The Inca Empire, Inca Empire or Tahuantinsuyu (Spanish version of the Quechua toponym: Tawantinsuyu, the four regions or divisions) was the largest and most developed empire in pre-Columbian America. The period of its domination is known as Incanate or Incario. It arose in the region of the Peruvian Andes between the 15th and 16th centuries as a result of the expansion of the curacazgo of Cuzco, being the second historical stage and the period of greatest apogee of the Inca civilization. It covered 2,500,000 km² between the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Amazon rainforest and the Gran Chaco in the east, from the Ancasmayo River (Colombia) to the north to the Maule River (Chile) to the south.