The Inca Empire was located along the western coast of South America , centered in the Andes Mountains in what is now primarily Peru, and extending into parts of modern Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia.

Quick Scoop: Core Location

  • The heart of the Inca Empire was the high Andes region of present-day Peru.
  • Its capital city was Cusco, a major political and religious center in the southern highlands of modern Peru.
  • Iconic sites like Machu Picchu sit in the Andean mountains of southern Peru, overlooking the Sacred Valley of the Urubamba River.

How Far Did It Stretch?

From roughly the 1400s to early 1500s, the Inca Empire controlled a long north–south strip of territory along the Andes.

  • North: Into modern-day southern Colombia and much of Ecuador.
  • Center: Most of modern Peru and western/south-central Bolivia.
  • South: Down through northern and north-central Chile and into parts of northwest Argentina.

Key Regions in Today’s Map (HTML table)

[1][5][3] [3][9] [9][3] [3][9] [9][3] [3][9]
Modern country Area once within Inca Empire
Peru Core of the empire, including capital Cusco and sites like Machu Picchu in the Andes.
Ecuador Northern highlands and coastal Andean regions incorporated through expansion.
Bolivia Western and south-central highlands (Altiplano and southern Andes).
Chile North and north-central regions, up to around the Maule River in central Chile.
Argentina Northwest Andean areas near the Bolivian and Chilean borders.
Colombia Southern mountainous zones at the northern edge of Inca control.

Geography in One Line

The Inca Empire was an Andean mountain empire, running like a spine down the western edge of South America, with Cusco in modern Peru as its main center.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.