Course Description

Instructor: Michael McDavid

Starts: Tuesday, September 7,  4 weeks

Time: 11:30-1PM   

In 1533 Spanish forces commanded by Francisco Pizarro completed the conquest of the largest empire ever created in the New World before 1492. Known as “The Four Quarters” by its creators, the Inca Empire stretched from today’s Colombia to Chile and Argentina. Dozens of ethnic groups were ruled by an elite who had no draft animals, wheeled vehicles, iron or steel, or even a writing system.  In this course we will survey the series of cultures that evolved in the Andes over several thousand years and that culminated with the Incas. We will conclude the course with a discussion of the conquest of the Incas, focusing on how less than two hundred Spanish soldiers were able to overwhelm an empire of millions and permanently install European control of its people