Chavín was the first great unifying culture in the Andes. Its scattered settlements, the largest of which was Chavín de Huántar, shared a distinctive art, architecture, and way of life that influenced a number of ethnic groups.
Located near Lake Titicaca, the city of Tiwanaku was the core of a culture whose religion, art, and architecture influenced much of the southern Andes. To foster trade and the distribution of resources, the Aymara people of Tiwanaku built roads all the way to the Pacific Coast.
The Wari were empire builders. From the highlands of Peru, they expanded their territory and spread their religion. To control remote areas, the Wari established provincial centers and an extensive road network.
The well-organized Chimú capital, Chan Chan, was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere in its day. The Chimú built a road network, canals, and irrigation systems to help them expand along the northern coast of Peru.
The Inka began their rise in the early 1200s. Based in Cusco, they grew first into a small kingdom, adapting many practices and policies of earlier cultures. In 1438 Inka rulers began to conquer neighboring territories, eventually creating the largest empire in the Western Hemisphere.
Under Spanish rule, the Inka Empire rapidly deteriorated. The Spanish brought new diseases, animals, and plants, and introduced new beliefs and laws, all of which transformed the lives of Andean peoples, their land, and their road. The Spanish established new cities and founded Lima as their colonial capital. Cusco was stripped of its power and remodeled with cathedrals, public halls, and houses built in the Spanish style. Many of the city's great Inka buildings were destroyed.
Spanish invaders destroyed the system that maintained the Inka Empire. They imposed a new religion and tried to erase cultural traditions. They imported plants and animals that altered the environment. Within one hundred years, nearly eighty percent of the Native population died of European diseases. Spanish explorers were driven by a thirst for gold and silver.
They adopted the Catholic religion but blend its customs with older beliefs. Inka ceremonies and pilgrimages now incorporate Catholic saints. The Spanish distorted the Andean value of ayni (reciprocity) only to benefit themselves.
