A Close Reading

Investigation with

Annotation Guide &

Common Core Analysis

Common

Core!

Common Core Writing 6-8.1, Common Core Literacy 6-8.2,4 & 10

Copyright © 2015 Instructomania Pavlovich

The Founding of a vast empire

T he Inca Empire emanated sometime

around 1200 A.D. Until then, small

villages lived simple lives helping each

other with farming for survival. Legend

says that four brothers arose from Lake Titicaca

of the Andes mountains and journeyed together.

By the end of that trip only Manco Capac

survived. He placed a golden staff into the ground

as a tribute to his brothers where the Tullamayo

and Huantanay rivers collide, and its location

became the sacred city of Cuzco. When the Inca

Empire hit it’s peak somewhere between 1493 -

1527, it spread 300,000 square miles and

included parts of modern-day Ecuador, Bolivia,

Colombia, Peru, and Chile. In order to

communicate and keep control, Inca leaders

constructed and maintained a myriad of roads

that totaled 25,000 miles.

An Atypical way of governing

The Incas dubbed their empire Tawantinsuyu, the

“Land of the Four Corners,” The empire was

divided up into four suyu (or regions) with the

capital Cuzco at the center. Each suyu was then

broken down into provinces run by local chiefs.

All the Inca people were required to divide their

land between the Gods, the empire, and

themselves. Instead of paying taxes, the people

paid the government in labor (See Mita). Unlike

the Maya, there was no writing system, but the

government established an official language for

business called Quechua, which is still spoken in

many parts of Peru today. Government officials

kept track of the empire’s wealth and debts with

quipu, knotted strings. Varying lengths and

colors, as well as knot type could display endless

information.

Unlike many other empires in the world’s history,

the Inca chose peaceful diplomacy over brute-

force conquest. Gift exchanges, marital

partnerships, or political alliances with people

who lived where they wanted to expand their

empire often got the results Inca leaders craved.

Even though the empire trained a vast army,

violence was a last resort. Leaders also started

their rule from the ground up, as the previous

ones recycled their wealth to all male relatives

rather than sons. (See A Dual Religion below.) In

order to gain loyalty and maintain unity, while

meeting the needs of a growing empire, leaders

scheduled feasts, thrown in giant plazas. The

celebrations would last for days, sometimes

weeks. Food was indulged in, including maize,

meat, sweet potatoes, quinoa, and chili peppers.

At the end of the feast, the host ruler made his

requests for increased crop production, building

or irrigation plans, or land line expansion.

Architectural & Infrastructural Feats

Two major cities, Cuzco and Machu Picchu, were

constructed during the high points of the Inca

Historical Snapshot An Inca Close Reading Investigation

Common Core Writing 6-8.1, Common Core Literacy 6-8.2,4 & 10

Copyright © 2015 Instructomania Pavlovich

Empire. With the founding of his land, the first Inca

Emperor Pachacuti laid flat and reconstructed

Cuzco into a sprawling city that towered 10,000

feet above sea level. The new development

shaped the government and leadership buildings

as the body of a puma, with the wondrous

Coricancha, the temple for the Sun God Inti, as

the head. Cuzco was considered sacred so

commoners lived in villages beyond its boundaries.

Machu Picchu is a fortress probably built as a

palace or royal retreat for Emperor Pachacuti just

50 miles northwest of the capitol. It’s construction

was entirely of massive stone boulders, with joints

being so precisely cut that a knife couldn’t fit

between pieces and no mortar was needed. This

amazing achievement is a testament to how skilled

Inca builders were. As mentioned above, the Inca

Empire owed a great deal of its ability to unify so

many people to an intricate network of roads. The

types varied from dirt to narrowly carved ledge

paths to swaying rope bridges slung across sheer

cliffs. Way stations for weary travelers were set up

every mile and a half, and the empire employed

an official band of runners who could easily cover

up to 150 miles each day. In this way,

communication between empire and village

leaders was maintained. In addition to a network

of roads, the Inca also adapted to their

mountainous terrain by creating terraces, where

the mountains were carved to create flat land for

farming.

Provision trumps Trade

Unlike the northern empires in Mexico, the Inca

had no marketplaces or shops where citizens could

purchase or trade. Thus, no currency was needed.

Instead, citizens worked for the government in a

mita system, where people worked for the

common welfare of the empire. Farmers and road

builders alike worked for the government, which

collected food and redistributed it for all. The state

warehouses issued food and other needs of their

citizens from the taxes received throughout the

year. In addition to providing the commoners with

required goods, the government also held regular

feasts to reflect the give-and-receive system of pre

-empire village life.

A Dual religion

The Inca leadership enforced two-fold religious

system. Though the Inca were polytheistic, meaning

they worshipped many gods, Emperor Pachacuti

made the Sun God Inti the supreme patron for the

land. Gods were worshipped in many ways,

including prayer, song, and sacrifice. The first two

were done at temples, the greatest of which was

Coricancha, meaning “House of Gold”. It’s walls,

ceilings, and alters were lined and inlayed with the

precious metal. Animal sacrifices were common,

but human sacrifices, usually children or teenagers,

were considered the ultimate gift to the Gods. The

chosen person was often given a special diet of

maize and meat to fatten them up, and then

drugged with cocoa leaves and alcohol before being

left at sacred locations to die from exposure to the

elements. Emperor Pachacuti also inflated the

relevance of the second part of Incan religion:

ancestral worship. Pachacuti stated that dead rulers

only passed their powers to their sons, but their

earthly possessions were divided among his

panaqa, or other male relatives. In this way wealth

stayed within families and leaders of the past

continued to be idolized.

The Inca's artistic specialty

Although the Inca’s largest achievements centered

around building, they had one other specialty.

Cloth was one of the highest valued items in the

land. Cotton and alpaca wool were the most

prominent threads used in the Inca’s intricate

fabrics, but other more exotic things such as bat

hair and bird downs were also woven into them.

The best quality of cloth, called cumpi, clothed the

nobility of the land.

The Inca’s Downfall

In the midst of an Inca Civil War, the Spaniards, led

by Francisco Pizarro, conquered the Incas in 1538.

The leader, Atahualpa was jailed and forced to

convert to Christianity, which he refused. He was

later murdered after paying a gold and silver

ransom. Like most native American populations,

the Inca were devastated by small pox. Still, even

today the people of Peru are proud of their native

culture and have navigated a fairly peaceful

marriage of both Inca and Spanish traditions.

Complete the following questions by using the reading, Historical Snapshot: A Maya Close Reading Investigation.

1. List the section subheading where you can find the following key concepts for social science:

Geography:_________________________________ Social Classes:__________________________________

Leadership:_________________________________ Religion:______________________________________

Economy:__________________________________ Achievements:_________________________________

2. Economy: Write an excerpt from the reading that best supports how the Inca worked for the common good of the people.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Achievements: Describe four building achievements of the Inca people.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Economy: Why were there no marketplaces in the Inca World?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Geography: Which five modern countries were a part of the Inca Empire at it’ peak of rule?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Religion: Describe the typical age of a human sacrifice and how they were prepared to be given to the gods.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

7. Social Classes/Geography: Describe the location and role of each of the three social classes.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

8. Economy: How were Inca’s marketplaces different from the markets of Empire’s in central America?

________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Achievements: Why do you think way stations were necessary on the Inca’s road system?

_________________________________________________________________________________________

10. Vocabulary: What is the definition of emanated in the following sentence?

“The Inca Empire emanated sometime around 1200 A.D. “

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Common Core Writing 6-8.1, Common Core Literacy 6-8.2,4 &

Copyright © 2015 Instructomania

Historical Snapshot An Inca Close Reading Investigation Analysis

Complete the following questions by using the reading, Historical Snapshot: A Maya Close Reading Investigation.

1. List the section subheading where you can find the following key concepts for social science:

Geography: The Founding of a Vast Empire Social Classes: An Atypical Way of Governing/ A Dual Religion

Religion: A Dual Religion Achievements: Architectural & Infrastructural Feats/ Inca’s Artistic Specialty

Economy: Provision Trumps Trade Leadership: An Atypical Way of Governing/ A Dual Religion

2. Economy: Write an excerpt from the reading that best supports how the Inca worked for the common good of the people.

“Instead, citizens worked for the government in a mita system, where people worked for the common welfare of the

empire. “

3. Achievements: Describe four building achievements of the Inca people.

Redesigning the city of Cuzco in the shape of a puma

Building Coricancha, the golden temple of the sun god

Constructing Machu Picchu out of enormous boulders

Developing 25,000 miles worth of roads with way stations every mile and a half for travelers to rest.

4. Economy: Why were there no marketplaces in the Inca World?

Farmers and road builders alike worked for the government, which collected food and redistributed it for all.

5. Geography: Which five modern countries were a part of the Inca Empire at it’ peak of rule?

Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, and Chile.

6. Religion: Describe the typical age of a human sacrifice and how they were prepared to be given to the gods.

Typical human sacrifices were children or teens that were fattened up with maize and meat before being drugged with cocoa and alcohol.

7. Social Classes/Geography: Describe the location and role of each of the three social classes.

Inca leaders lived in the capitol and oversaw regional expansion, religious ceremonies, and governmental social obligations. Regional chiefs were the middle class. They governed villages throughout the empire and collected taxes. Commoners lived in their respective villages growing crops and creating cloth and other arts.

8. Economy: How were Inca’s marketplaces different from the markets of Empire’s in central America?

Unlike the Empires of Central America, the Inca didn’t have marketplaces. The people received all they needed from the government’s storerooms.

9. Achievements: Why do you think way stations were necessary on the Inca’s road system?

The roads and paths were treacherous so travelers probably needed the rest.

10. Vocabulary: What is the definition of emanated in the following sentence?

“The Inca Empire emanated sometime around 1200 A.D. “

Emanated means started or began in the sentence.

Common Core Writing 6-8.1, Common Core Literacy 6-8.2,4

Copyright © 2015 Instructomania

Historical Snapshot An Inca Close Reading Investigation

Copyright © 2015 Instructomania Pavlovich

Common Core 6-8.4

Annotations are used to help the reader interact with the text in order make the text meaningful. Annotations

that are done correctly should enable the reader to look back and remember important information from the

text without having to re-read the entire text. Here are a few annotations that you will be using this year.

Name Annotation Explanation

1. Mystery Words

I:

or

D:

Put a box around any words that you

are uncertain of the definition

I: Write what you can infer (guess)

about the meaning from cues in the

surrounding text.

D: If you can’t infer anything, look up

the definition and write it down.

2. Key Terms circle Place a circle around key people,

dates, vocabulary and ideas.

3. Strike Gold! (or underline ) highlight Highlight small chunks of “golden text”

that you think has the most important

information.

Caution: Make sure not to abuse this idea.

Try to discern which text represents the

most important information only. Usually

only a few parts of sentences will be

highlighted per paragraph.

4. Star Key Points Put a star and write notes in the margin a

of text that represent the most important

thought or idea in the whole reading. Star

points are given to content that is related

to class discussions, classwork or any

course learning.

5. Short summary for each reading

subheading.

Hashtag (#) OR

Billboard Advertisement OR

Web Address

Hashtag: Just like in the digital world

hashtags are used to summarize the main

idea. The hashtag is followed by text that

summarizes key points of each paragraph.

Ex: #shortenedkeysummary

Billboard: A quick ad or ad re-phrase that

summarizes the main point. Ex: Got Milk?

Web Address: Create a .com web address

summary of the main idea.

For example: summarizethisarticle.com

Word