Lloque Yupanqui's open markets were much like farmer's markets of today. Farmers brought surplus crops, such as potatoes, corn, and quinoa (a type of grain) to trade with other vendors who offered cloth, leather goods, pottery, and dried and smoked meat or fish. The Incas did not have any currency, so all purchases were bartered for goods based on values set by buyer and seller. Three such markets existed in Cuzco, and the tradition continues to this day.
Today, market day in Andes towns brings a flurry of activity, as vendors set up stalls and buyers compare produce and goods on offer. Surprisingly, many of the products remain the same: woven cloth, leather goods, dried meat or fish, corn, potatoes, medicinal and cooking herbs, and pottery. Buyers can make purchases in cash now, although the barter system still enables vendors to swap cloth for fish, fish for pots, or pots for potatoes.
Buyers and sellers crowd a traditional open-air market In Chinchero, Peru.
Plishments, in addition to building himself a house, included increasing the size and style of the Intihuasi and building the Acllahuasi (a kind of convent), creating public markets, building roads, and beginning to establish the Inca administrative system.
The Acllahuasi became the home of the acllas, holy or chosen women. It became known as a center of fine weaving, and the cloth produced here was used in religious rites, to dress priests and nuns, and for the Inca chief’s family. The women also made beer and served as priestesses for religious rites. Since the chosen women were well trained and among the most beautiful women of the empire, many became secondary wives for Inca nobles.
As the population grew, Cuzco expanded and much of the population moved farther from the center of town. Lloque Yupanqui realized that a better means of travel was essential and ordered roads built between the suburbs and center of Cuzco. With better travel, the Inca chief and his administrators could continue to keep closer watch on citizens living at the edge of the empire.
Lloque Yupanqui initiated the Inca civil service system to help him oversee the welfare of his subjects. He appointed curacas (men who were professional government employees) to assign work, collect taxes, and oversee civil projects such as building roads and irrigation systems. The curacas became the foundation of the extensive Inca oversight program, with skills and knowledge passed from father to son, since the occupation of cu-raca, like all occupations under the Incas, was hereditary.
Once the roads were built and the curacas in place, Lloque Yupan-qui went on an inspection tour. He believed that a good ruler personally observed how his citizens lived and his administrators worked. Future Inca chiefs followed his example, taking a hands-on approach to governing.
Lloque Yupanqui instilled spirit and vision in his successor, Mayta Capac (r. c. 1288-1318). The new ruler established a school system among Inca nobility, encouraged religious tolerance, and conquered the people of Tiahuanaco. Early in his reign, Mayta Capac decided that princes needed to learn about government and warfare. The schools he founded offered a limited curriculum that ensured future rulers would be prepared for leadership and government administrators would understand the general workings of the Inca civil service. The school concept expanded to include sons of the Inca chief’s relatives, curacas, and rulers whose tribes or clans had been absorbed into the Inca Empire.
At a time when some European rulers forced their subjects to follow the tenets of the dominant religion or suffer dire consequences, Mayta Capac realized that different cultures honored their gods with the same reverence as the Incas felt toward their own gods. He wanted conquered people to worship the Inca gods, but he also allowed them to pursue their personal beliefs.
Mayta Capac recognized the importance of skilled warriors, since the Inca Empire spent a fair amount of time protecting itself from invasion and expanding its holdings by conquering others. During his reign, about one-fifth of the population served in the military, although this was not a large number of men. The empire’s population stood at about 1,000 people, so Mayta Capac’s army numbered about 200. To increase the efficiency of the military in moving from place to place, Mayta Capac improved roads to all outlying regions.
Mayta Capac’s greatest contribution to the Inca Empire was the assimilation of the Tiahuanacos, a culture of superb builders and masons. The Incas learned and adapted Tiahuanaco skills with stone cutting, shaping, and building, and applied that knowledge to erecting stronger stone structures.
Some people were bom to greatness, and others achieve greatness by their good looks. Such was the case with Capac Yupanqui, who was not first in line to succeed his father, Mayta Capac. Unfortunately for the designated heir apparent, he was too ugly to be Inca chief. The Inca chief was believed to be the son of the sun, and how could a truly homely person represent the sun god? The people decided that Capac Yupanqui made a better-looking king, and the designated heir fell into oblivion.
Capac Yupanqui looked westward toward the Pacific Ocean for expansion. There were many cultures along the coast, including powerful warrior states and clans of artisans and craftspeople. Capac Yupanqui prepared his army to move from the higher, colder, wetter Andes to fight in the lower, hotter, dryer altitude of the coastal cultures. Then, culture by culture, he proceeded on his plan of expansion by conquest. Some cultures were happy to join the Inca Empire, while others fought against the Inca army-and lost. Within a few weeks, Capac Yupanqui had engulfed the coastal region and brought nearly 120,000 square miles of territory under his rule.
Under Capac Yupanqui, the Intihuasi and Acllahuasi became temples of solid stone. Cuzco expanded, as it had since the days of Manco Capac, with groves of trees and gar-
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Mistaken Credit
When the Spanish arrived in Peru, they marveled at the skill of Inca builders. According to Father Bernabe Cobo, "What amazes us the most when we look at these buildings is to wonder with what tools and apparatus could they take these stones out of the rocks in the quarries, work them, and put them where they are without implements made of iron, nor machines with wheels, nor using either the ruler, the square, or the plumb bob, nor any of the other kinds of equipment and implements that our artisans use."
To give credit where it is due, the Incas learned these skills from the Tiahuanacos. It was the Tiahuanacos who developed the skill of putting two stones together so tightly that a person could not slide a knife between the rocks. The Incas simply had the good sense to borrow quality technology and the audacity to claim that technology as their own.
Dens, public plazas, and recreational areas. His wife, Coya Cusi Hilpay, took an interest in the environment and promoted replanting forests and gardens throughout the empire. Equally important, Capac Yupan-qui recognized the growing need for fresh water. He promoted a variety of water-related projects, including bridges, aqueducts, canals, drains, and sewer lines.
While the empire flourished under Capac Yupanqui, his household was filled with intrigue and scheming driven by ambition. Capac Yupanqui had many wives, including Cusi Hilpay and Cusi Chimbo. Normally, the future sapa inca would be chosen from the sons of the coya, the primary wife.
However, jealousy among the wives did occur. An ambitious secondary wife could hope to achieve the throne for her favorite son. This is what happened in Capac Yupanqui’s court. Hilpay’s father was curaca of Anta, a powerful and influential region. Chimbo was jealous of Hilpay and arranged for Hilpay’s son Quispe Yupanqui, who was direct heir to the throne, to be murdered. Capac Yupanqui disappeared at about the same time, and most historians believe he, too, was assassinated. Chimbo’s supporters named her son Inca Roca, another of Capac Yupanqui’s sons, to be the new ruler.
Inca Roca did not want to suffer the same fate as his father and brother. Immediately after taking power, he married Cusi Chimbo, his mother and conspirator in the assassinations of his father and half brother, this ensuring that her children would succeed to the throne. Inca Roca became the most productive of the early Inca chiefs and the first ruler to use the title inca. He chose to be called the sapa inca, which means “unique chief.”
Inca Roca was interested in road building, city planning, architecture, and improving water works in the Inca Empire. One of his first efforts was the total reorganization of the Inca political and social structure. He divided the government administration into two sections: upper and lower segments, with all political, military, and social matters falling under his direct authority. He named many people from his own family line to government and social positions. Only the priests of the Intihuasi remained directly descended from Manco Capac.
Inca Roca finished draining the marshes, a project begun by Sinchi Roca. He ordered canals built to provide ample fresh water to two city districts. In addition, he built a reservoir to store fresh water for home and crop use, which increased the number of fields that could be farmed.
Roads continued to be a major Inca undertaking. The Incas had only two means of transportation: by foot or by litter (a small carriage carried by several men). Since only Inca nobles and curacas were allowed to ride by litter, almost everyone walked. Llamas were used as pack animals but were too small to carry humans, since they can only carry about 100 pounds.
Inca Roca’s successor, Yahuar Huacac had none of his father’s ambition, vision, or productivity. Instead, he preferred to remain in his palace and enjoy a mercifully dull and uneventful reign. According to legend, Yahuar Huacac was kidnapped when he was eight years old, and this event psychologically damaged him for life. He was so ineffective that he did not even arrange the building of his own palace.
One Spanish historian, Garcilaso de la Vega, claimed that Yahuar Huacac managed to raise an army of nearly 20,000 men, but de la Vega’s claim is an exaggeration. The population of Cuzco at the time was roughly 4,200 people, including many women, children, and men too old to fight. Yahuar Huacac could count possibly 1,000 men eligible for military service. Even adding recruits from neighboring towns and conquered people, the largest army possible would be about 2,500 soldiers. It mattered little, since Yahuar Huacac’s army did not fight, conquer, or advance.
Perhaps it was Yahuar Huacac’s timidity and lack of leadership that made his heir, Huiracocha, go down in history as the eighth and most cowardly sapa inca. His failure to face an invading army of Chanca warriors negated any efforts and accomplishments of his reign.
Huiracocha’s approach to expanding the empire was one of conquer and absorb-as long as the expansion was neither exhaustive nor overly dangerous. In many past situations, the victorious Inca army looted the conquered villages, killed civilians, and acted recklessly. Huiracocha did not want to lose the wealth and value held in conquered towns. He scooped up smaller cultures and incorporated them under his authority, retaining their wealth and using their labor force.
One legend claims that after a long military campaign, Huiracocha and his son Urco Inca, his designated heir, took a vacation in the mountains. The Chanca people chose this time to attack the Inca Empire. Huiracocha felt that he could no longer rule and gave up his throne to Urco Inca, who was not up to the task of defeating the marauding Chan-cas. Another tale is less generous, claiming that facing the onslaught of the Chanca, father and son both fled out of cowardice.
They left the protection of Cuzco to a younger son of Huiracocha, Cusi Yupanqui. Cusi Yupanqui not only defeated the Chanca, but he went on to become the greatest of the Inca rulers, a true sapa inca.
World History
