Worksheet # 9          Home Questions Puzzle Links Next

GREAT CIVILIZATIONS OF THE AMERICAS: THE INCAS

While deep in the south, in what’s present Peru,

Lived the Inca people and, indeed, this is true:

From atop the great mountains we now call the Andes

Their empire did stretch from the jungles to seas.

Yes, Incan armies were vast, were fierce and well-schooled,

Their conquests were many and over millions they ruled.

Whose main city sat deep in the valley of Cuzco,

Where their temples still stand (if there you do choose go).

And like the Aztecs, the Incas worshipped the Sun,

And filled halls with fine gold and with silver they’d won.

They saw Nature herself as the source of these boons:

Gold sweat from the Sun, silver tears from the Moon.

And they honored their kings, even after they died,

Put to rest in great tombs – once they’d been mummified.

(Let us hope they have peace, but do not rise again;

Horror stories are swell…just so long as pretend).

And with forts made of stone and vast miles of road,

A supreme talent for building these Incas showed.

Transporting huge boulders, they built with them too,

Though just how they did it…well, we’ve barely a clue!

But of strength and of smarts, there’s little to doubt,

They managed as well to move water about.

Yes, before faucets and pipes, before hoses and trucks,

This culture had know-how and built aqueducts.

And to farm the hillsides and still have good yields,

The Incas cleverly learned to terrace their fields.

Digging deep into slopes, they made flat-sitting lands

Where crops could be grown to fill bellies and hands.

Yes, this culture was keen, it handled trouble and strife,

With care at all times for the sacred fire of life.

So on the high mountain’s crest, like at Machu Picchu,

Sit the grand Inca cities, with so much to teach you.