The Inka called their empire Tawantinsuyu, which means "the four regions together." At its peak, the empire covered much of western South America.

The Inka Empire rose rapidly and burned bright. In little more than 100 years, it grew from a small kingdom in the highlands of Peru to become the largest empire in the Americas.

The Qhapaq Ñan, or Road of the Inka, made this triumph possible. A vast complex of roads, bridges, and other structures, the Qhapaq Ñan was the largest construction in the Western Hemisphere when Inka power was at its height. The Inka state used the road system strategically to oversee diverse populations within an empire of 2 million square kilometers (772,000 square miles), the equivalent of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas combined.