arma-, armaka 'ruined site'

[Luis Gonzalez-Reimann]

At 08:00 PM 4/2/98 -800, Paul Kekai Manansala wrote:

>Btw, do you know what eventually happened to the Inca civilization?

The Incas were, in a sense, the Andean equivalent to the Aztecs in
Mesoamerica.  They were relative latecomers who built an enormous empire.
They were also conquered by the Spanish, who destroyed some of their
buildings, especially in Cuzco, the Inca Capital.  One of the most
impressive of Inca cities, Macchu Picchu, which sits high on a mountain, was
never discovered by the conquerors, and was discovered only in the 20th century.

The language spoken by the Incas, Quechua, is still spoken today by many
people in the Andean region, in modern-day Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina,
and, I believe, Ecuador.  In a country like Peru there is a very high
percentage of monolingual speakers of Quechua, and many others who are
bilingual (Quechua-Spanish).  Although Spanish is the official language, it
never fully displaced Quechua, probably because of the rugged mountaineous
terrain.

Mexico and Peru would become the two foci for the spread of Spanish language
and (Spanish/European) culture.  In Mexico City and Lima the first two
European-style universities of the Americas were established in 1551.

Best,

Luis Gonzalez-Reimann