Architectural analysis of the Moqi Inca site

Abstract

In the Andes region of South America grew one of the largest and most powerful empires in the history of the world, the Inca. These master architects, planners, logisticians, and warriors expanded rapidly from the central valleys of Peru and across a wide swath of the South American continent before ultimately falling at the hands of the Spanish invaders. During their approximately one hundred year long reign however, the Inca created a vast administrative network as they expanded and as a result, a number of smaller settlements and outposts were strategically built along the various roads that crisscrossed this mountainous region. One such site is Moqi, located in the Locumba Valley of Southern Peru. It is here that we may find answers surrounding the expansionary tactics of the Inca as well as the systems they put in place to rapidly build an empire from the ground up.