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National Geographic : 1973 Dec
Contents
Andean sunrise gilds Lake Titicaca, where the sun god created the fabledfounder enshrined and displayed in festive parades. About 1438, the ninth Inca, Pachacuti, set forth to conquer on a scale never before attempted in aboriginal America. By the time Columbus crossed the ocean sea in quest of the Indies, Pachacuti and his son, Tupa Inca, tenth Inca, had forged an empire nearly as far reaching and well organized as Caesar's Rome. They called it Tahuantinsuyu, the Four Quarters of the World (map, page 745). All who were inhabitants of that empire are termed Incas nowadays, although in olden times the title was restricted to members of the royal family, whose menfolk were dis tinguished from commoners by the wearing of huge earplugs; the bigger the plug, the higher the rank. Following Tupa Inca's trail of conquest into Argentina and Chile, my wife, Sue, and I came face-to-face last year with a 500 year-old Inca. The meeting was arranged by Dr. Grete Mostny, Director of the National 730
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