The Incas called their empire The Four Parts Together and divided it into four areas—northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest.
The ruler was called the Sapa Inca. Strictly speaking, the term Inca refers to the small group of people who had as their original home the Cuzco area. The rulers of the empire came from this group. All the other people who made up the great Inca empire belonged to other ethnic groups and are known more correctly as Andean people, because they lived in the Andes Mountains. However, today the term Incas has come to stand for all the people of the empire.