State · 1438 – 1572

Inca Empire

A state of 1438 – 1572 — 134 years in the Americas and Oceania. It replaced Chimor and followed Kingdom of Cusco. It was followed by Neo-Inca State and Viceroyalty of Peru. The atlas records 13 things within it — wars and battles 6 · people 7. Its line of rulers holds 8 people, 6 with dated terms.

For the full story, the article on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0); this page holds what the record says of the state.

Stood: 134 years; 1438 – 1572
Rulers: 8; the Sapa Inca
Most ground: 2.10 million km²; in 1497
Within it: 13; recorded rows
Symbol: 1; on record, with years

Map: Inca Empire in 1497, its borders in gold among its neighbours — Inca Empire in 1497, when it held the most ground the borders dataset draws for it: 2.10 million km². Its neighbours wear their tints, as on the atlas's own map. Borders from Cliopatria (CC BY 4.0), coast and rivers from Natural Earth, cities from Reba, Reitsma & Seto 2016 (CC BY 4.0), each city under the name it bore that year.

Inca Empire in 1440, first mapped — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Inca Empire in 1497, at its largest — The rise and the fall in one frame: the same ground at the years the borders dataset first maps it, maps it largest, and last maps it.

Where it sits in time

Five thousand years, 3000 BCE to 2026; the state in gold, what it replaced or followed and what replaced or followed it in grey.

Before and after

The states the record files it as replacing or following, and those that replaced or followed it - Wikidata's own statements, each read from this state's side.

Before it

Kingdom of Cusco · follows · 1197 – 1438
Chimor · replaces · 850 – 1470

After it

Neo-Inca State · followed by · 1537 – 1572
Viceroyalty of Peru · followed by

Rulers

The line of Sapa Inca.

killed, executed or dead in battledied in officeending not on record

Ruler	Reign	Length	How it ended · source	To the ruler before
Viracocha Inca	1400 – 1438	38 years	ending not on record
Pachacuti	1438 – 1471	33 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Topa Inca Yupanqui	1471 – 1493	22 years	died in office, manner not recordedread off the dates alone	child
Huayna Capac	1493 – 1527	34 years	the term ends after the recorded deathread off the dates alone	child
Huáscar	1527 – 1532	5 years	executedWikidata's manner of death	child
Atahualpa	1532 – 1533	1 year	executedWikidata's manner of death	sibling

8 rulers, 6 with terms dated as terms, covering 1400 – 1533. Median reign 27.5 years. 1 of 5 handovers irregular - a killing, a deposition, a rival claimant, a rising or a coup beside it. A blank in the last column means no kin on record, which is coverage, never “unrelated”.

Ground held, by year

km² inside its borders as the borders dataset draws them, measured on an equal-area grid; a step series, held between the years the dataset maps.

8,800 km² in 1448, 2.10 million km² in 1528; at its largest 2.10 million km² in 1498. Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0.

Flag or arms

Each symbol with the years its own statement gives; the timeline flies the one of the year on screen.

flag, undatedSuntur Paucar · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Adapted from Huhsunqu , made by Pachakutec

What happened within it, by century

Every row the atlas hosts under this state, by the century it began in: wars and battles in red, risings, regime changes and massacres beside them, everything else in grey. A tall bar is a century the record is full for, which is partly a fact about Wikipedia.

1400 – 14994 rows

Huáscar · ruler · 1490 – 1532
Huayna Capac · ruler · 1464 – 1527
Topa Inca Yupanqui · ruler · 1441 – 1493
Viracocha Inca · ruler · 1401 – 1448

1500 – 15998 rows · 6 wars and battles

Atahualpa · ruler · 1500 – 1533
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire · battle · 1532 – 1572
Túpac Huallpa · ruler · 1510 – 1533
Battle of Cajamarca · battle · 1532
Inca Civil War · war · 1529 – 1532
Siege of Cusco · battle · 1536 – 1537
Battle of Ollantaytambo · battle · 1537
Battle of Las Salinas · battle · 1538

Among all states

Each measure against the states that carry it, never against all of them: a bar is the share of those states below this one.

How long it stood134 years
stood longer than 53% of 3,187 states with a recorded end or still standing.
The most ground it held2,101,200 km²
held more ground at its peak than 91% of 1,465 states with a border in Cliopatria.
Wars recorded per century0.7
had more wars on record per century than 92% of 3,187 states, counting the wars the atlas hosts under each.
How long a reign lasted, at the median33 years
had longer reigns, at the median, than 87% of 967 states whose dated line can carry a median.
Rulers on record8
has more rulers on record than 76% of 1,968 states with a line of rulers.

What led to it, and what came of it

The investigation's own picture: 2 causes the record names and 2 results, the strongest six of each at their own years, joined to the state by the kind of claim - a recorded statement solid, the article's sentence dashed, a theory dash-dot.

linked

Open the investigation: every row with its evidence, the conditions at the time, the theories condition by condition, and the succession analysed.

Theories that apply to its ending

Of 3 theories of why states fall, 1 has every condition present at this ending; each is applied by its own logic, condition by condition, and whether its authors named this case is a footnote.

Dynastic cycle and the decay of group feeling
Ibn Khaldun 1377 · Turchin & Nefedov 2009
Applies by its own logic: the condition it names held here, and this is the kind of outcome it predicts — adverse regime change or the state's ending.
- the state 90 to 160 years old — ageBand 134

Open in the atlas

On the timeline, 1425 – 1585, with everything that stood beside it.
On the map in 1497, live: scrub the year and watch its borders move.
Investigate it: what led to it, what came of it, and its succession analysed.

Wikidata Q28573 (CC0) · borders Cliopatria, CC BY 4.0 · coast and rivers Natural Earth · symbols from Wikimedia Commons, each credited above · data built 2026-10-06 · Pastlas v2.9.1, by Oleh Voronko. The published atlas and its data are for non-commercial use.