History of the Conquest of Peru
Edited by: Robert Guisepi
2002
View Of The Civilization Of The Incas.
Author: Prescott, William H.
Part II
A principal design of the great roads was to serve the purposes of
military communication. It formed an important item of their military policy,
which is quite as well worth studying as their municipal.
Notwithstanding the pacific professions of the Incas, and the pacific
tendency, indeed, of their domestic institutions, they were constantly at war.
It was by war that their paltry territory had been gradually enlarged to a
powerful empire. When this was achieved, the capital, safe in its central
position, was no longer shaken by these military movements, and the country
enjoyed, in a great degree, the blessings of tranquillity and order. But,
however tranquil at heart, there is not a reign upon record in which the
nation was not engaged in war against the barbarous nations on the frontier.
Religion furnished a plausible pretext for incessant aggression, and disguised
the lust of conquest in the Incas, probably, from their own eyes, as well as
from those of their subjects. Like the followers of Mahomet, bearing the
sword in one hand and the Koran in the other, the Incas of Peru offered no
alternative but the worship of the Sun or war.
It is true, their fanaticism - or their policy - showed itself in a
milder form than was found in the descendants of the Prophet. Like the great
luminary which they adored, they operated by gentleness more potent than
violence. ^52 They sought to soften the hearts of the rude tribes around them,
and melt them by acts of condescension and kindness. Far from provoking
hostilities, they allowed time for the salutary example of their own
institutions to work its effect, trusting that their less civilized neighbours
would submit to their sceptre, from a conviction of the blessings it would
secure to them. When this course failed, they employed other measures, but
still of a pacific character; and endeavoured by negotiation, by conciliatory
treatment, and by presents to the leading men, to win them over to their
dominion. In short, they practised all the arts familiar to the most subtle
politician of a civilized land to secure the acquisition of empire. When all
these expedients failed, they prepared for war.
[Footnote 52: "Mas se hicieron Senores al za." Ondegardo, Rel. Prim.,
principio por mana, que por fuer- Ms.]
Their levies were drawn from all the different provinces; though from
some, where the character of the people was particularly hardy, more than from
others. ^53 It seems probable that every Peruvian, who had reached a certain
age, might be called to bear arms. But the rotation of military service, and
the regular drills, which took place twice or thrice in a month, of the
inhabitants of every village, raised the soldiers generally above the rank of
a raw militia. The Peruvian army, at first inconsiderable, came, with the
increase of population, in the latter days of the empire, to be very large, so
that their monarchs could bring into the field, as contemporaries assure us, a
force amounting to two hundred thousand men. They showed the same skill and
respect for order in their military organization, as in other things. The
troops were divided into bodies corresponding with out battalions and
companies, led by officers, that rose, in regular gradation, from the lowest
subaltern to the Inca noble, who was intrusted with the general command. ^54
[Footnote 53: Idem, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Dec. de la Aud. Real., Ms.]
[Footnote 54: Gomara, Cronica, cap. 195 - Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]
Their arms consisted of the usual weapons employed by nations, whether
civilized or uncivilized, before the invention of powder, - bows and arrows,
lances, darts, a short kind of sword, a battle-axe or partisan, and slings,
with which they were very expert. Their spears and arrows were tipped with
copper, or, more commonly, with bone, and the weapons of the Inca lords were
frequently mounted with gold or silver. Their heads were protected by casques
made either of wood or of the skins of wild animals, and sometimes richly
decorated with metal and with precious stones, surmounted by the brilliant
plumage of the tropical birds. These, of course, were the ornaments only of
the higher orders. The great mass of the soldiery were dressed in the
peculiar costume of their provinces, and their heads were wreathed with a sort
of turban or roll of different-colored cloths, that produced a gay and
animating effect. Their defensive armor consisted of a shield or buckler, and
a close tunic of quilted cotton, in the same manner as with the Mexicans.
Each company had its particular banner, and the imperial standard, high above
all, displayed the glittering device of the rainbow, - the armorial ensign of
the Incas, intimating their claims as children of the skies. ^55
[Footnote 55: Gomara, Cronica, ubi supra. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 20.
- Velasco, Hist. de Quito, tom. I. pp. 176-179.
This last writer gives a minute catalogue of the ancient Peruvian arms,
comprehending nearly every thing familiar to the European soldier, except
fire-arms. - It was judicious in him to omit these.]
By means of the thorough system of communication established in the
country, a short time sufficed to draw the levies together from the most
distant quarters. The army was put under the direction of some experienced
chief, of the blood royal, or, more frequently, headed by the Inca in person.
The march was rapidly performed, and with little fatigue to the soldier; for,
all along the great routes, quarters were provided for him, at regular
distances, where he could find ample accommodations. The country is still
covered with the remains of military works, constructed of porphyry or
granite, which tradition assures us were designed to lodge the Inca and his
army. ^56
[Footnote 56: Zarate, Conq. del Peru, lib. 1, cap. 11. - Sarmiento, Relacion,
Ms., cap. 60.
Condamine speaks of the great number of these fortified places, scattered
over the country between Quito and Lima, which he saw in his visit to South
America in 1737; some of which he has described with great minuteness.
Memoire sur Quelques Anciens Monumens du Perou, du Tems des Incas, ap.
Histoire de l'Academie Royale des Sciences et de Belles Lettres, (Berlin,
1748,) tom. II. p. 438.]
At regular intervals, also, magazines were established, filled with
grain, weapons, and the different munitions of war, with which the army was
supplied on its march. It was the especial care of the government to see that
these magazines, which were furnished from the stores of the Incas, were
always well filled. When the Spaniards invaded the country, they supported
their own armies for a long time on the provisions found in them. ^57 The
Peruvian soldier was forbidden to commit any trespass on the property of the
inhabitants whose territory lay in the line of march. Any violation of this
order was punished with death. ^58 The soldier was clothed and fed by the
industry of the people, and the Incas rightly resolved that he should not
repay this by violence. Far from being a tax on the labors of the husbandman,
or even a burden on his hospitality, the imperial armies traversed the
country, from one extremity to the other, with as little inconvenience to the
inhabitants, as would be created by a procession of peaceful burghers, or a
muster of holiday soldiers for a review.
[Footnote 57: "E ansi cuando," says Ondegardo, speaking from his own personal
knowledge, "el Senor Presidente Gasca passo con la gente de castigo de Gonzalo
Pizarro por el valle de Jauja, estuvo alli siete semanas a lo que me acuerdo,
se hallaron en deposito maiz de cuatro y de tres y de dos anos mas de 15
hanegas junto al camino, e alli comio la gente, y se entendio que si fuera
menester muchas mas no faltaran en el valle en aquellos depositos, conforme a
la orden antigua, porque a mi cargo estubo el repartirlas y hacer la cuenta
para pagarlas." Rel. Seg., Ms.]
[Footnote 58: Pedro Pizarro, Descub. y Conq., Ms. - Cieza de Leon, Cronica,
cap. 44. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 14.]
From the moment war was proclaimed, the Peruvian monarch used all
possible expedition in assembling his forces, that he might anticipate the
movements of his enemies, and prevent a combination with their allies. It
was, however, from the neglect of such a principle of combination, that the
several nations of the country, who might have prevailed by confederated
strength, fell one after another under the imperial yoke. Yet, once in the
field, the Inca did not usually show any disposition to push his advantages to
the utmost, and urge his foe to extremity. In every stage of the war, he was
open to propositions for peace; and although he sought to reduce his enemies
by carrying off their harvests and distressing them by famine, he allowed his
troops to commit no unnecessary outrage on person or property. "We must spare
our enemies," one of the Peruvian princes is quoted as saying, "or it will be
our loss, since they and all that belongs to them must soon be ours." ^59 It
was a wise maxim, and, like most other wise maxims, founded equally on
benevolence and prudence. The Incas adopted the policy claimed for the Romans
by their countryman, who tells us that they gained more by clemency to the
vanquished than by their victories. ^60
[Footnote 59: "Mandabase que en los mantenimientos y casas de los enemigos se
hiciese poco dano, diciendoles el Senor, presto seran estos nuestros como los
que ya lo son; como esto tenian conocido, procuraban que la guerra fuese la
mas liviana que ser pudiese." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 14.]
[Footnote 60: "Plus pene parcendo victis, quam vincendo imperium auxisse.'
Livy, lib. 30, cap. 42.]
In the same considerate spirit, they were most careful to provide for the
security and comfort of their own troops; and, when a war was long protracted,
or the climate proved unhealthy, they took care to relieve their men by
frequent reinforcements, allowing the earlier recruits to return to their
homes. ^61 But while thus economical of life, both in their own followers and
in the enemy, they did not shrink from sterner measures when provoked by the
ferocious or obstinate character of the resistance; and the Peruvian annals
contain more than one of those sanguinary pages which cannot be pondered at
the present day without a shudder. It should be added, that the beneficent
policy, which I have been delineating as characteristic of the Incas, did not
belong to all; and that there was more than one of the royal line who
displayed a full measure of the bold and unscrupulous spirit of the vulgar
conqueror.
[Footnote 61: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 18.]
The first step of the government, after the reduction of a country, was
to introduce there the worship of the Sun. Temples were erected, and placed
under the care of a numerous priesthood, who expounded to the conquered people
the mysteries of their new faith, and dazzled them by the display of its rich
and stately ceremonial. ^62 Yet the religion of the conquered was not treated
with dishonor. The Sun was to be worshipped above all; but the images of
their gods were removed to Cuzco and established in one of the temples, to
hold their rank among the inferior deities of the Peruvian Pantheon. Here
they remained as hostages, in some sort, for the conquered nation, which would
be the less inclined to forsake its allegiance, when by doing so it must leave
its own gods in the hands of its enemies. ^63
[Footnote 62: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 14.]
[Footnote 63: Acosta, lib. 5, cap. 12. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib.
5, cap. 12.]
The Incas provided for the settlement of their new conquests, by ordering
a census to be taken of the population, and a careful survey to be made of the
country, ascertaining its products, and the character and capacity of its
soil. ^64 A division of the territory was then made on the same principle with
that adopted throughout their own kingdom; and their respective portions were
assigned to the Sun, the sovereign, and the people. The amount of the last was
regulated by the amount of the population, but the share of each individual
was uniformly the same. It may seem strange, that any people should patiently
have acquiesced in an arrangement which involved such a total surrender of
property. But it was a conquered nation that did so, held in awe, on the
least suspicion of meditating resistance, by armed garrisons, who were
established at various commanding points throughout the country. ^65 It is
probable, too, that the Incas made no greater changes than was essential to
the new arrangement, and that they assigned estates, as far as possible, to
their former proprietors. The curacas, in particular, were confirmed in their
ancient authority; or, when it was found expedient to depose the existing
curaca, his rightful heir was allowed to succeed him. ^66 Every respect was
shown to the ancient usages and laws of the land, as far as was compatible
with the fundamental institutions of the Incas. It must also be remembered,
that the conquered tribes were, many of them, too little advanced in
civilization to possess that attachment to the soil which belongs to a
cultivated nation. ^67 But, to whatever it be referred, it seems probable that
the extraordinary institutions of the Incas were established with little
opposition in the conquered territories. ^68
[Footnote 64: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 13, 14. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms.,
cap. 15.]
[Footnote 65: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 19.]
[Footnote 66: Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2, lib. 3, cap. 11.]
[Footnote 67: Sarmiento has given a very full and interesting account of the
singularly humane policy observed by the Incas in their conquests, forming a
striking contrast with the usual course of those scourges of mankind, whom
mankind are wise enough to requite with higher admiration, even, than it
bestows on its benefactors. As Sarmiento, who was President of the Royal
Council of the Indies, and came into the country soon after the Conquest, is a
high authority, and as his work, lodged in the dark recesses of the Escurial,
is almost unknown, I have transferred the whole chapter to Appendix, No. 3.]
[Footnote 68: According to Velasco, even the powerful state of Quito,
sufficiently advanced in civilization to have the law of property well
recognized by its people, admitted the institutions of the Incas "not only
without repugnance, but with joy." (Hist. de Quito, tom. II. p. 183.) But
Velasco, a modern authority, believed easily, - or reckoned on his readers'
doing so.]
Yet the Peruvian sovereigns did not trust altogether to this show of
obedience in their new vassals; and, to secure it more effectually, they
adopted some expedients too remarkable to be passed by in silence. -
Immediately after a recent conquest, the curacas and their families were
removed for a time to Cuzco. Here they learned the language of the capital,
became familiar with the manners and usages of the court, as well as with the
general policy of government, and experienced such marks of favor from the
sovereign as would be most grateful to their feelings, and might attach them
most warmly to his person. Under the influence of these sentiments, they were
again sent to rule over their vassals, but still leaving their eldest sons in
the capital, to remain there as a guaranty for their own fidelity, as well as
to grace the court of the Inca. ^69
[Footnote 69: Garcilasso, Com. Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 12; lib. 7, cap.
2.]
Another expedient was of a bolder and more original character. This was
nothing less than to revolutionize the language of the country. South
America, like North, was broken up into a great variety of dialects, or rather
languages, having little affinity with one another. This circumstance
occasioned great embarrassment to the government in the administration of the
different provinces, with whose idioms they were unacquainted. It was
determined, therefore, to substitute one universal language, the Quichua, -
the language of the court, the capital, and the surrounding country, - the
richest and most comprehensive of the South American dialects. Teachers were
provided in the towns and villages throughout the land, who were to give
instruction to all, even the humblest classes; and it was intimated at the
same time, that no one should be raised to any office of dignity or profit,
who was unacquainted with this tongue. The curacas and other chiefs, who
attended at the capital, became familiar with this dialect in their
intercourse with the Court, and, on their return home, set the example of
conversing in it among themselves. This example was imitated by their
followers, and the Quichua gradually became the language of elegance and
fashion, in the same manner as the Norman French was affected by all those who
aspired to any consideration in England, after the Conquest. By this means,
while each province retained its peculiar tongue, a beautiful medium of
communication was introduced, which enabled the inhabitants of one part of the
country to hold intercourse with every other, and the Inca and his deputies to
communicate with all. This was the state of things on the arrival of the
Spaniards. It must be admitted, that history furnishes few examples of more
absolute authority than such a revolution in the language of an empire, at the
bidding of a master. ^70
[Footnote 70: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 6, cap. 35; lib. 7, cap. 1, 2. - Ondegardo,
Rel. Seg., Ms. - Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 55.
"Aun la Criatura no hubiese dejado el Pecho de su Madre quando le
comenzasen a mostrar la Lengua que havia de saber; y aunque al principio fue
dificultoso, e muchos se pusieron en no quere deprender mas lenguas de las
suyas propias, los Reyes pudieron tanto que salieron con su intencion y ellos
tubieron por bien de cumplir su mandado y tan de veras se entendio en ello que
en tiempo de pocos anos se savia y usaba una lengua en mas de mil y doscientas
leguas." Ibid., cap. 21.]
Yet little less remarkable was another device of the Incas for securing
the loyalty of their subjects. When any portion of the recent conquests
showed a pertinacious spirit of disaffection, it was not uncommon to cause a
part of the population, amounting, it might be, to ten thousand inhabitants or
more, to remove to a distant quarter of the kingdom, occupied by ancient
vassals of undoubted fidelity to the crown. A like number of these last was
transplanted to the territory left vacant by the emigrants. By this exchange,
the population was composed of two distinct races, who regarded each other
with an eye of jealousy, that served as an effectual check on any mutinous
proceeding. In time, the influence of the well-affected prevailed, supported,
as they were, by royal authority, and by the silent working of the national
institutions, to which the strange races became gradually accustomed. A
spirit of loyalty sprang up by degrees in their bosoms, and, before a
generation had passed away, the different tribes mingled in harmony together
as members of the same community. ^71 Yet the different races continued to be
distinguished by difference of dress; since, by the law of the land, every
citizen was required to wear the costume of his native province. ^72 Neither
could the colonist, who had been thus unceremoniously transplanted, return to
his native district. For, by another law, it was forbidden to any one to
change his residence without license. ^73 He was settled for life. The
Peruvian government prescribed to every man his local habitation, his sphere
of action, nay, the very nature and quality of that action. He ceased to be a
free agent; it might be almost said, that it relieved him of personal
responsibility.
[Footnote 71: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Fernandez, Hist. del Peru, Parte 2,
lib. 3, cap. 11.]
[Footnote 72: "This regulation," says Father Acosta, "the Incas held to be of
great importance to the order and right government of the realm." lib. 6, cap.
16.]
[Footnote 73: Conq. i Pob. del Piru, Ms.]
In following out this singular arrangement, the Incas showed as much
regard for the comfort and convenience of the colonist as was compatible with
the execution of their design. They were careful that the mitimaes, as these
emigrants were styled, should be removed to climates most congenial with their
own. The inhabitants of the cold countries were not transplanted to the warm,
nor the inhabitants of the warm countries to the cold. ^74 Even their habitual
occupations were consulted, and the fisherman was settled in the neighbourhood
of the ocean, or the great lakes; while such lands were assigned to the
husbandman as were best adapted to the culture with which he was most
familiar. ^75 And, as migration by many, perhaps by most, would be regarded as
a calamity, the government was careful to show particular marks of favor to
the mitimaes, and, by various privileges and immunities, to ameliorate their
condition, and thus to reconcile them, if possible, to their lot. ^76
[Footnote 74: "Trasmutaban de las tales Provincias la cantidad de gente de que
de ella parecia convenir que saliese, a los cuales mandaban pasar a poblar
otra tierra del temple y manera de donde salian, si fria fria, si caliente
caliente, en donde les daban tierras, y campos, y casas, tanto, y mas como
dejaron." Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., cap. 19.]
[Footnote 75: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms.]
[Footnote 76: The descendants of these mitimaes are still to be found in
Quito, or were so at the close of the last century, according to Velasco,
distinguished by this name from the rest of the population. Hist. de Quito,
tom.l. p. 175.]
The Peruvian institutions, though they may have been modified and matured
under successive sovereigns, all bear the stamp of the same original, - were
all cast in the same mould. The empire, strengthening and enlarging at every
successive epoch of its history, was, in its latter days, but the development,
on a great scale, of what it was in miniature at its commencement, as the
infant germ is said to contain within itself all the ramifications of the
future monarch of the forest. Each succeeding Inca seemed desirous only to
tread in the path, and carry out the plans, of his predecessor. Great
enterprises, commenced under one, were continued by another, and completed by
a third. Thus, while all acted on a regular plan, without any of the
eccentric or retrograde movements which betray the agency of different
individuals, the state seemed to be under the direction of a single hand, and
steadily pursued, as if through one long reign, its great career of
civilization and of conquest.
The ultimate aim of its institutions was domestic quiet. But it seemed
as if this were to be obtained only by foreign war. Tranquillity in the heart
of the monarchy, and war on its borders, was the condition of Peru. By this
war it gave occupation to a part of its people, and, by the reduction and
civilization of its barbarous neighbours, gave security to all. Every Inca
sovereign, however mild and benevolent in his domestic rule, was a warrior,
and led his armies in person. Each successive reign extended still wider the
boundaries of the empire. Year after year saw the victorious monarch return
laden with spoils, and followed by a throng of tributary chieftains to his
capital. His reception there was a Roman triumph. The whole of its numerous
population poured out to welcome him, dressed in the gay and picturesque
costumes of the different provinces, with banners waving above their heads,
and strewing branches and flowers along the path of the conqueror. The Inca,
borne aloft in his golden chair on the shoulders of his nobles, moved in
solemn procession, under the triumphal arches that were thrown across the way,
to the great temple of the Sun. There, without attendants, - for all but the
monarch were excluded from the hallowed precincts, - the victorious prince,
stripped of his royal insignia, barefooted, and with all humility, approached
the awful shrine, and offered up sacrifice and thanksgiving to the glorious
Deity who presided over the fortunes of the Incas. This ceremony concluded,
the whole population gave itself up to festivity; music, revelry, and dancing
were heard in every quarter of the capital, and illuminations and bonfires
commemorated the victorious campaign of the Inca, and the accession of a new
territory to his empire. ^77
[Footnote 77: Sarmiento, Relacion, Ms., Parte 1, lib. 3, cap. 11, 17; lib. 6
cap. 55. - Garcilasso, Com. Real., cap. 16.]
In this celebration we see much of the character of a religious festival.
Indeed, the character of religion was impressed on all the Peruvian wars. The
life of an Inca was one long crusade against the infidel, to spread wide the
worship of the Sun, to reclaim the benighted nations from their brutish
superstitions, and impart to them the blessings of a well-regulated
government. This, in the favorite phrase of our day, was the "mission" of the
Inca. It was also the mission of the Christian conqueror who invaded the
empire of this same Indian potentate. Which of the two executed his mission
most faithfully, history must decide.
Yet the Peruvian monarchs did not show a childish impatience in the
acquisition of empire. They paused after a campaign, and allowed time for the
settlement of one conquest before they undertook another; and, in this
interval, occupied themselves with the quiet administration of their kingdom,
and with the long progresses, which brought them into nearer intercourse with
their people. During this interval, also, their new vassals had begun to
accommodate themselves to the strange institutions of their masters. They
learned to appreciate the value of a government which raised them above the
physical evils of a state of barbarism, secured them protection of person, and
a full participation in all the privileges enjoyed by their conquerors; and,
as they became more familiar with the peculiar institutions of the country,
habit, that second nature, attached them the more strongly to these
institutions, from their very peculiarity. Thus, by degrees, and without
violence, arose the great fabric of the Peruvian empire, composed of numerous
independent and even hostile tribes, yet, under the influence of a common
religion, common language, and common government, knit together as one nation,
animated by a spirit of love for its institutions and devoted loyalty to its
sovereign. What a contrast to the condition of the Aztec monarchy, on the
neighbouring continent, which, composed of the like heterogeneous materials,
without any internal principle of cohesion, was only held together by the
stern pressure, from without, of physical force! - Why the Peruvian monarchy
should have fared no better than its rival, in its conflict with European
civilization, will appear in the following pages.
