What was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America?

The Inca Empire was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. Known in Quechua as Tawantinsuyu, or the “Realm of the Four Parts,” it was centered at Cusco in the Andean highlands.

The empire expanded rapidly after Pachacuti became Sapa Inca in 1438. At its height, it stretched across much of modern Peru, western Ecuador, Bolivia, northern Argentina, southwestern Colombia, and Chile. Its territory covered roughly 2 million square kilometers, making it one of the largest states in the world during the early sixteenth century.

The Maya civilization and the Aztec Empire were also major American civilizations, but neither controlled as much territory as the Inca state. Tiwanaku was an earlier Andean civilization, not the largest pre-Columbian empire. The Inca political system ultimately fractured during the civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa, just before the Spanish conquest began in 1532.