[Free Registration/Login Required] This nonfiction passage describes the Inca Empire and shares a theory about how the civilization disappeared. This passage reinforces essential reading comprehension skills. Opportunities for vocabulary...

From their capital, Cuzco, in the central Peruvian Andes, the Inca created a huge empire reaching over 2,400 miles along the length of the Andes. View pictures and descriptions of Incan ritual vessels in this essay.

The Inka capital Cusco and principal outlying towns of the Inka Empire were organized around a public plaza with a specially-constructed platform placed facing a designated sacred central space called the ushnu. The ushnu platform was a...