What were the sources of strength and prosperity, and of problems, for the Incas?

IInca was the name of a governing family of the largest and last Andean empire. The empire, whose people we will call the Incas, was called Tawantinsuyu (TAH-want-een-soo-you), meaning from “from the four parts, one,” expressing the idea of a unified people stretching in all directions.

image
Machu PicchuThe Inca ruins of Machu Picchu rise spectacularly above the steep valley of the Urubamba River. The site was built around 1450 as a royal estate and abandoned after the Spanish conquest. (Tony Camacho/Photo Researchers, Inc.)