Edited by: Robert Guisepi
2002
Author: Schwartz, Stuart B.
Date: 1992
A History of the Inca
Twantinsuyu: World Of The Incas
Almost at the same time that the Aztecs extended their control over much
of Mesoamerica, a great imperial state was rising in the Andean highlands, and
it eventually held sway over an empire some 3000 miles in extent. The Inca
Empire incorporated many aspects of previous Andean cultures but fused them
together in new ways - and with a genius for state organization and
bureaucratic control over peoples of different cultures and languages, it
achieved a level of integration and domination previously unknown in the
Americas.
Throughout the Andean cultural hearth, during the period following the
breakup or disintegration of the large "horizon" states of Tihuanaco and Huari
(c. A.D. 550-1000), a number of smaller regional states continued to exercise
some power. Rather than the breakdown of power that took place in postclassic
Mesoamerica, in the Andean zone a number of relatively large states continued
to be important. Some states in the Andean highlands on the broad open areas
near Lake Titicaca, and those states along rivers on the north coast, such as
in the Moche valley, remained centers of agricultural activity and population
density. This time in the ultimate development of the Andean imperial state
was a period of considerable warring between rival local chiefdoms and small
states and in some ways was an Andean parallel to the post-Toltec militaristic
era in Mesoamerica. Of these states the coastal kingdom of Chimor, centered on
its capital of Chan Chan, emerged as the most powerful. Between 900 and its
conquest by the Incas in 1465, it gained control of most of the north coast of
Peru.
The Inca Rise To Power
While Chimor spread its control over 600 miles of the coast, in the
southern Andean highlands where there were few large urban areas, ethnic
groups and polities struggled over the legacy of Tihuanaco. Among these groups
were a number of related Quechua-speaking clans or ayllus living near Cuzco,
an area that had been under the influence of Huari but had not been
particularly important. Their own legends stated that ten related clans
emerged from caves in the region and were taken to Cuzco by a mythical leader.
Wherever their origins, by about A.D. 1350 they resided in and around Cuzco
and by 1438 they had defeated their hostile neighbors in the area. At this
point under their ruler, or Inca, Pachacuti (1438-1471), they launched a
series of military alliances and campaigns that brought them control of the
whole area from Cuzco to the shores of Lake Titicaca.
Over the next 60 years Inca armies were constantly on the march,
extending control over a vast territory. Pachacuti's son and successor, Topac
Yupanqui (1471-1493) conquered the northern coastal kingdom of Chimor by
seizing its irrigation system, and he extended Inca control into the southern
area of what is now Ecuador. At the other end of the empire, Inca armies
reached the Maule River in Chile against stiff resistance from the Araucanian
Indians. The next ruler, Huayna Capac (1493-1527) consolidated these conquests
and suppressed a number of rebellions on the frontiers. By the time of his
death, the Inca Empire - or as they called it, Twantinsuyu - stretched from
what is now Colombia to Chile and eastward across Lake Titicaca and Bolivia to
northern Argentina. Between nine and 13 million people of different ethnic
backgrounds and languages came under Inca rule, a remarkable feat given the
extent of the empire and the technology available for transportation and
communication.
Conquest And Religion
What impelled the Inca conquest and expansion? The usual desire for
economic gain and political power that we have seen in other empires provides
one suitable explanation, but there may be others more in keeping with Inca
culture and ideology. The cult of the ancestors was extremely important in
Inca belief. Deceased rulers were mummified and then treated as intermediaries
with the gods, paraded in public during festivals, offered food and gifts, and
consulted on important matters by special oracles. From the Chimor kingdom the
Incas adopted the practice of royal "split inheritance" in which all the
political power and titles of the ruler went to his successor, but all his
palaces, wealth, land, and possessions remained in the hands of his male
descendants who used them to support the cult of the dead Inca's mummy for
eternity. Each new Inca, then, in order to ensure his own cult and place for
eternity, needed to secure land and wealth, and these normally came as part of
new conquests. In effect, the greater the number of past Inca rulers, the
greater the number of roya courts to support and the greater the demand for
labor, lands, and tribute. This system created a self-perpetuating need for
expansion, tied directly to ancestor worship and the cult of the royal
mummies, as well as tensions between the various royal lineages. In a way, the
cult of the dead weighed increasingly heavily on the living.
Inca political and social life was infused with religious meaning. Like
the Aztecs, the Incas held the sun to be the highest deity and considered the
Inca to be the sun's representative on earth. The magnificent Temple of the
Sun in Cuzco was the center of the state religion, and in its confines the
mummies of the past Incas resided. The cult of the sun was spread throughout
the empire, but the Inca did not prohibit the worship of local gods.
Other deities were also worshiped as part of the state religion.
Viracocha, a creator god, was a favorite of Inca Pachacuti and remained
important. Popular belief was based on a profound animism that endowed many
natural phenomena with spiritual power. Mountains, stones, rivers, caves, or
tombs and temples were considered to be huacas, or holy shrines. At these
places, prayers were offered and sacrifices of animals, goods, and humans were
made. In the Cuzco area imaginary lines running from the Temple of the Sun
organized the huacas into groups for which certain ayllus took responsibility.
The temples were served by many priests and women dedicated to the preparation
of cloth and food for sacrifice. The temple priests were mainly responsible
for the great festivals and celebrations and for divinations upon which state
actions often depended.
The Techniques Of Inca Imperial Rule
The Inca were able to keep control over their vast empire by using of a
number of techniques and practices that assured either cooperation or
subordination. The empire was ruled by the Inca who was considered virtually a
god. He ruled from his court at Cuzco, which was also the site of the major
temple; the high priest was usually a close relative. Twantinsuyu was divided
into four great provinces, each under a governor, and then divided again. The
Incas developed a state bureaucracy in which almost all the nobility played a
role - while some chroniclers spoke of a state organization based on decimal
units of 10,000; 1,000; 100; and smaller numbers of households to mobilize
taxes and labor, recent research reveals that many local practices and
variations were allowed to continue under Inca rule. Local rulers, or curacas,
were allowed to maintain their position and were given privileges by the Inca
in return for their loyalty. The curacas were exempt from tribute obligations
and usually received labor or produce from those under their control. For
insurance, the sons of conquered chieftains were taken to Cuzco for their
education.
The Incas intentionally spread the Quechua language as a means of
integrating the empire. The Incas also made extensive use of mitmaq, or
colonists. Sometimes Quechua-speakers from Cuzco might be settled in a newly
won area to provide an example and a garrison. On other occasions, a restive
conquered population was moved to a new home. Throughout the empire, a complex
system of roads was constructed with bridges and causeways when needed. Along
these roads, way stations, or tambos, were placed about a day's walk apart to
serve as inns, storehouses, and supply centers for Inca armies on the move.
Tambos also served as relay points for the system of runners who carried
messages throughout the empire. The Inca probably maintained over 10,000
tambos.
The Inca Empire functioned to extract land and labor from subject
populations. Conquered peoples were enlisted in the Inca armies under Inca
officers and were rewarded with goods from new conquests. Subject peoples
received access to goods not previously available to them, and the Inca state
undertook large projects of building and irrigation that formerly would have
been impossible. In return the Incas demanded loyalty and tribute. The state
claimed all resources and redistributed them. The Incas divided conquered
areas into lands for the people, lands for the state, and lands for the sun -
that is, for religion and the support of priests. There were also private
estates held by some nobles.
With few exceptions the Incas, unlike the Aztecs, did not demand tribute
in kind, but rather exacted labor on the lands assigned to the state and the
religion. Communities were expected to take turns working on state and church
lands and sometimes on building projects or in mining. These labor turns, or
mita, were an essential aspect of Inca control. In addition, the Inca required
women to weave high-quality cloth for the court and for religious purposes.
The Incas provided the wool, but each household was required to produce cloth.
Woven cloth, a great Andean art form, had political and religious
significance. Some women were taken as concubines for the Inca and others were
selected as servants at the temples, the so-called "Virgins of the Sun." In
all this, the Inca had an overall imperial system, but remained sensitive to
local variations so that its application accommodated regional and ethnic
differences.
In theory, each community aimed at self-sufficiency and depended on the
state for goods difficult to acquire. The ayllus of each community controlled
the land, and the vast majority of the male population were peasants and
herdsmen. Women aided in the fields, wove cloth, and cared for the household.
Roles and obligations were gender specific and theoretically equal and
interdependent. Andean peoples recognized parallel descent, so that property
rights within the ayllus and among the nobility passed in both the male and
female lines. Women passed rights and property to daughters, men to sons.
Whether in pre-Inca times women may have served as leaders of ayllus is open
to question, but under the Incas this seems to have been uncommon. Inca
emphasis on military virtues reinforced the inequality of men and women even
though an ideology of complementarity of the sexes was very strong.
The concept of close cooperation of men and women was also reflected in
the Inca view of the cosmos. Gods and goddesses were worshiped by men and
women but women felt a particular affinity for the moon and the goddesses of
the earth and corn, the fertility deities. The Inca queen, the Inca's senior
wife (who was usually also a sister of the Inca), was viewed as a link to the
moon, queen and sister of the sun; she represented imperial authority to all
women. But, despite an ideology of gender equality, Inca practice created a
hierarchy of gender relationships that meshed with the dominance of the Inca
state over subject peoples. This fact is supported and the power of the empire
over local ethnic groups is demonstrated in that the Incas were able to select
the most beautiful young women to serve the temples or be given to the Inca.
The integration of imperial policy with regional and ethnic diversity was
a political achievement. Ethnic headmen were left in place, but over them were
Inca administrators drawn from the Inca nobility in Cuzco. Reciprocity and
verticality continued to characterize Andean groups as they came under Inca
rule with reciprocity between the state and the local community simply an
added level. The Inca state could provide roads, irrigation projects, and hard
to get goods. Maize, for example, was usually grown on irrigated land and was
particularly important as a ritual crop. State sponsored irrigation added to
its cultivation. The Inca state manipulated the idea of reciprocity to extract
labor power, and it dealt harshly with resistance and revolt. In addition to
the ayllu peasantry there was also a class of people, the yanas, who were
removed from their ayllus and served permanently as servants, artisans, or
workers for the Inca or the Inca nobility.
The Inca nobility was greatly privileged and those related to the Inca
himself held the highest positions. The nobility were all drawn from the ten
royal ayllus. In addition, the residents of Cuzco were given noble status to
enable them to serve in high bureaucratic posts. The nobles were distinguished
by dress and custom. Only they were entitled to wear the large ear spools that
enlarged the ears and caused the Spaniards to later call them orejones, or
"big ears." Noticeably absent in most of the Inca Empire was a distinct
merchant class. Unlike Mesoamerica where long-distance trade was so important,
Inca emphasis on self- sufficiency and state regulation of production and
surplus limited trade. Only in the northern areas of the empire, in the
chiefdoms of Ecuador, the last region brought under Inca control, did a
specialized class of traders exist.
The Inca imperial system which controlled an area almost 3000 miles in
extent was a stunning achievement of statecraft, but like all empires it
lasted only as long as it could control its subject populations and its own
mechanisms of government. A system of royal multiple marriages as a way of
forging alliances created rival claimants for power and the possibility of
civil war. That is exactly what happened in the 1520s, just before the arrival
of the Europeans. When the Spanish first arrived in Peru, they saw an empire
weakened and wasted by civil strife.
Inca Cultural Achievements
The Incas drew on the artistic traditions of their Andean predecessors
and the skills of subject peoples. Beautiful pottery and cloth was produced in
specialized workshops. Inca metallurgy was among the most advanced of the
Americas, and Inca artisans worked gold and silver with great technical skill.
The Incas also used copper and some bronze for weapons and tools. Like the
Mesoamerican peoples, the Incas made no practical use of the wheel, but unlike
them, they had no system of writing. The Incas, however, did make use of a
system of knotted strings, or quipu, with which numerical and perhaps other
information could be recorded. It functioned something like an abacus, and
with it the Incas took censuses and kept financial records. The Incas had a
passion for numerical order, and the population was divided into decimal units
from which population, military enlistment, and work details could be
calculated. The existence of so many traits associated with civilization in
the Old World and yet the absence of a system of writing among the Incas
should make us realize the variation of human development and the dangers of
becoming too attached to certain characteristics or cultural features in
defining civilizations.
Inca genius was best displayed in their statecraft and in their
architecture and public buildings. Inca stonecutting was remarkably accurate
and the best buildings were constructed of large fitted stones without the use
of masonry. Some of these buildings were immense. These constructions, the
large agricultural terraces and irrigation projects, and the extensive system
of roads were among the Incas' greatest achievements, displaying their
technical ability and workmanship as well as their ability to mobilize large
amounts of manpower.
Comparing The Incas And Aztecs
Both the Inca and the Aztec empires were based on a long development of
civilization that preceded them; and while in some areas of artistic and
intellectual achievement earlier peoples had surpassed their accomplishments,
both represented the success of imperial and military organization. Both
empires were based on intensive agriculture organized by a state that
accumulated surplus production and then controlled the circulation of goods
and their redistribution to groups or social classes. In both states older
semikinship-based institutions, the ayllu and the calpulli, were being
transformed by the emergence of a social hierarchy in which the nobility was
increasingly predominant. In both areas this nobility was also the personnei
of the state, so that the state organization was almost an image of society.
While the Incas attempted to create an overarching political state and
made conscious attempts to integrate their empire as a unit (the Aztecs did
less in this regard), both empires recognized local ethnic groups and
political leaders and were willing to allow considerable variation from one
group or region to another - that is, provided that Inca or Aztec sovereignty
was recognized and tribute paid. Both the Aztecs and the Incas, like the
Spaniards who followed them, found that their military power was less
effective against nomadic peoples who lived on their frontiers. Essentially,
the empires were created by the conquest of sedentary agricultural peoples and
the extraction of tribute and labor from them.
We cannot overlook the considerable differences between Mesoamerica and
the Andean region in terms of climate and geography nor ignore the differences
between the Inca and Aztec civilizations. Trade and markets, for example, were
far more developed in the Aztec Empire and earlier in Mesoamerica in general
than in the Andean world. There were considerable differences in metallurgy,
in writing systems, and in social definition and hierarchy. But within the
context of world civilizations, it is probably best to view these two empires
and the cultural areas they represent as variations of similar patterns and
processes of which sedentary agriculture is the most important. Basic
similarities underlying variation can also be seen in systems of belief and
cosmology and in social structure. Whether similar origins, direct or indirect
contact between the areas, or parallel development in Mesoamerica and the
Andean area explains the similarity remains to be explored. But the American
Indian civilizations shared much with each other, and that factor plus their
relative isolation from external cultural and biological influences gave them
their peculiar character and ultimately their vulnerability. At the same time,
their ability to survive the shock of conquest and to contribute to the
formation of societies after conquest demonstrates much of their strength and
resiliency. Long after the Aztec and Inca empires had ceased to exist, the
peoples of the Andes and Mexico continue to draw on these cultural traditions.
