The Inca empire extended from southern Colombia to central Chile. Its capital was at Cusco, in southern Peru. The Inca believed that their emperor was a god and a descendant of the sun god. They built up their empire by conquering neighboring tribes.<NP> The conquered peoples raised crops for the Inca, built roads and bridges for them, and served in the Inca army. Cultivated plots were terraced on steep hillsides and watered by irrigation systems. Crops included beans, corn, squash, tomatoes, and potatoes. The Inca used the llama and alpaca for meat and wool. They shaped gold, silver, copper, platinum, and bronze into ornaments and tools.<NP> Inca villages had houses of stone and adobe. In large cities, huge public buildings were constructed of large stones. The Inca did not use mortar, but they carved the stones so carefully that a knife blade could not be inserted between the stones of a building.
