Inca Rulers

The inca empire had 21 known inca rulers, 12 of them were crown properly, one of them was the chosen successor but die before been crown, one of them became inca king by killing the right successor and never was crown, 6 of them were chosen by the spaniards as puppets during the spanish occupation and the last one was the very last leader of the resistance against the spaniards, after him the incas culture was completely dissolve.

Some investigators believe that there were more than 91 inca rulers in the incas history; Though other investigators affirm that were more than 1050 inca kings, since the beginnings of the incas culture, when they were a simple inca tribe until their destruction by the spaniards; They do not have enough proof to back up this theories, perhaps we will never know the true, so in this page we will focus in the 12 main crown inca kings, that have relevance in history.

The inca rulers genealogy is divide in two: The first is the Hanan family or upper family and the second is the Hurin family or lower family, some investigators believe that the difference withing them was because, the Hanan family was related to the first inca king and the Hurin family was related to the first inca queen; To be consider inca king, you must be crown with the Mascaipacha by the supreme priest and your name must be recorded in the incas history arcade.

The inca rulers history arcade was call Capaccuna, the supreme priest was the responsible of recording the names of the inca kings, we know that in occasions some names were erase; Today the incas history arcade contains only 12 names; The first name is Manco Capac 1198-1228, who was the legendary founder of the kingdom, the inca mythology say that Manco Capac and his wife Mama Ocllo came out from the Titicaca lake and teach great knowledge to the people.

The second name in the list was Hurin Sinchi Roca 1228-1258, he put special attention in developing new technics of agriculture; The third king was Lloque Yupanqui 1258-1288, he inherited an unstable kingdom, during his rule he did a great job keeping together the kingdom; The fourth inca king was Mayta Capac 1288-1318, he was the first warrior inca king, his fierce attitude and ambition of power took him to war with neighbor cultures, starting the very first incas expansion.

The fifth inca king was Cápac Yupanqui 1318-1348, he was the last inca king from the Hurin family, he was a great warrior like his father, he was the first inca king that conquer tribes out side of the Cuzco valley; The sixth name in the list was Inca Roca 1348-1378, he was the first inca king from the Hanan family, he introduce the Hanan family in all aspect of the government, dividing the city of Cuzco into the Hanan half and the Hurin half.

The seventh name of the inca rulers list was Hanan Yahuar Huaca 1378-1408, he was kidnap by the enemy tribe of Ayarmacas when he was eight, he eventually escaped with the help of one of his captors mistresses; The eight inca king was Wiracocha 1408-1438, he was the first inca king that conquer cultures with the method of convincing them, to get into the incas culture, transforming them into provinces, before him all wars end by killing everyone in the tribe.

The ninth and most important of the inca rulers was Pachacútec Inca Yupanqui 1438-1471, the greatest warrior of all times, he was the first inca king that create a professional army, fact that will motivate the expansion of the incas culture into the incas empire that we know today; The tenth inca king was Túpac inca Yupanqui 1471-1493, he follow the lead of his father expanding the kingdom even more further to north and south, he continue and improve the creation of new subordinate provinces to the kingdom.

The tenth first and last proper crown of the inca rulers was Huayna Cápac 1493-1527, he carry on with the example of his father and grand father, growing more and more the kingdom; During the expansion of the kingdom, Huayna Cápac and his successor Ninan Cuyochi, live in the north of the territories for years and his second son huáscar was in Cuzco.

Right then the spaniards arrive, the smallpox that the spaniards broad kill Huayna Cápac and his successor Ninan Cuyochi, so the second son Huáscar was the next in list to be crown inca king; Huascar was the tenth second and last inca king 1527-1532; In 1532 Huascar was kill by his little brother Atahualpa, the name of Atahualpa is not part of the inca rulers arcade list, witch means that he never was crown, then in the 1533 Atahualpa was kill by the spaniards.

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