inca
n. countablen. a member of the powerful group of people who ruled a large empire in South America before the Spanish arrived. They are famous for their amazing stone buildings and roads in the mountains.
n. a member of the South American people who established an extensive empire in the Andes region from the 12th century until the Spanish conquest in the 1530s.
The Inca built incredible cities high in the mountains.
Archaeologists continue to study how the Inca managed to transport massive stones to build the walls of Machu Picchu.
The administrative sophistication of the Inca allowed them to govern a diverse population across thousands of miles of rugged terrain using a complex system of knotted strings for record-keeping.
Borrowed from Spanish inca, from Classical Quechua inka (“emperor”).
Often used as a collective noun or as an adjective to describe the culture, language, or empire.