It is important to consider the aftermath of the Inca Period and the unintended effects Inca colonization produced on the cultural practices of the colonized. Inca colonization was not a historical event that passed unnoticed without leaving marks in the South Andes. On the contrary, it affected the social life of those whom the Incas ruled. The Valles Cal-chaquies (Yocavil and middle and northern Calchaqui Valleys) in northwestern Argentina (Figure 42.1) exemplify the argument I am making. In this region, people still remembered Tawantinsuyu during colonial times; there were narratives and a collective memory of the Inca past. Furthermore, subject communities continued conducting rituals in old Inca spaces, and using Inca objects. Despite resistance to Inca domination among many native populations, in a different historical context, and facing the consequences of Spanish conquest, Tawantinsuyu became a suitable utopia.
For more than 120 years native communities of the Calchaqui Valley resisted and repelled the Spanish conquerors. Towards the mid-seventeenth century, Pedro Bohorques, an adventuresome Spaniard, arrived in this rebellious valley. He managed to convince natives that he descended from Inca nobility, and that he was the actual grandson of Ata-hualpa, the last Inca emperor. He was received in full honor and treated as the Inca himself; native leaders subordinated themselves to Bohorques’ leadership. Bohorques managed to place himself above every chief, and under his leadership native communities negotiated with and fought the Colonial government. Bohorques’ utopia was to restore Tawantinsuyu in the Calchaqui Region. Although historical accounts say that Calchaqui communities had fiercely resisted Inca conquest, Bohorques seems to have based his power on a vernacular collective memory that in a certain way vindicated Tawantinsuyu.
He entered the region helped by his relationship with the Pacioca, an ethnic group that had been mitmaqkuna of the Incas, brought from Canas, in southern Cuzco. It seems that Bohorques learned about these mitmaqkuna from the original community that still resided in Canas. The Paciocas, enthusiastic about Bohorques’ arrival and plans, introduced him to the other groups of the Calchaqui Region. Perhaps, they saw in Bohorques an opportunity to re-gain the privileges they had during Inca times (Lorandi 1997: 239). Not only the Paciocas but all ethnic groups were attracted by this wily Spaniard who claimed noble Inca descent.
Calchaqui people and their leaders rapidly embraced this ‘false’ Inca. Perhaps they were becoming aware that Spanish authorities were more determined than ever to terminate the rebellion, or perhaps they realized that their own political differences were tearing them apart. Whatever the reason, it is important to emphasize that never before had the many polities of the region been united in common leadership [Note 8]. Bohorques, usurping Inca prestige, obtained what no indigenous chief had accomplished: bringing the Calchaqui communities together.
Calchaqui groups responded to the Inca call. Even communities from outside this region came to the Valles Calchaquies to support and join the new Inca (Lorandi 1997: 273). Tawantinsuyu still meant something to Calchaqui people; at least it represented a reason to
Assemble and fight. The Inca Empire was part of their memory and narratives, with Inca times remembered as better than the new oppression. Indeed, Spanish oppression created a utopia of the Inca past (Lorandi 1997) that united Calchaqui communities against the Spaniards.
The Incas also seem to have influenced indigenous ritual practices. For the last few years, Rodolfo Raffino and his team have been conducting an archaeological project at Shincal, one of the major Inca sites of the South Andes. One of the main characteristics of the site is its large plaza and ushnu (Figure 42.5). Archaeological excavations about the big ushnu have discovered evidence of two clearly differentiated events of feasting and offering: in Inca times and in the first half of the seventeenth century during the Colonial era (Raffino et al. 1997). Furthermore, the two archaeological events are similar in contents (both have animal bones, seeds from cultivated plants, pottery, personal adornments, and human teeth and bones), perhaps implying that ritual activities in the two periods were significantly similar as well.
The consumption of European cattle and the deposition of European artifacts characterized the second event. According to historical information, Shincal was abandoned once Tawantinsuyu collapsed, to be re-occupied later by troops of the indigenous confederation that rebelled against the Spaniards during the “Gran Alzamiento,” right before Bohorques’ arrival in the region. Raffino et al. (1997) argue that, as in Inca times, native communities used this emotion-laden structure to enact ceremonies, perhaps to seal alliances, empower individuals or legitimize polities. This example shows us that after the collapse of Tawantinsuyu, indigenous communities kept employing Inca buildings and rituals as sources of power.
Although there were probably some variations in their form and content, Inca ways were still important for these communities in the Colonial era. They built upon practices learned during Inca times to resist Spanish domination. Thus, in a final dialectical twist, imperial domination of local society by the Incas promoted their resistance to imperial domination by the Spanish. A previous form of oppression (Inca) became an ideology of liberation.
Indigenous rebellions and resistance against Spanish colonization and the saga of the false Inca Pedro Bohorques are still part of the Calchaqui people’s narratives. Despite efforts by the Argentine nation-state to erase these stories from official history, a vernacular oral tradition remains alive in the memory of indigenous resistance and of Inca times (see Revista Nexo 2003).
World History
