The Inca civilization began as a tribe in the Cusco area, where the legendary first Sapa Inca Manco Capac founded the Kingdom of Cusco around 1200. Under the leadership of the descendants of Manco Capac, the state grew as it absorbed other Andean communities at that time. It was in 1442, when the Incas began a far reaching expansion under the command of Pachacutec, whose name literally meant earth-shaker. He formed the Inca empire (Tawantinsuyu), that would become the largest empire in pre-Columbian America.