Today
in History - August 29
On
High in the Andes(安第斯山脉), from out
of Cuzco Peru, the great emperor Pachu Kutek built a
dazzling(眼花缭乱的)2,500
mile long empire, between 1463 and 1493. Though they had no
writing, they boasted(以有...而自豪)an
elaborate(精细)government,
great public works and a brilliant(灿烂的)agricultural
system involving more than 50 crops. They had no taxes but
met all public needs through individual(个体)service to
the state. That 180 Spanish conquistadors(征服者)were
able to destroy them seems incredible. Francisco Pizarro
seized the Emperor Atahualpa, who had given him a warm
welcome , and after demanding and receiving an immense(庞大的)ransom(赎金),
murdered him on August 29, 1533. (Machu Picchu was
discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1914).