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Inca EmpireTawantinsuyu
South AmericaHeartland today: 
Peru
The 1438 start comes from Rowe's reading of colonial chronicles; radiocarbon dates suggest expansion began decades earlier. Spain toppled the empire in 1532–33, but an Inca state held out at Vilcabamba until 1572.
Before and after
In the north coast of Peru:Came before: Chimú culture
In the Cusco region:Came before: Wari Empire
Wari held the Cusco area for about 400 years; the Inca rose there some centuries after Wari faded.
In the Lake Titicaca basin:Came before: Tiwanaku
Tiwanaku collapsed around 1000 CE; local Aymara kingdoms held the lake until the Inca took it in the 1400s.
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The largest state in the Americas before European contact. From Cusco, the Inca ruled millions of people along the Andes, from Ecuador to central Chile, holding the empire together with roads, storehouses and a labour tax instead of money or writing.
Also alive at the same time
Key events
Wars
Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire Pizarro's expedition and its Indigenous alliesPizarro's expedition, for the Crown of Castile, Huáscar's faction of the Inca nobility, Cañari, Huanca, Chanka, Huaylas, and Chachapoyas
againstThe Inca Empire and, from 1537, the Inca state of VilcabambaInca Empire and Neo-Inca State of Vilcabamba
Spanish forces took Vilcabamba, the last Inca stronghold, in 1572; the former Inca lands became part of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru.