Inca

From approximately 1200 to 1532 the Inca conquered and controlled an Andean empire in South America that covered portions of modern-day Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Peru only to see it collapse in the face of the twin disasters of a pandemic introduced by the arrival of Europeans in South America and a Spanish invasion in 1532.

According to Inca legend, their people emerged from three caves near the town of Pacaritambo near Cuzco. Following their first emperor, Manco Capac, the Inca moved into the valley containing Cuzco, and from there over the next several centuries they spread out and conquered much of the territory in the Andes Mountains. Until the time of the ninth emperor, Pachacuti Inca, the Inca empire did not extend beyond the Cuzco valley. After defeating the Chanca, who threatened to overrun the Inca, Pachacuti Inca reorganized the empire and rebuilt Cuzco into a suitable capital for the empire. He also built several new cities and palaces throughout the empire, including Machu PiCCHU. Pachacuti Inca promoted advances in architecture and built the royal highway system, which improved transportation and communication. This made it possible for the Inca to rule such a far-flung empire. Those emperors who followed Pachacuti expanded upon the boundaries of the empire and continued refining the infrastructure of state until its defeat at the hands of the Spanish.

The Inca emperors rigidly controlled their society by requiring that all important government positions throughout the empire be held by only those of pure Inca blood. Inca adopted from allies in the Cuzco valley filled other valued positions in the hierarchy. Below this rank the Inca incorporated localized nobility of conquered people into their system. At this level families that functioned as economic units within the Inca system were systematically grouped into units of 10, 50, 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and

10,000 and controlled from the top down. These various levels of organization provided specific services and tribute to the Inca state based on their location and resources. The Inca government in turn provided protection from invasion and relief during emergencies from surpluses set aside for these types of crises.

The wide range of environments found within the Inca Empire influenced its economic system and dictated the type of resources collected. The tribute collected by the empire included chiles, coca, cotton, maize, TOBACCO, and yucca from the valleys and grains, wool, and tubers from the highlands. Coastal areas provided a wide variety of aquatic resources, and mining districts provided GOLD, silver, and other metals used by the empire. CORN (maize) and different types of potatoes provided the bulk of the Inca diet. These potatoes could be grown throughout an extended range of altitude, thus ensuring that in any given year, regardless of weather conditions, at least a portion of the potato crop would be harvested.

The Inca kept track of this expansive economic system by using a mnemonic device known as a quipu. Quipus consisted of main cords with smaller strings of varying colors attached. Each string contained a collection of knots at differing intervals. The different lengths, spacing of the knots, and colors indicated specific numbers. With these devices the Inca kept track of the resources of the empire and made sure that resources were dispersed whenever they were needed. Quipus could also be used to aid in the recitation of narratives and important oral traditions associated with religious practices. Unfortunately, only those who knew what the specific quipu recorded could use them, but the system was nonetheless sufficient to aid in keeping the empire running smoothly.

The Inca religion centered on worship of a sun god and an earth-mother goddess within an ever increasing pantheon of other gods and goddesses. They also revered special spirits that inhabited the mummies of their ancestors, mountains, stone idols, and a wide range of other aspects of the natural world. In general, their religion was highly ritualized, their annual calendar filled with ceremonies and festivals associated with it. When they conquered a new people, they usually incorporated the religion of the new group into their pantheon and thus partially guaranteed the

Machu Picchu ruins, Peru (Getty)

Loyalty of their new subjects rather than further antagonizing them. They also allowed local leaders to retain some power, a strategy that proved to be a source of strength and stability for the empire.

The beginning of the end for the empire started with the arrival of a Spanish entrada under the command of Francisco Pizarro in 1532. As it happened, Pizarro arrived just as a civil war was being waged between two brothers, Huascar and Atahualpa, for the imperial throne. The premature death of the emperor, their father, and his heir, their older brother, from the pandemic introduced to South America by the arrival of Europeans precipitated this civil war. In the wake of the devastation created by the pandemic and the civil war, Pizarro, with 168 men, arrived in the region and took advantage of the situation. Having won the civil war, the emperor Atahualpa met Pizarro at the city of Cajamarca. After Atahualpa rejected the Requerimiento, the Spanish attacked the

Incan entourage and took the ruler captive. Bargaining for his freedom, Atahualpa promised Pizarro a room filled with gold and silver. It took several months to meet this goal. In 1533, after the Inca delivered the ransom, Pizarro reneged on the deal and had Atahualpa executed. He then marched on the Inca capital of Cuzco and took it, although Inca resistance continued for more than a century. In 1535 the most successful rebellion was led by Manco Inca, a brother of Atahualpa who had been used by the Spanish as a puppet ruler of the Inca Empire. Manco Inca laid siege to Cuzco and Lima and almost took both cities. The Spanish finally quelled this stage of the rebellion in 1537, and Manco Inca fled to eastern Peru and formed the rump state of Vilcabamba. This particular insurgence ended after the Spanish captured and executed Manco Inca. In the end the Spanish were never able to conquer the entire domain of the Inca Empire, but they successfully ended Inca control of the region.

Further reading: Juan de Betanzos, Narrative of the Incas, trans. and eds. Roland Hamilton and Dana Buchanan (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996); Brian S. Bauer, The Development of the Inca State (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992); Bernabe Cobo, History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indians’ Customs and Their Origin Together with a Treatise on Inca Legends, History, and Social Institutions, trans. and ed. Roland Hamilton (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1979); John Hemming, The Conquest of the Incas (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970); Gary Urton, The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Incas (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990).

—Dixie Ray Haggard