Inca Empire Learning Path

Etymology of Inca and Tawantinsuyu

Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu, a Quechua term meaning “the suyu of four (parts).” In this name, tawa means “four,” and -ntin is a suffix indicating a group, so tawantin describes a “quartet” taken together. The four suyu were Chinchaysuyu (north), Antisuyu (east), Qullasuyu (south), and Kuntisuyu (west), whose corners met at the imperial capital. The term therefore functioned as a descriptive label for a union of provinces under a single state, and Spanish chroniclers commonly transliterated it as Tahuatinsuyo.

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Inca Empire overview and extent

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