The Inca Civilization

South America, one of the world's regions with highest risks of natural disasters, is a continent in the southern hemisphere of the globe, between Central America and Antarctica, caught up between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

The region is home of striking contrast between two extremes: a modern, democratic and wealthy population; and a traditional population, often excluded from power, affected by poverty. It has a very broad local history, until 1492; and a modern history starting from the discovery of the continent by Christopher Columbus in 1942, signing the beginning of colonization by Europeans during the sixteenth century. From then until the nineteenth century, the century of independence; Europe had a dominant role on the continent.

Remnants older than 15,000 years BC have been discovered in high mountain areas of Peru and Bolivia, close to the Titicaca Lake, and close to San Agustín in southern Colombia. In the Cordillera de los Andes, all the way from north to south, ceramics from 3000 years BC have been found.

The Inca civilization was the most prominent culture, the widest empire ever known in the Americas as well as the largest in the world at that time. It extended practically throughout the whole western part of the continent, mainly in the Andean region, located on the over 4000km long Andes mountain range, from southern Colombia to central Chile, covering whole Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Living in the rough Andean environment, the Incas had conquered people and terrain; and were able to exploit landscapes in such diverse settings as plateaus, mountains, deserts, and humid tropical jungle.

In addition to the Incas, Quechuas and Aymaras are two other important civilizations of pre-Hispanic times; both of which still have existing communities

Conquerors from Portugal, Spain, France, Holland, Italy and England were sailing across oceans, departing on daily basis. Starting from 1498, with the foundation of Venezuela and the establishment of the city of Santa Marta in Colombia in 1525, countries and cities were founded and the Inca Empire fully conquered. The time was characterized by a great violence, torture of native civilizations and a lack of respect towards the ancient cultures, due to their different believes, lifestyles and physical