

bet there's a great intelligence about

Inka power why destroy a kingdom when

that will mean a heavy cost to you in

terms of lives lost

why persecute its rulers when they could

help you run your empire ultimately the

Inka understood the more tightly you

bound people to you the more control

over them you would have

in order to develop a a larger-scale

society they needed to cooperate and

that's one of the great Inca

achievements is that level of

cooperation now wasn't all love and

peace I think but nonetheless it wasn't

aggression that developed into the

defensive sites and and all-out warfare

and I think that allowed them to expand

as they created more and more alliances

and they could draw people together in

doing so they are creating a integration

that is different to what has gone

before

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by the late 1400s the Inca Empire was

approaching its zenith the inca were no

longer one among many societies in the

andes they were the dominant highly

organized culture whose influence

stretched well beyond their cuzco

stronghold but in economic terms how did

such a sprawling Empire work

to find out I'm heading to the remote

island of tequila 4000 meters above sea

level on lake titikaka

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[Music]

the people on taquile lived by an old

code which they say dates back to the

Inca a masseur Pamela a maquila do not

steal do not lie do not be lazy these

lands were among the first to Inca

conquered as they moved out of the Cusco

Valley it's a region of vast llama and

alpaca herds which were a bountiful

source of food clothing and transport

for the income and the Incan way of life

is still very much in evidence here on

taquile an attitude of collective

endeavor and mutual support

[Music]

hola

Alejandro Flores what is a community

leader in the 1660s que some news and of

Claro patusan since eh an Akita Missy is

that a key to Ocala mr. Rowbotham

annoyed by a kid named Allah no no no es

una for minitek steal a bassinet

distinto no es una forma de estilo de

Delilah muy diferentes esta por que

siempre miss away loss in Ottawa los SE

que siempre on tequila see Ella's

costumbre los que no que la camisa Rio

mismo tipo de comprar

Alejandro's way of life may seem

anachronistic but at the time of the

Inca this was the norm communities were

expected to give a proportion of their

agricultural production crafts and labor

for the benefit of the state weave in

cloth for the court or working on a

building project just as they still do

on taquile today oh yeah where's America

it doesn't check in Davina IU that oh

yeah this was common with whom

this is compartir no Toby exist aqui es

importante cetera no ciccolo separate

ando no se puede comprar antenna so do

bear a key a locust communal pero

tenemos a Capo's emplo Camilo Chuco

Condor Homs Caminos hace SEC a communal

no todo Rondo Tahoma camino wounds alone

poison in the tank ooh Mulder ah sexy

crazy una said terror for the other

thing not another typical oh yeah one of

the clearest examples of a difference

between the Inca way of life and a

modern one is in the economy because the

Inca didn't use money they didn't have

an arbitrary system against which value

was set instead everything was done

through exchange so things like

agricultural produce and craftsmanship

even hours of labor could be exchanged

the Inca managed to persuade large

numbers of people that they should

contribute their labor to projects such

as construction such as agricultural

work such as the road system and they

managed to do that through a reciprocal

relationship one where you didn't doubt

that the Inca were in control but that

you believed that you were getting also

something out of it

it strikes me that in stark contrast to

many civilizations that had gone before

them the Inca wielded a very subtle form

of power

they offered solutions to the harsh

realities of life in the Andes an intern

asked the people's they governed to have

faith in the benefits of Inca rule

[Music]

in some ways it was quite a benevolent

empire yet there was never any question

about who was ultimately in charge

[Music]

how the Inca managed to integrate so

many different people's into their

empire whilst maintaining their dominant

position was central to their success

just a few miles from pachacamac is a

place which was built specifically to

bring an entire people into the Inca

fold and it brilliantly demonstrates how

a society that didn't have any written

culture still had ways to ensure that

everyone knew their place this is the

site of tambo colorado it's one of the

first settlements that Inca builders

they push westwards down towards the

Pacific coast the people who lived in

this region were the Chincha and the

purpose of this place was to co-opt them

into the Empire the Chincha were one of

the Incas most important allies

controlling large swathe of the coastal

desert and it's obvious that this was an

important place for both the Chinchin

and the Inca dominating a flat plain as

the mountains give way to the coast

Sofia chuckle Tana Cortez is an

archaeologist who studied this site

extensively so this entrance like it has

this the whole wall comes along when you

just got one small entrance into the

site yeah that's typical of an Inca

architecture right like it's an entrance

that is a it's a palace first and he has

just was one entrance and also has the

Inca shape is trapezoidal so Wow and

then you immediately come into this sort

of main plaza you have the main plaza de

is this one is the bigger plaza and then

you have three other places so what sort

of activities would be going on in this

sort of main plaza do you think if

people walks through those gates what

sort of things they see ritual

activities and also a lot of drinking

that the Inka did a lot of drinking and

displaying of power but probably also

that was a parade a place where the

elite could come to cool internus the

site

tambo colorado has the feel of a stage a

place of performance where important

officials would meet where religious

rituals would take place against the

backdrop of feasting and drinking

I think to this theatrical feel are

these brightly painted walls whose

colors have survived over five centuries

of desert Sun it's absolutely

extraordinary that you get this level of

preservation of these pigments and

paints right up to the modern day I

really like the idea that you you sort

of walk in from this quite barren desert

landscape and then when you walk into

this Plaza a sudden you're like

overwhelmed by the color like brilliant

colors around you and then you can think

about that dancing and music yes

much of what we see it 10 Berkeley

rather is typical of Inca architecture

here there are striking differences in

the craftsmanship here to which Sofia

believes come from the influence of the

chin Chow something to notice su is the

lattice work and the the ending of the

of the inca spaces are not always in

kerala cinta the architecture probably

was Inca where the work was local and

also probably the people that were

living here was ink elite and cinta leat

it's it's a really difficult thing to

assess but do you think there's any

evidence that the chinchilla ink are

working cooperatively rather than sort

of like a dominating work force force

did you see any evidence of

collaboration well we're seeing here is

like I think the synthesis of the

government like after they have like

work together I think this is like a

probably like a ginger al Inca ginger

palace right it's not only Inca is not

is not ginger is saying like we are

cooperating

the merging of architectural styles

signals the joining of two kingdoms Inca

and Qin Jia tambo colorado was the place

which marked an important alliance in

material form but not an alliance of

equals

because there are subtle levers of

control here a wave in the plazas PMBOK

Laredo is a maze of complex and

confusing corridors hidden rooms and

secret spaces

the architecture dictates how you travel

around the site even the beautiful

brightly colored walls had a controlling

purpose marking out areas of access

according to rank

the yellow color is representing the

higher status right and the lower status

will be the white that will represent

the intermediate elite and the red will

represent the locals the color scheme

was designed to mark places where only

the Inca were allowed a lot of tambo

colorado would have been off-limits to

the qincha population

[Music]

so these corridors are fantastic they

have this sort of real sense of yes in

space and they got to Imperial spaces we

will see these Inka spaces like the

fountain Inka fountain there is a inca

way of purifying your body to what

extent do you think these architectural

forms these spaces are a mechanism for

the Inka Empire to sort of control

people's behavior and influence their

experience of coming into them well I

think this is to control people's

behavior and also to show how to behave

as an Inca right because we are far away

from the from the from the Capitol so I

think also is showing what is the Inca

behavior right to behave as an Inca I

think was an important part of the Inca

government

[Music]

I think it's cooperation also been with

the food on top kind of like that

[Music]

it's great Chiang Sofia about how Inca

architecture controls people's behavior

here and more than that communicates it

to all the people moving up and down

this valley in core architecture is so

much more than the construction of

imposing buildings architecture like

religion or agriculture is a source of

Inka

all the elements that made Inka power so

dominating and seductive came together

in one city Cusco high in the Andes

Cusco was the most important city in the

entirety of the Americas

it was the Inca homeland and the

political and spiritual heart of their

empire and in the heart of Cusco it's at

one person the Sapa Inca the ruler of

the Inca Empire was a person called the

Sapa Inca or unique Lord he embodied all

dimensions of leadership within the Inca

society he was the political ruler in

part because he was the descendent of

the previous Sapa Inca he was also the

military leader and he was the person

who made decisions about everything that

was of significance in society with her

economic ritual or whatever this was all

focused on a single individual

the Sapa Inca was the most powerful man

in the empire and was treated with

immense reverence

he communicated via intermediaries

no one dared look him directly in the

eye

disobedience was punishable by death

I guess you could probably

benevolent dictator in some ways

the Sapa Inca was not a very accessible

personnage but he was also expected to

be a charismatic leader a figure who who

could change the world when necessary

the greatest of all Inca Emperor's was

patchy cootie his name literally means

he who overturned space and time

Patrick UT is a mythical hero to many

modern-day Peruvians the story goes that

he was a prince living here in Cusco in

the early to mid 15th century when the

city was attacked by the chanko people

who came from 150 kilometers to the west

magic of his father the ruler took his

entire court and fled the city but

Patrick ooty defiantly remained and led

a divinely inspired resistance to the

chanko crushing them he then led a

series of incre expansions away from the

homeland laying the foundations of the

Inca Empire but the route Patrick

treaties rule and the authority of all

the suffered Inca lay in their position

as semi-divine figures

to understand how the Sapa Inca operated

we have to think of in him in several

dimensions he was in some senses very

much a human being but the Incas

considered him to be the descendant of

inti the Sun God so in the Inca ideology

he was a deity on earth while the Inca

allowed their subjects to worship their

own gods they would always be

subservient to their own Sun God inti

the Inca built temples of the Sun

wherever they conquered this emphasized

the Emperor's connection to the most

powerful God in the sky it also

connected Inca power with the cosmos

itself in this way the Inca used

religious reverence as a powerful

political tool Inca religion is probably

best thought of as part of an

overarching Imperial ideology he had his

political elements it had its religious

elements it had its practice it had its

military and cosmological elements so

the idea of religion per se probably

would not have made sense to the Incas

they would have thought of as an

integrated part of the sanctity of the

ruler of his legitimacy to civilize the

Andes of his role as a political and

military figure here at the temple of

coricancha the holiest spot in the

Empire the Sapa Inca would hold court

this entire complex would once have been

encased in gold all that remains today

is this beautiful curved stone wall but

despite its destruction and the

construction of a Christian Church on

top of it the quarry cancha still feels

very much like the spiritual heart of

Inka Cusco

the coricancha was at the center of the

inca world it was thought that from here

dozens of segways or ley lines spread

across the empire upon which shrines and

temples would be built so this religious

complex was connected physically and

psychologically with every corner of the

Empire the Inca used religion to project

the idea of their empire over the lands

they controlled and to the people they

ruled these ley lines radiated across

the landscape creating a spiritual map

of the Empire which would have been

understood by people from the forests of

Ecuador to the high plateaus and peaks

of the Andes and from Cusco to the coast

[Music]

you have to picture this as a

countryside which is animated it's alive

with different special places places

which are associated with supernatural

powers and so an unusual rock a pass a

curve in a in a road a waterfall any

noteworthy landmark on the landscape

could be considered what the ink is

called a waka or a shrine and on very

specific days of the year

pilgrimages would be made different kin

groups would line up along different

lines and march out to each of the

shrines making offerings to them for the

Inka this was an empire of the mind as

much as a physical Empire held together

by thousands of shrines and invisible

ley lines as much as by Garrison's or

military power

but an empire still needs physical bombs

by the end of the 15th century the Inca

Empire was approaching its greatest

extent reaching from southern Ecuador

eastwards to Bolivia and into northern

Argentina

it was criss crossed by 40,000

kilometers of roads

there were two main roads one running

from Cusco to Quito the other running

parallel along the coast between these

were dozens of connecting roads and

Spurs heading south and east

[Music]

this road system is one of the most

famous elements of the Inca Empire but

much of this network almost certainly

predates the Inca

once again they took what they found and

upscaled it

some parts of that grade system exist at

least since the wari Empire but the Inca

develop it they reconstructed large

parts of it they constructed bridges and

caused ways to integrate it and they

redirect some roads this is a huge

investment for them

the Inka road system was a triumph of

architecture and planning

the roads had to pass through a variety

of landscapes from arid desert to snowy

mountains to vertical cliffs they could

be anything from 1 to 10 metres wide in

the desert they were protected from

dusty winds by raised stones in the

mountains they were designed to allow

for runoff and drainage

and when the terrain made conventional

roads impossible the Inka once again

came up with an ingenious solution

this is the stunning kettle Jack abridge

it's made out of only this straw

and it's been in use for hundreds of

years dating right back to the Inka

period this bridge still serves as a

major crossing of the appear amok river

it is carefully maintained by the four

communities who live here ha among the

workers is Dan Vicki Spurlock over

quanto gente más o menos que da Cunha's

tiene aproximadamente cientos en cuenta

siento gente se siente o algo diamo ska

Multipla cannot earn diem xuong

auditions personas que tiene hasta las

amenorrhea prosser lay mrs. que tiran

estos días estos hombres que zombie a

hos que esta haciendo el el tipo de

trajo para entregar t donde beam en lasa

Burien a su sog whale OWSLA bueno es se

hace doe de nuestros de los incas yes

even pasando knows generaciones Yancey

dodo

the roads allowed the Inka to travel

swiftly and communicate efficiently

throughout their vast empire it's

estimated a message could be carried

from Cusco to Quito a distance of 1500

kilometers in just five days

but seeing Dante and his comrades at

work it strikes me that the roads were

about much more than just communication

more than just getting from A to B this

network was a psychological tool as well

as a physical one these roads and

bridges were a constant reminder to

communities all over the Andes that they

were part of something bigger

[Music]

they probably provided a ideological

mechanism of integration so that in

constructing that rate system you could

not but be aware that you were

integrating Cusco with the coast you

were a part of Empire we must remember

that there is no idea of a map of the

ink Empire it is largely through the

connection of individual places through

roads and trackways and through

ceremonial and ritual activities that

the ink Empire holds together

the network was so vast that new parts

of it are still being uncovered today

this is a newly discovered road it's

absolutely extraordinary it clings to

the side of the cliff with the 300 meter

drop off down to the river below

[Music]

these roads are about more than just

travel there the physical ties that bind

the empire together and underpinning kur

power armies food and livestock can move

quickly along them no matter where you

are in the Empire you're never far from

a road that leads to Cusco and that

proximity means inca power is

ever-present no matter which corner of

the Empire in

[Music]

this road leads down to Machu Picchu it

isn't on any of the tourist itineraries

and it may not be as celebrated as what

lies below but it is part of the same

empire built by the same people and is

in its own way just as important as that

iconic inca ruin from a Western

perspective ancient empires are lauded

for victorious battles ingenious systems

of governance and control territorial

expansion and domination through

generations the Inca achieved all this

and more

[Music]

[Music]

if we define power as the ability to

control people's actions and behavior

then I think we have a tremendous amount

to learn from the income because force

was just one small tool in their armory

to give people the sense of free will to

make the decisions that you want them to

make that is the source of true power

and the scale at which the Inka did it

was extraordinary

[Music]

but as the inca reached their Zenith

they would be visited by foreign

soldiers from across the ocean these

Spanish conquistadors had a very

different concept of power and their

determination to build an empire of

their own in this land would lead to a

catastrophic clash of two completely

different cultures

[Music]

lies not just in their ability to

increase the amount of land the Inka

could cultivate they were a mechanism

for manipulating the environment

altering the ambient temperature of the

whole site

and making the production of crops at

high altitude possible today the

temperature at the top of the terraces

is 16 degrees centigrade down here at

the bottom you have this crucible effect

when the temperature is much warmer as

no air flow and these stone terraces

circle round radiating the heat here you

can see it's over 22 degrees now

the difference in temperature from the

top of this site to the bottom means

that each terrace at Moriah represents a

different ecological zone as you move up

the side of the Andes

the implications of this are profound it

means this was a place where Inca

engineers created their own

microclimates allowing them to

experiment in cultivating a variety of

different crops which would not normally

have been grown at these altitudes

tomatoes squashes pumpkins types of

tobacco that's not so beneficial perhaps

but it underlies the point that although

we marvel at the zen aesthetic of machu

picchu and so forth really what's much

more important in my view is the legacy

of their agriculture

the Incas were essentially reconfiguring

the biotic landscape by changing the

terrain changing the heat and water

retention capacities through the

terracing systems which developed a

series of warm weather estates in a cold

weather climate these terraces show how

the Inka understood the advantages of

this vertical landscape in effect they

farmed upwards they managed to turn the

harsh contours of the land to their

advantage and by growing different crops

at different elevations it gave them a

huge diversity in the crops that they

grew this had two key advantages one

they had a healthier and more diverse

diet and two it helped mitigate against

the impact in the past that had created

hunger unrest droughts and floods pests

and frost this is what I mean when I say

the Inka scaled up war ii technology in

craig row culture wasn't just about

feeding a family or even a city it was

about scientifically managing production

so they could feed an empire

by creating this food surplus it

provided time to devote to other things

like expansion beyond their borders it

was also a great calling card as they

approached other cultures because Mirai

shows that the inca are problem-solvers

and able to create these very efficient

and effective managed landscapes in a

region where climate was unpredictable

and catastrophic where people could

often face starvation and hunger the

ability to provide a reliable regular

and good-quality amount of food was a

source of supreme power for the Inka

but that's only part of the story for

the Inca state to flourish they needed

to not only grow enough food but also to

distribute it quickly and efficiently

which could be a serious problem when

you live in such a challenging landscape

as this

but a few miles north of Mirai is a

place which I think might hold the

answer

you

this is an amazing spot below me is the

town of Aliante humble and above it

clinging to the side of a cliff is a

series of tall buildings at first glance

they may not seem like the most

impressive thing but these structures

are critical to the foundations of the

entire increment

these are Colchis store houses and they

are iconic buildings found all over the

Inca Empire

sometimes they're by the side of roads

sometimes near centers of population

like here at Olympic Ambo these weren't

just barns for storing food they were

sophisticated silos that were critical

to the well-being of the people and the

maintenance of power in here would be

stored everything from maize to potatoes

textiles to weapons and vast numbers of

seeds that could be used for next year's

planting they were often located in

strategic places well-ventilated and not

prone to flooding

[Music]

in 1911 young American Explorer Hiram

Bingham arrived in Peru's sacred valley

[Music]

Bingham was looking for a fabled lost

city

the last redoubt of the Inca in their

doomed battle against the Spanish he met

a local farmer who said he knew of a

place which might interest the American

a place overgrown normal but forgotten

[Music]

what Bingham saw astonished him peeking

through centuries of vegetation were

dozens of granite buildings vast

terraces were cut into the mountainside

criss-crossed by hundreds of steep stone

steps

the effect on the young Explorer was

dazzling like a dream

[Music]

when Bingham arrived here at matcha

pitch you he thought he had discovered

the lost city of the Inca a place so

secret it had remained hidden as

Europeans overrun the entire continent

of South America for Bingham this site

was the Holy Grail the key to unlocking

the mysteries of the Inca the largest

pre-columbian empire in the Americas but

match.you Picchu provides only a glimpse

of an incredible empire it's only one

part of a remarkable tale this is the

story of a people whose 600 years ago

built an empire that stretched from

barren coastal desert to lush tropical

jungle from the edge of the Pacific

Ocean to the high plains of Chile in

Argentina it's a story of wealth power

innovation and bloodshed all happening

in some of the toughest landscapes on

the planet fundamentally this is the

story of an empire unlike any other one

with a completely different worldview to

the Europeans who come to conquer it and

is that different way of seeing the

world of gaming and holding power over

so many people that make the Inca

absolutely fascinating

the question I want to answer is how did

they do it

[Music]

there are very good reasons why the inca

have long fascinated us their empire was

the biggest in the Americas before the

arrival of Europeans and its height in

the 15th century over 10 million people

were under their rule their vast Kingdom

was connected by a sophisticated road

network stretching for thousands of

kilometers but most remarkable of all is

the apparent speed of their rise to

power in the 14th century the Inca were

one of many independent peoples who live

high in the Andes yet they emerged from

their cuzco stronghold and seemingly in

the space of just 150 years built a vast

multi-ethnic Empire which spanned a

continent

from the Pacific to the Amazon

incorporating huge waves of the

modern-day countries of Ecuador Peru

Bolivia Chile and Argentina

for many years our understanding of the

inca has been dominated by the

chronicles written by the spanish

conquistadors but these chronicles are

written often with a specific agenda in

mind to justify the Spanish conquest the

Spanish came across an empire which they

had no frame of reference for

effectively a Neolithic Empire run

without the pen or the sword no writing

no wheel no animal which could carry a

human no markets no currency so hold a

peculiar complex society in European

eyes I think it's time to question

whether we need to re-evaluate the Inca

rise to power perhaps early historical

records have been misleading is there a

different far more intriguing story to

be told about the emergence of the Inca

Empire

the most important thing to bear in mind

is that this wasn't an empire like the

British Empire of the Roman Empire

we're histories were carefully written

down and power came in the Phenom Devine

in local media and gaming it up with a

baby constable Lois knows the input

across Asia one of them may swear them

scientists our other as he authorities

in Maris have responded to the dry spell

by busing in containers of fresh water

from Cusco it has helped but it's in no

way a sustainable solution

Durandal acequia and doctors estaba

menos mace Katy Nanna cans were on this

quando named spray the most craziest Oh

este Blanco is to smash the Caloris yes

y que piensa que pasar con el pueblo cbn

MSA Kia's polluter Rho is mass difícil

para ser la cosa Charla's las plantas

que piensa que pasar con el público naka

music well Sarah el cambio del temporal

associate prepping samos pero los votos

no se estamos been sativa de los Nieto's

see

[Music]

what's happening in maddest the day also

happened here

many centuries ago but the wiry did not

have the option to bus in tanks of water

to sustain them

the end of the first millennium we know

that conditions were were both dry and

really quite cold up in the mountains

and that's the time when the worry

disappeared from the archaeological

record

the wari understood their environment

but a prolonged drought may have proved

too much even for them

climate change could have been one of

the factors which put a lot of pressure

on the wiry now the societies knew how

to deal with short-term climate change

they had in place a lot of strategies

that enable them to cope but climate at

those altitudes is one of the real

pressure points

[Music]

however ingenious the wiry solutions

were to the challenges they faced their

power waned

but there can be little doubt that the

Inca built on the knowledge of what the

wari

left behind we have people continuing to

live in the Cusco region continuing the

oral traditions and the historical

traditions of the wari within the Cusco

region that the inca could have picked

up upon the inca also had the benefit of

the monuments that the glory had built

and right in their backyard the wari

created a large and powerful state they

were able to harness the harsh

environments using ingenious large-scale

construction projects like this

technology is often associated with the

Inka but the reason I like this one is

that you can see the original wiry

construction behind reused and restored

by the Inka with this lovely stonework

at the front the inca are using wiry

technology but the crucial difference is

they're also upscaling it

to see exactly how they did this I'm

heading north into the heart of the

Cusco Valley

this mountainous land is not naturally

suited to large-scale agricultural

production

the challenge is presented by the harsh

climate are considerable but here the

Incas remarkable ability to

problem-solve

revolutionized agriculture and play the

key role in the expansion of their

empire

[Music]

this is Mariah it lies three and a half

thousand metres above sea level and is

one of the most remarkable human

landscapes on earth Mariah consists of

three huge limestone depressions into

which terraces have been carved this is

the place where Inka skills in

engineering and agriculture combined

perfectly it's a place which synthesizes

beauty and technology and transformed

the lives of the Inka and those they

would soon rule these terraces can be up

to three meters in height and they had

this thick retaining wall which is

angled back to hold back the soil behind

and what's behind is actually really

clever at the bottom you have a series

of broken stones for drainage above that

a layer of coarse soil which acts as a

bedding and then a metre of topsoil

which they continually turn over to

aerate the soil and these stone walls

absorb the heat of the Sun during the

day and that radiates through at night

protecting the crops against frost

[Music]

the ingenuity of the terraces form of a

dozen legions or a barrel of a gun this

was a non-western empire and that's

often made it difficult for Westerners

to study in order to understand the Inka

you need to get inside that you can mind

and think like they thought

and that means getting far away from

Machu Picchu

[Music]

one of the major differences between the

inca world and our own is the concept of

time the inca thought differently than

we do about the past present and future

this has significant implications for

understanding all aspects of inca

history and not least how long it really

took them to build their empire the way

that we think is so ingrained that it's

very hard to try and change our

perspective on things but it's something

that we have to do if we're to

understand the inca empire we have to

get inside the inca mind for us we have

life we are born and then we die and

this is essentially a linear path

everything that happens before a moment

of our lives we would call history and

it happens behind us everything that was

gonna happen beyond this point in this

line we would call the future crucially

therefore everything that we understand

about our ancestors in the world that

has gone before

creates and effects our lives along this

line and everything that we do in our

own life will affect the future and this

is a linear concept of time that is

completely different to how the Inka

understood time so for the Inka start

with the first line which they might

call Chi Pacha Chi Pacha is essentially

a lifeline but there are two parallel

lines Canon Pacha and uh kabocha which

is the past and the future and these

lines run in parallel because they can

happen at the same time so at any

particular moment of life on this line

they can transect between the past and

the future and this point here is a

particular moment of experience in the

present which is affected directly by

the past or the future we get a sense

that there were multiple histories there

were multiple pasts and there were

multiple references and different things

that different ancestors had done

depending on who was telling the story

so because of this it becomes very

difficult to determine exactly what was

the historical sequence

of the development of the Inca Empire in

a way that would make sense to us as a

nice european chronicle the inca don't

talk the same language of time as we do

and so we need to think about the

chronology of their history quite

differently by understanding this we can

begin to unravel the true story of the

rise of the Inca Empire if you contrast

the historical information to the

archaeological information we get a very

different picture studies of the

emergence of the Incas as a power over

neighboring societies surrounding Cusco

so that they were probably a prepotent

society perhaps even a state as early as

almost a hundred years before their

emergence as a ruling Empire

this means the origins of the Inca date

back much further than we originally

thought I think it also means that when

they started to build their empire the

Inca built upon the achievements of

people who went before

[Music]

a few hours drive south of Cusco there

are the remains of a long-forgotten

settlement

remnants of buildings and streets which

stretch over nearly two square

kilometers but these ruins aren't Inca

they were built by a people who rose and

fell long before the Inca dominated this

region

[Music]

these people were called the wari and

this place was known as peaky actor and

I believe the Inca learnt a great deal

from what the wari built here

throughout this part of South America

you can find the remains of cultures

stretching back thousands of years these

past societies had their own worldviews

belief systems and ways of living their

lives it's understanding the

interrelationships between them that is

important

no society suddenly appears

independently on its own but some

societies can be so successful that

their influence spreads far and wide

that was the case with the wari

the wari were the first to unite

multiple area is about from north to

south covering most of modern-day truth

picky actor was one of the wiry empires

most impressive settlements

it's been estimated that cumulatively it

would have taken six million days of

back-breaking labor to build it this is

a vast and beautiful site and a really

important one for the wari but is when

you walk around that you get a sense of

experience of the place because they

have these incredibly long corridors

with these dominating high walls it must

mean quite a disorientating experience

perhaps led through one of these

doorways you enter out into these open

spaces or patios they would have been

covered in white paint ooh perhaps

murals

picky actor dominated this region

towards the end of the first millennium

and walking through these ruins today it

seems to me the worry laid the

foundations of how to build an empire in

the Andes

many of the ideas of so-called Inca

statecraft which we think of actually

had their roots in the worry not least

the road system you can't create a road

system in the time period that the Incas

were around him there was a great

expansion of people and ideas at a time

far deeper than the Inka a critical to

the success of the wari was their

understanding of this brutal environment

and the innovations they developed to

overcome it the worry were masters of

landscape transformation canals that

brought the water down from the mountain

peaks where the rains fall into the rich

agricultural regions where they terraced

the landscape in order to turn the

mountain sides into productive

agricultural lands the ingenious

solutions we see at work at the key

actor are I believe crucial in helping

us to understand not only the success of

the wari but also the Inka who came

after them

this aqueduct is part of a 48 kilometers

canal systems taking water from the high

mountains right into the heart of the

site of picky actor and down to the

agricultural terraces below this region

receives barely enough water to support

large-scale agriculture or settlement

and in times of drought this land can

become an incredibly difficult place for

humans to thrive

90% of the rainfall in the Andes falls

on the jungle regions only 10% makes it

to the western coasts only through

increased efficiency in agricultural

technologies in production can humans

respond effectively to drought that's

what the wari introduced the lesson of

the wari is that before you can build an

empire in this part of the world you

first need to master the landscape

itself the wari agrarian technology was

a drought adaptive technology it was

much more efficient in the use of water

than previous systems had been and that

gave the worry an adaptive edge in

bringing their new system to these local

groups that were living in that region

at the time

interestingly the challenges faced by

the wari still affects people here today

1,000 years later Peru's klimer remains

one of the most extreme and vulnerable

in the world

most of the rainfall that falls on the

Andes comes from South Atlantic sources

coming in as part of the monsoon or

system across the Amazon and brought up

into the Andes whereas the western side

of the Andes and the coast is is a

desert effectively because the winds

that come across the Pacific

unforunately most of the population of

Peru today live on that desert strip

I've come to the village of mattes high

in the Andes where a dry spell has made

life tough for local farmers like

felicitous Torres su casa es Kristensen

Brando por esta parte sembrando

- eco transplant a circuit in America

[Music]

total meter that I have well durante las

Ikea when I problem has kana lakum rode

a waterfall any noteworthy landmark on

the landscape could be considered what

the Incas called a waka or a shrine and

on very specific days of the year

pilgrimages would be made different kin

groups would line up along different

lines and march out to each of the

shrines making offerings to them for the

Inca this was an empire of the mind as

much as a physical Empire held together

by thousands of shrines and invisible

ley lines as much as by Garrison's or

military power

but an empire still needs physical bombs

by the end of the 15th century the Inca

Empire was approaching its greatest

extent reaching from southern Ecuador

eastwards to Bolivia and into northern

Argentina

it was criss crossed by 40,000

kilometers of roads

there were two main roads one running

from Cusco to Quito the other running

parallel along the coast between these

were dozens of connecting roads and

Spurs heading south and east

[Music]

this road system is one of the most

famous elements of the Inca Empire but

much of this network almost certainly

predates the Inca once again they took

what they found and upscaled it

some parts of that great system exists

at least since the wari Empire but the

Inca develop it they reconstructed large

parts of it they constructed bridges and

caused ways to integrate it and they

redirect some roads this is a huge

investment for them

the Inka road system was a triumph of

architecture and planning

the roads had to pass through a variety

of landscapes from arid desert to snowy

mountains to vertical cliffs they could

be anything from 1 to 10 metres wide in

the desert they were protected from

dusty winds by raised stones in the

mountains they were designed to allow

for runoff and drainage

and when the terrain made conventional

roads impossible the Inka once again

came up with an ingenious solution

this is the stunning kettle Chaka bridge

it's made out of only this straw and

it's been in use for hundreds of years

dating right back to the Inka period

this bridge still serves as a major

crossing of the appear amok River is

carefully maintained but to devote to

other things like expansion beyond their

borders it was also a great calling card

as they approached other cultures

because Murray shows that the ink of

problem solvers are able to create these

very efficient and effective managed

landscapes in a region where climate was

unpredictable and catastrophic where

people could often face starvation and

hunger the ability to provide a reliable

regular and good-quality amount of food

was a source of supreme power for the

Inka

but that's only part of the story for

the Inca state to flourish they needed

to not only grow enough food but also to

distribute it quickly and efficiently

which could be a serious problem when

you live in such a challenging landscape

as this

but a few miles north of Mirai is a

place which I think might hold the

answer

you

this is an amazing spot below me is the

town of Aliante humble and above it

clinging to the side of a cliff is a

series of tall buildings at first glance

they may not seem like the most

impressive thing but these structures

are critical to the foundations of the

entire increment

these are Colchis store houses and they

are iconic buildings found all over the

Inca Empire

sometimes they're by the side of roads

sometimes near centers of population

like here at Olympic Ambo these weren't

just barns for storing food they were

sophisticated silos that were critical

to the well-being of the people and the

maintenance of power in here would be

stored everything from maize to potatoes

textiles to weapons and vast numbers of

seeds that could be used for next year's

planting they were often located in

strategic places well-ventilated and not

prone to flooding

[Music]

the combined storage space of this

network would have run to hundreds of

thousands of cubic meters that means

that people across the Empire could be

supplied with everything they needed

whenever circumstances demanded

one of the ways that we can understand

the scale and the order of the Inka

warehousing systems is by looking at the

experience of the Spaniards who came in

in 1548 into the Upper Montero Valley or

the central highlands of Peru there were

2,000 of them and they stayed there for

multiple weeks and they said at the end

of that period they couldn't recognize

it that made a dent in the warehouses

and the contents of the facilities

the combined storage space of this

network would have run to hundreds of

thousands of cubic meters that means

that people across the Empire could be

supplied with everything they needed

whenever circumstances demanded

one of the ways that we can understand

the scale and the order of the Inka

warehousing systems is by looking at the

experience of the Spaniards who came in

in 1548 into the Upper Montero Valley or

the central highlands of Peru there were

2,000 of them and they stayed there for

multiple weeks and they said at the end

of that period they couldn't recognize

it that made a dent in the warehouses in

the contents of the facilities these

storehouses tell me that the Inka

understood the need to provide food

security for the people they ruled it's

actually quite a modern idea in the UK

during the fuel protests of 2000

Supermarket bosses told the government

they only had enough fuel to distribute

food to the people for another three

days after that they'd start to go

hungry this focuses the mind on food

security because it's not just about

growing food it's about storage and

distribution that is perhaps most

important and the Inka understood this

that's why they created this vast system

of storage facilities and a distribution

network that got the food to the people

and this was important during times of

drought an environmental disaster

the inca storehouses sometimes of

scarcity and times of drought could be

used to feed the populace is to feed the

masses in order to save them from

certain death and destruction to the

people who who did the farming they were

a source of security and insurance if

you will against the bad years knowing

that the Inca state would be able to

provide for them but I suspect these

storehouses Ceph more than a practical

administrative function the storehouses

provided a highly visible symbol of the

Inca state to its people

demonstrating both its reach and its

benevolence

there was a basic level of understanding

that the Inka would care for the poorest

members of its society it was a basic

social contract if you will these

storehouses were an important logistical

element of a growing Empire but they

also hint at the developing nature of

Inka power itself

you get a sense of the different type of

Empire when you come to a place like

this you see how much effort they went

to to provide for people's needs it's

almost an attractive type of Empire that

people would want to become part of why

wouldn't you want to join an empire that

provided for you in times of need good

times and bad the creation of these

store how

many of the ideas of so-called Inca

statecraft if we think of actually had

their roots in the worry not least the

road system you can't create a road

system in the time period that the Incas

were around him

there was a great expansion of people

and ideas at a time far deeper than the

Incan critical to the success of the

wari was their understanding of this

brutal environment and the innovations

they developed to overcome it the worry

were masters of landscape transformation

canals that brought the water down from

the mountain peaks where the rains fall

into the rich agricultural regions where

they terraced the landscape in order to

turn the mountainsides into productive

agricultural lands the ingenious

solutions we see at work at picky actor

are I believe crucial in helping us to

understand not only the success of the

wari but also the Inka who came after

them

this aqueduct is part of a 48 kilometer

of canal systems taking water from the

high mountains right into the heart of

the site of picky actor and down to the

agricultural terraces below this region

receives barely enough water to support

large-scale agriculture or settlement

and in times of drought this land can

become an incredibly difficult place for

humans to thrive

90% of the rainfall in the Andes falls

on the jungle regions only 10% makes it

to the western coasts only through

increased efficiency in agricultural

technologies in production can humans

respond effectively to drought that's

what the wari introduced the lesson of

the wari is that before you can build an

empire in this part of the world you

first need to master the landscape

itself the wari agrarian technology was

a drought adaptive technology it was

much more efficient in the use of water

than previous systems had been and that

gave the worry an adaptive edge in

bringing their new system to these local

groups that were living in that region

at the time

interestingly the challenges faced by

the wari still affects people here today

1,000 years later Peru's klimer remains

one of the most extreme and vulnerable

in the world

[Music]

most of the rainfall that falls on the

Andes comes from South Atlantic sources

coming in as part of monsoon or system

across the Amazon and brought up into

the Andes whereas the western side of

the elides

it's understanding the

interrelationships between them that is

important

no society suddenly appears

independently on its own but some

societies can be so successful that

their influence spreads far and wide

that was the case with the wari

the wari were the first to unite

multiple areas about from north to south

covering most of modern-day really picky

ACTA was one of the wari Empire's most

impressive settlements it's been

estimated that cumulatively it would

have taken six million days of

back-breaking labor to build it this is

a vast and beautiful site and a really

important one for the wari but is when

you walk around that you get a sense of

experience of the place because they

have these incredibly long corridors

with these dominating high walls it must

mean quite a disorientating experience

perhaps led through one of these

doorways you enter out into these open

spaces or patios that would have been

covered in white paint too perhaps

murals

picking actor dominated this region

towards the end of the first millennium

and walking through these ruins today it

seems to me

the wari laid the foundations of how to

build an empire in the Andes

many of the ideas of so-called Inca

statecraft if we think of actually had

their roots in the worry not least the

road system you can't create a road

system in the time period that the Incas

were around in there was a great

expansion of people and ideas at a time

far deeper than than the Incan critical

to the success of the wari

was their understanding of this brutal

environment and the innovations they

developed to overcome it the worry were

masters of landscape transformation

canals that brought the water down from

the mountain peaks where the rains fall

into the rich agricultural regions where

they terraced the landscape in order to

turn the mountainsides into productive

agricultural lands the ingenious

solutions we see at work at picky actor

are I believe crucial in helping us to

understand not only the success of the

wari but also the Inka who came after

them

this aqueduct is part of a 48 kilometers

on network of canal systems taking water

from the high mountains right into the

heart of the site of picky actor and

down to the agricultural terraces below

this region receives barely enough water

today the temperature at the top of the

terraces is 16 degrees centigrade down

here at the bottom you have this

crucible effect when the temperature is

much warmer there's no air flow and

these stone terraces circle round

radiating the heat here you can see it's

over 22 degrees now

the difference in temperature from the

top of this site to the bottom means

that each terrace at mirai represents a

different ecological zone as you move up

the side of the Andes

the implications of this are profound it

means this was a place where Inca

engineers created their own

microclimates allowing them to

experiment in cultivating a variety of

different crops which would not normally

have been grown at these altitudes

tomatoes squashes pumpkins types of

tobacco that's not so beneficial perhaps

but it underlies the point that although

we marvel at the zen aesthetic of machu

picchu and so forth really what's much

more important in my view is the legacy

of their agriculture

the Incas were essentially reconfiguring

the biotic landscape by changing the

terrain changing the heat and water

retention capacities through their

terracing systems which developed a

series of warm weather estates in a cold

weather climate these terraces show how

the Inka understood the advantages of

this vertical landscape in effect they

farmed upwards they managed to turn the

harsh contours of the land to their

advantage and by growing different crops

at different elevations it gave them a

huge diversity in the crops that they

grew this had two key advantages one

they had a healthier and more diverse

diet and two it helped mitigate against

the impact in the past that had created

hunger and unrest droughts and floods

pests and frost this is what I mean when

I say the Inka scaled up war ii

technology in craig r acculturating a

family or even a city it was about

scientifically managing production so

they could feed an empire

by creating this food surplus it

provided time to devote to other things

like expansion beyond their borders it

was also a great calling card as they

approached other cultures because Mirai

shows that the inko are problem solvers

unable to create these very efficient

and effective managed landscapes

in a region where climate was

unpredictable and catastrophic where

people could often face starvation and

hunger the ability to provide a reliable

regular and good-quality amount of food

was a source of supreme prosperous no

say it's Tom Spencer Devo they lost

Nieto's see

[Music]

what's happening in mad aster day also

happened here many centuries ago but the

wiry did not have the option to bus in

tanks of water to sustain them

the end of the first millennium we know

that conditions were were both dry and

really quite cold up in the mountains

and that's the time when the wari

disappeared from the archaeological

record

the wari understood their environment

but a prolonged drought may have proved

too much even for them

climate change could have been one of

the factors which put a lot of pressure

on the wiry

now the societies knew how to deal with

short-term climate change they had in

place a lot of strategies that enable

them to cope but climate at those

altitudes is one of the real pressure

points

[Music]

however ingenious the wiry solutions

were to the challenges they faced their

power waned

but there can be little doubt that the

Inca built on the knowledge of what the

wari

left behind we have people continuing to

live in the Cusco region continuing the

oral traditions and the historical

traditions of the wari within the Cusco

region that the inca could have picked

up upon the inca also had the benefit of

the monuments that the glory had built

and right in their backyard the wari

created a large and powerful state they

were able to harness the harsh

environments using ingenious large-scale

construction projects like this

technology is often associated with the

Inka but the reason I like this one is

that you can see the original wiry

construction behind reused and restored

by the Inka with this lovely stonework

at the front the inca are using wiry

technology but the crucial difference is

they're also upscaling it

to see exactly how they did this I'm

heading north into the heart of the

Cusco Valley

this mountainous land is not naturally

suited to large-scale agricultural

production

the challenges presented by the harsh

climate are considerable but here the

incas remarkable ability to

problem-solve revolutionized agriculture

and play the key role in the expansion

of their empire

[Music]

this is Mariah it lies three and a half

thousand metres above sea level and is

one of the most remarkable but the wiry

did not have the option to bus in tanks

of water to sustain them

the end of the first millennium we know

that conditions were were both dry and

really quite cold up in the mountains

and that's the time when the wiry

disappeared from the parking lot record

the wari understood their environment

but a prolonged drought may have proved

too much even for them

climate change could have been one of

the factors which put a lot of pressure

on the wiry now the societies knew how

to deal with short-term climate change

they had in place a lot of strategies

that enable them to cope but climate at

those altitudes is one of the real

pressure points

[Music]

however ingenious the wiry solutions

were to the challenges they faced their

power waned

but there can be little doubt that the

Inca built on the knowledge of what the

wari left behind

we have people continuing to live in the

Cusco region continuing the oral

traditions and the historical traditions

of the wari within the Cusco region that

the inca could have picked up upon the

inca also had the benefit of the

monuments that the Ori had built and

right in their backyard the wari created

a large and powerful State they were

able to harness the harsh environments

using ingenious large-scale construction

projects like this technologies often

associated with the Inca but the reason

they're like this one is that you can

see the original wiry construction

behind reused and restored by the Inca

with this lovely stonework at the front

the inca are using wiry technology but

the crucial difference is they're also

upscaling it

to see exactly how they did this I'm

heading north into the heart of the

Cusco Valley

this mountainous land is not naturally

suited to large-scale agricultural

production

the challenge is presented by the harsh

climate a considerable

but here the incas remarkable ability to

problem-solve revolutionized agriculture

and play the key role in the expansion

of their empire

[Music]

this is Mariah it lies three and a half

thousand metres above sea level and is

one of the most remarkable human

landscapes on earth Mariah consists of

three huge limestone depressions into

which terraces have been carved this is

the place where Inka skills in

engineering and agriculture combined

perfectly it's a place which UK during

the fuel protests of 2000 supermarket

bosses told the government they only had

enough fuel to distribute food to the

people for another three days after that

they'd start to go hungry this focuses

the mind on food security because it's

not just about growing food it's about

storage and distribution that is perhaps

most important and the Inka understood

this that's why they created this vast

system of storage facilities and a

distribution network that got the food

to the people and this was important

during times of drought an environmental

disaster

the inca storehouses in times of

scarcity and times of drought could be

used to feed the populace is to feed the

masses in order to save them from

certain death and destruction to the

people who who did the farming they were

a source of security and insurance if

you will against the bad years knowing

that the Inca state would be able to

provide for them but I suspect these

stole houses safe more than a practical

administrative function the storehouses

provided a highly visible symbol of the

Inca state to its people demonstrating

both its reach and its benevolence there

was a basic level of understanding that

the Inca would care for the poorest

members of its society it was a basic

social contract if you will these

storehouses were an important logistical

element of a growing Empire but they

also hint at the developing nature of

Inca power itself

you get a sense of the different type of

Empire when you come to a place like

this you see how much effort they went

to to provide for people's needs it's

almost an attractive type of Empire that

people would want to become part of why

wouldn't you want to join an empire that

provided for you in times of need good

times and bad the creation of these

storehouses tells us a lot about the

great incre ability to organize and plan

the use of their resources they embody

an empire which could offer solutions to

the people of the Andes but in order to

truly understand the nature of Inka

power I think we also have to look at

how they approach these people in the

first place how in effect they pitched

their empire to the people they were

ruled to find out how they did it I'm

taking the road west towards the ocean

this is the temple of magic hammock on

the Pacific coast of Peru

and you can see the distinctive method

of Inca Empire building at work here

for thousands of years before the Inca

this was one of the most important and

this means the origins of the Inca date

back much further than we originally

thought I think it also means that when

they started to build their empire the

Inca built upon the achievements of

people who went before

[Music]

a few hours drive south of Cusco there

are the remains of a long-forgotten

settlement

remnants of buildings and streets which

stretch over nearly two square

kilometers

but these ruins aren't Inca they were

built by a people who rose and fell long

before the Inca dominated this region

[Music]

these people were called the wari and

this place was known as peaky actor and

I believe the Inka learnt a great deal

from what the wari built here throughout

this part of South America you can find

the remains of cultures stretching back

thousands of years these past societies

had their own worldviews belief systems

and ways of living their lives and it's

understanding the interrelationships

between them that is important

no society suddenly appears

independently on its own but some

societies can be so successful that

their influence spreads far and wide

that was the case with the wari

the worry were the first to unite

multiple areas about from north to south

covering most of modern-day true

picky actor was one of the wiry empires

most impressive settlements

it's been estimated that cumulatively it

would have taken six million days of

back-breaking labor to build it this is

a vast and beautiful site and a really

important one for the wiry but is when

you walk around that you get a sense of

experience of the place because they

have these incredibly long corridors

with these dominating high walls it must

mean quite a disorientating experience

perhaps led through one of these

doorways you enter out into these open

spaces or patios they would have been

covered in white paint too perhaps

murals

picking actor dominated this region

towards the end of the first millennium

and walking through these ruins today it

seems to me the warrior laid the

foundations of how to build an empire in

the Andes

many of the ideas of vertical cliffs

they could be anything from 110 meters

wide in the desert they were protected

from dusty winds by raised stones in the

mountains they were designed to allow

for runoff and drainage

and when the terrain made conventional

roads impossible the Inka once again

came up with an ingenious solution

this is the stunning kettle jacker

bridge it's made out of only this straw

and it's been in use for hundreds of

years dating right back to the Inka

period this bridge still serves as a

major crossing of the appear amok River

is carefully maintained by the four

communities who live here among the

workers is Dan Tiki Spurlock aware

quanto gente más o menos calico Mina's

tiene aproximadamente siento cincuenta

siento gente se siente algo de Gama

skomal typical note and em2 magicians

personas que tiene la marea Prosser lay

mrs. kettle estos días estos hombres que

zombie a hos que esta haciendo el el

tipo de trajo para entregar

t donde beam en lasa brewery race USAG

way lows esse Acedo de nuestros de los

incas yeah sebum pasando los

generaciones Yancey dodo

the roads allowed the Inka to travel

swiftly and communicate efficiently

throughout their vast empire it's

estimated a message could be carried

from Frisco to Quito a distance of 1500

kilometers in just five days

but seeing Dante and his comrades at

work it strikes me that the roads were

about much more than just communication

more than just getting from A to B this

network was a psychological tool as well

as a physical one these roads and

bridges were a constant reminder to

communities all over the Andes that they

were part of something bigger

[Music]

it probably provided a ideological

mechanism of integration so that in

constructing that road system you could

not but be aware that you were

integrating cusco with the coast you

were a part of empire

we must remember that there is no idea

of a map of the ink Empire it is largely

through the connection of individual

places through roads and trackways and

through ceremonial and ritual activities

that the ink Empire holds together

the network was so vast that new parts

of it are still being uncovered today

this is a newly discovered road it's

absolutely extraordinary it clings to

the side

what Bingham saw astonished him peeking

through centuries of vegetation were

dozens of granite buildings vast

terraces were cut into the mountainside

criss-crossed by hundreds of steep stone

steps

the effect on the young Explorer was

dazzling like a dream

[Music]

when Bingham arrived here at matcha

pitch you he thought he had discovered

the lost city of the Inca a place so

secret and it remained hidden as

Europeans overrun the entire continent

of South America for Bingham this site

was the Holy Grail the keys are

unlocking the mysteries of the Inca the

largest pre-columbian empire in the

Americas but match you pitch you

provides only a glimpse of an incredible

Empire it's only one part of a

remarkable tale this is the story of a

people who 600 years ago built an empire

that stretched from barren coastal

desert to lush tropical jungle from the

edge of the Pacific Ocean to the high

plains of Chile in Argentina it's a

story of wealth power innovation and

bloodshed all happening in some of the

toughest landscapes on the planet

fundamentally this is the story of an

empire unlike any other one with a

completely different world view - the

Europeans who come to conquer it and is

that different way of seeing the world

of gaming and holding power over so many

people that make the Inca absolutely

fascinating

the question I want to answer is how did

they do it

[Music]

there are very good reasons why the inca

have long fascinated us their empire was

the biggest in the Americas before the

arrival of Europeans at its height in

the fifteenth century over ten million

people were under their rule their vast

Kingdom was connected by a sophisticated

road network stretching for thousands of

kilometers but most remarkable of all is

the apparent speed of their rise to

power

in the 14th century the Inca were one of

many independent peoples who lived high

in the Andes yet they emerged from their

cuzco stronghold and seemingly in the

space of just 100 and when the terrain

made conventional roads impossible the

Inka once again came up with an

ingenious solution

this is the stunning kettle jacker

bridge it's made out of only this straw

and it's been in use for hundreds of

years dating right back to the Inka

period this bridge still serves as a

major crossing of the appearing at River

it is carefully maintained by the four

communities who live here hola among the

workers is Dan Vicki's below Cooper

quanto gente más o menos que da Cunha's

tiene aproximadamente cientos in cuenta

siento gente se siente gente algo TI

most common typical note and ambitions

personas que tienes que Bonita yuria

Prosser Lamy dicen que tienen estos días

estos hombres que zombie a hos que esta

haciendo el el tipo de trabajo para

entregar t donde beam en lasa billiards

use Abuelo's de s SE Acedo de nuestros

de los incas ya see van pasando knows

generaciones Yancey dodo

the roads allowed the Inka to travel

swiftly and communicate efficiently

throughout their vast empire it's

estimated a message could be carried

from Cusco to Quito a distance of 1500

kilometers in just five days

but seeing Dante and his comrades at

work it strikes me that the roads were

about much more than just communication

more than just getting from A to B this

network was a psychological tool as well

as a physical one these roads and

bridges were a constant reminder to

communities all over the Andes that they

were part of something bigger

[Music]

it probably provided a ideological

mechanism of integration so that in

constructing that road system you could

not but be aware that you were

integrating cusco with the coast you

were a part of empire

we must remember that there is no idea

than that of the ink empire it is

largely through the connection of

individual places through roads and

trackways and through ceremonial and

ritual activities that the ink Empire

holds together

the network was so vast that new parts

of it are still being uncovered today

this is a newly discovered road it's

absolutely extraordinary it clings to

the side of the cliff

with the 300 meter drop off down to the

river below

[Music]

these roads are about more than just

travel they're the physical timely by

understanding this we can begin to

unravel the true story of the rise of

the Inca Empire if you contrast the

historical information to the

archaeological information we get a very

different picture studies of the

emergence of the Incas as a power over

neighboring societies surrounding Cusco

so that they were probably a pretty

potent Society perhaps even a state as

early as almost a hundred years before

their emergence as a ruling Empire

this means the origins of the Inca date

back much further than we originally

thought I think it also means that when

they started to build their empire the

Inca built upon the achievements of

people who went before

[Music]

a few hours drive south of Cusco there

are the remains of a long-forgotten

settlement

remnants of buildings and streets which

stretch over nearly two square

kilometers

but these ruins aren't Inca they were

built by a people who rose and fell long

before the Inca dominated this region

[Music]

these people were called the wari and

this place was known as peaky actor and

I believe the Inca learned a great deal

from what the worry built here

throughout this part of South America

you can find the remains of cultures

stretching back thousands of years these

past societies had their own worldviews

belief systems and ways of living their

lives and it's understanding the

interrelationships between them that is

important

no society suddenly appears

independently on its own but some

societies can be so successful that

their influence spreads far and wide

that was the case with the wari

to worry were the first to unite

multiple area is about from north to

south covering most of modern-day true

picky actor was one of the wiry empires

most impressive settlements

it's been estimated that cumulatively it

would have taken six million days of

back-breaking labor to build it this is

a vast and beautiful site and a really

important one for the wiry but is when

you walk around that you get a sense of

experience of the place because they

have these incredibly long corridors

with these dominating high walls it must

mean quite a disorientating experience

perhaps led through one of these

doorways you enter out into these open

spaces or patios there were make these

terraces show how the Inka understood

the advantages of this vertical

landscape in effect they farmed upwards

they managed to turn the harsh contours

of the land to their advantage

and by growing different crops at

different elevations it gave them a huge

diversity in the crops that they grew

this had two key advantages one they had

a healthier and more diverse diet and

two it helped mitigate against the

impact in the past that had created

hunger and unrest droughts and floods

pests and frost

[Music]

this is what I mean when I say the Inca

scaled-up War II technology in Craig R

acculturating a family or even a city it

was about scientifically managing

production so they could feed an empire

by creating this food surplus it

provided time to devote to other things

like expansion beyond their borders it

was also a great calling card as they

approached other cultures because Mirai

shows that the ink are problem-solvers

unable to create these very efficient

and effective managed landscapes in a

region where climate was unpredictable

and catastrophic where people could

often face starvation and hunger the

ability to provide a reliable regular

and good-quality amount of food was a

source of supreme power for the Inka

but that's only part of the story for

the Inca state to flourish they needed

to not only grow enough food but also to

distribute it quickly and efficiently

which could be a serious problem when

you live in such a challenging landscape

as this

but a few miles north of Mirai is a

place which I think might hold the

answer

you

this is an amazing spot below me is the

town of Aliante humble and above it

clinging to the side of a cliff is a

series of tall buildings at first glance

they may not seem like the most

impressive thing but these structures

are critical to the foundations of the

entire increment

these are Colchis store houses and they

are iconic buildings found all over the

Inca Empire

sometimes they're by the side of roads

sometimes near centers of population

like here at Olympic Ambo these weren't

just barns for storing food they were

sophisticated silos that were critical

to the well-being of the people and the

maintenance of power in here would be

stored everything from maize to potatoes

textiles to weapons and vast numbers of

seeds that could be used for next year's

planting they were often located in

strategist between these were dozens of

connecting roads and Spurs heading south

and east

[Music]

this road system is one of the most

famous elements of the Inca Empire but

much of this network almost certainly

predates the Inca once again they took

what they found and upscaled it

some parts of that great system exists

at least since the wari Empire but the

Inca develop it they reconstruct large

parts of it they constructed bridges and

caused ways to integrate it and they

redirect some roads this is a huge

investment for them

the Inka road system was a triumph of

architecture and planning

the roads had to pass through a variety

of landscapes from arid desert to snowy

mountains to vertical cliffs they could

be anything from 1 to 10 metres wide in

the desert they were protected from

dusty winds by raised stones in the

mountains they were designed to allow

for runoff and drainage

and when the terrain made conventional

roads impossible the Inka once again

came up with an ingenious solution

this is the stunning kettle Chaka bridge

it's made out of only this straw and

it's been in use for hundreds of years

dating right back to the Inka period

this bridge still serves as a major

crossing of the appear amok river it is

carefully maintained by the four

communities who live here Allah among

the workers is dan tricky spell October

quanto gente más o menos que da Cunha's

tiene aproximadamente cientos en cuenta

siento she ain't see no se siente gente

o algo en si I was comin typical not an

diem xuong Hitchens personas que tienes

que bonito urea Prosser Lamy dicen que

tienen estos días estos hombres que

zombie a hos que esta haciendo el el

tipo de trabajo para entregar t donde

beam en lasa billiard asu's Abuelo's de

vida es se hace dos de los incas ya see

van pasando knows generaciones Yancey

dounia's que trabajan

the roads allowed the Inka to travel

swiftly and communicate efficiently

throughout their vast empire it's

estimated a message could be carried

from Cusco to Quito a distance of 1500

kilometers in just five days

but seeing Dante and his comrades at

work it strikes me that the roads were

about much more than just communication

more than just getting from A to B this

network was a psychological tool street

quite differently by understanding this

we can begin to unravel the true story

of the rise of the Inca Empire if you

contrast the historical information to

the archaeological information we get a

very different picture studies of the

emergence of the Incas as a power over

neighboring societies surrounding Cusco

so that they were probably a pretty

potent Society perhaps even a state as

early as almost a hundred years before

their emergence as a ruling Empire

this means the origins of the Inca date

back much further than we originally

thought I think it also means that when

they started to build their empire the

Inca built upon the achievements of

people who went before

[Music]

a few hours drive south of Cusco there

are the remains of a long-forgotten

settlement

remnants of buildings and streets which

stretch over nearly two square

kilometers

but these ruins aren't Inca they were

built by a people who rose and fell long

before the Inca dominated this region

[Music]

these people were called the wari and

this place was known as peaky actor and

I believe the inca learn a great deal

from what the wari built here

throughout this part of South America

you can find the remains of cultures

stretching back thousands of years these

past societies had their own worldviews

belief systems and ways of living their

lives it's understanding the

interrelationships between them that is

important

no society suddenly appears

independently on its own but some

societies can be so successful that

their influence spreads far and wide

that was the case with the wari

the worry were the first to unite

multiple area is about from north to

south covering most of modern-day true

picky actor was one of the wari empires

most impressive settlements

it's been estimated that cumulatively it

would have taken six million days of

back-breaking labor to build it this is

a vast and beautiful site and a really

important one for the wari but is when

you walk around that you get a sense of

experience of the place because they

have these incredibly long corridors

with these dominating high walls it must

mean quite a disorientating experience

perhaps led through one of these

doorways you enter out into these open

spaces or patio it means this was a

place where Inca engineers created their

own micro climates allowing them to

experiment in cultivating a variety of

different crops which would not normally

have been grown at these altitudes

tomatoes squashes pumpkins types of

tobacco that's not so beneficial perhaps

but it underlies the point that although

we marvel at the zen aesthetic of machu

picchu and so forth really what's much

more important in my view is the legacy

of their agriculture

the Incas were essentially reconfiguring

the biotic landscape by changing the

terrain changing the heat and water

retention capacities through their

terracing systems which developed a

series of warm weather estates in a cold

weather climate these terraces show how

the Inka understood the advantages of

this vertical landscape in effect they

farmed upwards they managed to turn the

harsh contours of the land to their

advantage and by growing different crops

at different elevations it gave them a

huge diversity in the crops that they

grew this had two key advantages one

they had a healthier and more diverse

diet and two it helped mitigate against

the impact in the past that had created

hunger unrest droughts and floods pests

and frost this is what I mean when I say

the Inka scaled up war ii technology in

Cragar culture wasn't just about feeding

a family or even a city it was about

scientifically managing production so

they could feed an empire

by creating this food surplus it

provided time to devote to other things

like expansion beyond their borders it

was also a great calling card as they

approached other cultures because Mirai

shows that the inco are problem solvers

unable to create these very efficient

and effective managed landscapes

in a region where climate was

unpredictable and catastrophic where

people could often face starvation and

hunger the ability to provide a reliable

regular and good-quality amount of food

was a source of supreme power for the

Inka

but that's only part of the story for

the Inca state to flourish they needed

to not only grow enough food but also to

distribute it quickly and efficiently

which could be a serious problem when

you live in such a challenging landscape

as this

but a few miles north of Mirai is a

place which I think might hold the

answer

you

as comrades at work it strikes me

that the roads were about much more than

just communication more than just

getting from A to B this network was a

psychological tool as well as a physical

one these roads and bridges were a

constant reminder to communities all

over the Andes that they were part of

something bigger

[Music]

it probably provided a ideological

mechanism of integration so that in

constructing that road system you could

not but be aware that you were

integrating cusco with the coast you

were a part of empire

we must remember that there is no idea

than that of the ink empire it is

largely through the connection of

individual places through roads and

trackways and through ceremonial and

ritual activities that the ink Empire

holds together

the network was so vast that new parts

of it are still being uncovered today

this is a newly discovered road it's

absolutely extraordinary it clings to

the side of the cliff with the 300 meter

drop off down to the river below

[Music]

these roads are about more than just

travel they're the physical ties that

bind the empire together and

underpinning kur power armies food and

livestock can move quickly along them no

matter where you are in the Empire

you're never far from a road that leads

to Cusco and that proximity means Inca

power is ever-present no matter which

corner of the Empire in

[Music]

this road leads down to Machu Picchu it

isn't on any of the tourist itineraries

and it may not be as celebrated as what

lies below but it is part of the same

empire built by the same people and is

in its own way just as important as that

iconic inca ruin from a Western

perspective ancient empires are lauded

for victorious battles ingenious systems

of governance and control territorial

expansion and domination through

generations the Inca achieved all this

and more

[Music]

[Music]

if we define power as the ability to

control people's actions and behavior

then I think we have a tremendous amount

to learn from the income because force

was just one small tool in their armory

to give people the sense of free will