The western valleys were directly incorporated into the centralized Inca state system. However, the ancient patterns of economic complementarity changed little as the new sociopolitical regime co-opted the old.
During the preceding period (ca. AD 1000-1400) economic complementarity had been achieved by colonies of altiplano ethnic groups, such as Lupaqas, Pacajes, and Carangas in the valleys of Lluta, Azapa, Codpa, and Camarones. The strong relationship of western valleys to the circum Titicaca zone was reinforced during the Late Period defined by Inca presence. Under Inca control tambos and pukaras in Chungara, Helen, Zapahuira, and Purisa, or villages like Alto Ramirez (Azapa-15) were integrated into networks centered in the altiplano. Production and exchange of goods was paramount in this relationship, including coastal sites such as Playa Miller and Lower Camarones.
As economic relations were reinforced, so too was the ideological-political framework. In this sense, ceramics from the Lake Titicaca region, such as Saxamar or Inca-Pacajes, are also known in western valleys (Dauelsberg 1959; Munizaga 1957; Ryden 1947). Reutilization of the old caravan road system by the later Inca expansion played an important role in consolidating the whole area.
The Atacama Desert, on the other hand, represents a different condition. Here imposition of control on the local population had to be completed in order to extend the empire. Direct domination is documented at Catarpe, Peine, Turi, and Cerro Verde, where typical Inca architectural structures were superimposed on the old settlement plan.
There seem to have been well defended Inca posts, with a road leading into them, also protected. These sites had high population density, and the buildings clustered around a central courtyard. The settlements are located in strategic positions in relation to the valleys and the cultivable lands.
The Inca highway also was crucial in maintaining political relations. However, the local populations of San Pedro de Atacama and neighboring oases did not participate in the same ideological system as the Incas. Neither complementarity nor other economic and political relations with the altiplano or the Incas were so complete as in the coastal valleys to the north. Rather they retained a certain separation, avoiding complete integration into regional systems.
In addition to the Inca road system, sanctuaries located on top of the Andes main mountains such as Pili, Lincancabur, and Salln, and, exceptionally, on the coastal cordillera at Cerro Esmeralda in Iquique, were important as reinforcements to the Inca occupation.
The desert was an important part of the Inca Empire, as a source of minerals, especially turquoise and copper. Mining activity was centered on Catarpe (Silva 1985) as well as El Salvador and Vina del Cerro from the Copiapo area, where administrative officials were put in charge of its production. The Incas also contributed new mining techniques, including foundries and amalgamation procedures, which differ from the simpler extractive techniques of the Late Period (ca. AD 1350-1520).
From San Pedro de Atacama south to Copiapo, and still within the desert environment, the Inca expansion was less intensive. Around Copiapo was the last truly Inca post and probably from there southwards the Incas organized their conquest by indirect means. For example, in the Chanar Valley the Incas extracted only tribute of gold and turquoise, according to chronicler Geronimo Bibar (1558).
Since monumental architecture is absent in northern Chile, its integrating political role may have been taken by the high altitude sanctuaries, which are so numerous along the
Southern Andes. They held profound symbolic meaning that may have favored Inca conquest south of the Atacama Desert. According to Reinhard (1983), in the case of Socaire, the pre-Inca sanctuary was probably related to rituals for guaranteeing the supply of water for agricultural purposes, a religious practice apparently shared with the Incas.
On the other hand, this emphasis on sanctuaries and mountains—which required intense and specialized labor particularly in building platforms and roads in such as a high altitude conditions—seems to come from the Tunupa myth of origin from even earlier times (Rivera 1985). It is probably related to fertility beliefs, since mountains face the ocean (the main source of water) and, therefore, are connected to the origin of life. The whole system could have functioned with a central hierarchy promoting strong ideological beliefs in order to involve the local people in a network embracing all the southern Inca territories. In some respects, the sanctuaries replaced monumental administrative centers characteristic of Inca occupation elsewhere.
World History
