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Bill Sillar interviewed on BBC R4 on The Inca
13 June 2019
Bill Sillar was invited to participate in an episode of the BBC Radio 4 programme 'In Our Time' on the Inca of South America who dominated from the Andes to the Pacific coast until the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors.
Bill joined host Melvyn Bragg and other invited experts, Frank Meddens (University of Reading) and Helen Cowie (University of York) to discuss how the people of Cusco, in modern Peru, established an empire along the Andes down to the Pacific under their supreme leader Pachacuti. Before him, their control grew slowly from the 13th century AD and was at its peak after him when Pizarro arrived with his Conquistadors and captured their empire for Spain in 1533.
In Our Time is is a live BBC radio series exploring the history of ideas, with each programme covering a specific historical, philosophical, religious, cultural or scientific topic. The series is acknowledged as one of BBC Radio 4's most successful discussion programmes.
Much of Bill’s research has been located in the Andean highlands, where he combines ethnographic and archaeological fieldwork with artefact analysis to gain a better understanding of indigenous society before, during and after the Inca Empire.