The Incan people ruled the west coast of South America and here, like in Central America, gold was abundant. It is thought that metalworking techniques may have originated here, in the Andes, and spread north to Mexico. Intricate casting techniques were used to craft masks and jewelry for personal and ceremonial ornamentation. Copper was hammered out into masks. Bronzeworking was highly developed before 800 AD and bronze was used to make everything from knives to ornaments. Platinum too was used by the pre-Columbian Indians, at times blended with gold to create nose rings. The Inca were especially skilled in the art of mosaic, and 
turquoise ï¾– a favorite stone ï¾– was often set into intricate patterns and worn on the body.
All of this metalworking and personal ornamentation, the construction of diadems, ear ornaments and pectorals, was practiced by the Inca for 3000 years before Spanish colonization. The Inca were so imaginative with their goldsmithing that they were said to have made entire miniature gardens fashioned entirely from the stuff. Such wealth was concentrated in the hands of the Incan nobility.
Francisco Pizarro sailed along the Pacific coast of Colombia in the 1520s, encountering communities with much gold and silver. He went to Spain and begged to become governor of the region. Granted permission, he set out for Inca Peru, where temple walls were covered with gold. Pizarro ambushed the civilization in 1532, and took everything. The country was stripped of all its wealth.
