Who were the Incas?

            The Incas were South American Indians who ruled an empire that extended form central Chile to the present Colombo Ecuador border. The center of their empire was Peru, and they established their capital at Cuzco, in the 12^th century. The legend goes that the first Inca ruler, Manco Capan, was descended form the sun god. The Incas began their conquest in the early 15^th century and within 100 years they gained control of an Andean population of about 12,000,000 people.

An Inca King

            The Inca society was of high standard a highly stratified and structured one. The emperor ruled with the help of an aristocratic bureaucracy that was harsh and brutal in the exercise of its authority. Their technology and architecture were highly developed. Most of the Inca people were farmers and grew maize, beans, tomatoes, chilies, peppers, cotton, etc. nobody paid taxes, but every man was periodically called to serve in the army or to help in the construction of buildings, roads, temples or mining. The Incas built suspension bridges, hillside terraces, long irrigate canals and immense fortresses, places, temples, etc., and a few of them can still be seeing throughout the Andes. In addition to all these, their medicine and surgery were also highly developed. They made their clothes form the llama wool and cotton. Practically every man was a farmer, producing his own food.

            A Spanish adventurer, Francisco Pissarro in 1532, conquered the Incas. Pizarro entered the Inca Empire with 180 soldiers. At that time there was a power-struggle between Huascar and his half-brother, Atahualpa as to who would be the Inca ruler. Pizarro captured Atahualpa by treachery and Huascar was captured and killed. Later, Pissarro also killed Atahualpa, though the Incas fulfilled his demand of gold for the release of Atahualpa.

            Now the Inca Empire had no leader and it could not resist the brutal Spanish adventurers. The Spanish conquerors called conquistador transformed the Inca Empire into a colonial appendage to escape the brutalities of the colonial system. The Inca religious institutions were crushed by massive campaigns against idolatry. According to many historians, the civilization that the Spanish conquerors destroyed was in many ways better than their own.

            The ruins of their ancient citadel, Machu Picchu, nestled in the clouds at 8,000 feet were discovered by a professor from Yale University, USA, called Hiram Bingham in 1911. Most likely, it was a royal estate, observatory and religious retreat said to have been built between 1460 and 1470 A.D. by Pachacuti Inca.

What is Marble?

            Marble is found in nature in the form of rocks. These rocks are formed from limestone. The tremendous heat and pressure beneath the earth’s surface converts limestone into marble rocks. If you analyse the chemical composition of marble, you will fine that it is mostly calcium carbonate. Some varieties of marble contain 99% calcium carbonate. Marble acquires a variety of colors due to the presence of some salts of aluminum and magnesium in it.

A Marble statue

            Pure marble is snow whit. White marble has been in use for construction of buildings since ancient times. The people of Greece and Egypt used this stone for construction of temples. The Taj Mahal Agra was also made from white marble. It is unaffected by heat, cold, rain, etc.

            Natural boulders of marble are cut into big slabs by machines. These big pieces are brought to workshop where they are cut into desired sizes. Marble obtained from rocks is initially coarse. To make the surface smooth, it is polished with the help of special machines, after which it is ready for se. because of its beauty, it as always been a favorite material for sculpture, architecture and many other purposes. Famous sculptors like Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci used marble for many of their works.

            Italy has some of the vast and well known marble quarries in the world. About one lakh tones of marble is mined in Italy every year. It is called Italian marble. The longest marble quarry of USA is located in Vermont. In India, Bheraghat in Jabalpur (M.P.) is famous for its marble rocks. It is found in abundance there. Marble deposits are also found in Rajasthan- the marble of Makran, known as Makran marble is very famous.