Pre-Columbian South America

Pre-Columbian South America includes the long development of Andean and lowland societies before European conquest. Agricultural systems, road networks, ceremonial centres, regional states and distinctive artistic traditions emerged across very different environments.

The Andes supported successive cultures and empires, culminating in the rapid expansion of the Inca state. Political authority depended on kinship, tribute, labour obligations, military organisation and sacred landscapes.

The wider history encompasses the Inca Empire and other South American societies without treating them as extensions of Mesoamerica or of the modern United States.