Many thousands of years ago, people settled in what would become modern day Peru. Life was rugged. The coast was a desert, one of the driest places in the world. It was freezing in the mountains, except when volcanoes heated things up. There were earthquakes and tidal waves and drought. On top of all that, the soil was poor. Yet people survived and flourished. They survived by being clever.

Chavin Tribe:  About 1000 BCE, an ancient people called the Chavins carved faces of their gods on massive walls of rock. They built a vast temple and tombs at the north end of the Andes.

Paracas: Archaeologists have found remains of this tribe including ancient weavings, gold, pottery, and skulls that show of what appears to be evidence of successful surgery.

Nazca: This tribe is best known for their wonderful patterns of birds and spiders and designs marked in the earth. They also left evidence of their life on their brightly painted pottery.

Moche Empire: Long before the Incas, this ancient culture built an empire in ancient Peru. Their brown and cream pottery was shaped in a most interesting fashion. Archaeologists found a pot that looked like a bird with human hands. Another pot looked like a potato with human eyes.

Chimu: This tribe defeated the Moche Empire, and took over for a while. Their pottery was dark and gloomy. Their major city was about 10 square miles and home to at least 50,000 people.

Chancay: This tribe's pottery shows a strange sense of humor that is both playful and frightening.

Incas: Around 1200 CE, a tribe that would soon call themselves the Incas began to build the city of Cuzco. About 200 years later, the Chancay attacked the Incas. The Incas won. In 1438, the new Inca ruler Pachacuti set about conquering all the other tribes on the western side of South America.

Early Americas Unit (Era 4)

Incas for Kids