‘The Temple of the Sun’
That’s where she told us we were standing as she explained that everyone gets it wrong when they call it the Incan Empire.
For it was not an empire at all.
Empire suggests violent conquest and bloody battles and walls and impenetrable fortresses.
But here, apparently, the doors were always open. There were no closed gates or barriers to entry into the Incan communities. It was open to anyone and everyone. Until Spanish rule, she explained, the Inca civilization grew through peaceful assimilation. In fact, the Inca Trail itself was designed to connect all parts of the Incan territory, stretching from Columbia all the way down to Bolivia.
Therefore, rather than empire, she posited Incan Civilization.
Read More