Inca army

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Inca civilization

Inca society

Education · Religion · Mythology

Architecture · Road system · Army

Agriculture · Andean cuisine

Inca history

Inca Empire

Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire

v • d • e

During the 15th and 16th centuries The Incan army was the most organized military force in South America. It consisted of several large-scale battalions. Warriors wore tunics, often with checkered patterns, the army's standard dress. They used several weapons such as:

• Slings: a ranged weapon consisting of a pair of leather thongs secured to a cradle. Slings were used to hurl stones with tremendous force and distance, but little accuracy.
• Clubs: blunt, heavy weapons used in hand-to-hand combat. Axe-heads were often affixed to wooden handles and used to break through an opponent's armor and weapons.
• Bronze knives: the Incas had no access to iron as Europeans did, or obsidian as the Aztec civilization. Inca blades were generally very short and dagger-like.
• Scythes: pole-arms, each affixed with a large, curving blade, used for slashing at enemies from a distance.
• The Incas made some use of armour wrought from gold. Being made of gold, it was neither affordable nor practical for defense.

Both Inca oral histories and Spanish written accounts estimate the Incas could field armies of 100,000 at a time.^[1]

The Incas were very well organized in battle. In contrast to the Aztecs, who waged war mainly to take prisoners for human sacrifice and who took tribute rather than land from the defeated people, the Incas' goals of war were to kill enemy soldiers and directly conquer enemy lands, putting them under the rule of the Sapa Inca, who was the highest head of the army. The Incas were also very well organized in military logistics, using magazines owned by the state to supply mass contingents with food, and also white tents in camp, organized in symmetric patterns.

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