Picture a landscape encompassing more than 80 different ecosystems, from the steamy Amazon Rainforest teeming with wildlife, to the soaring peaks of the Andes plastered with glaciers and the wild Pacific shoreline more than a thousand miles long. This was the world of the Inca, one of the most powerful empires in the history of civilization. Their story, while shrouded in mystery, can be explained in part by the things they left behind. One of the Inca’s most amazing relics is the city of Machu Picchu, a settlement built on a jagged ridge high up in the Andes Mountains.

Inca: Discover the Culture and Geography of a Lost Civilization will tell the tale of the extraordinary Inca culture—their beliefs, rituals, scientific advances, cities, monuments, food, and unique systems of language—through a journey from the city of Cuzco on the Inca Trail to the ancient city of Machu Picchu. Along the way you’ll experience the world of the Inca for yourself with 25 hands-on projects and activities, including creating your own Ch’uňu freeze-dried potatoes, building a tropical cloud forest, and inventing your own Inca language.