1. The document describes the Inca Empire, which stretched along the western coast of South America and included parts of modern-day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. 2. The Inca lacked writing but had an extensive road system and used knotted strings called quipus to record information. They also had a sophisticated administrative and economic system. 3. The Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro, with the help of Indian allies, was able to defeat the Inca in the 1530s due to divisions within the empire and diseases brought by Europeans that weakened the Inca population.