Incas
The Empire
The Incan empire consisted of somewhere between one million and six
million people. The Incas had a strict hierarchy of society which was: 1) Emperor
2) royal family 3) upper aristocracy 4) administrators 5) nobility 6) artisans 7)
laborers. There was no opportunity to “get ahead”.
In 1438 the Inca set out from their base in Cuzco on a career of conquest
that, during the next 50 years, brought under their control the area of present-day
Peru, Bolivia, northern Argentina, Chile, and Ecuador.
After conquering a people, they would use local rulers to lead those people,
generously reward anyone who fought for them, and treated well all those
conquered people who cooperated. So, in reality, the Inca "empire," as the invading
Spanish called it, was not really an empire. It was more of a confederation of tribes with the Incas, more or
less in control. Each of these tribes was ruled independently by a council of elders; the tribe as a whole gave
its allegiance to the ruler, or "Inca" who was also called "Sapa Inca," "Capac Apu," and "Intip Cori." The
"Inca" was considered divine; he was the descendant of the sun-god.
Conquered people were required to pay a labor tax (mita ) to the state; with this labor tax, the Incas
built over 14,000 miles of roads as well as terraced farmlands throughout the Andes. They were so
successful in turning steep mountainsides into terraced farms, that in 1500 there was more land in
cultivation in the Andean highlands then there is today.
Farming and Villages
The Incas cultivated corn and potatoes, and raised llama and alpaca for food and for labor.
Everyone worked except for the very young and the very old. Children worked in the family by scaring
away animals from the crops and helping in the home.
About 2/3 of a farmer's goods would be used to pay the tax system, and the rest were for keeps.
Some of the goods would be distributed to others, then the farmers might receive goods would be received
in return. The rest was stored in government storehouses or sacrificed to the gods.
Each ayllu, or family clan, had their own self-supporting farm community. Ayllu members worked
the land cooperatively to produce food crops and cotton. All work was done by hand because the Incas
lacked wheeled tools and draft animals. Their simple implements included a heavy wooden spade or foot
plow called a taclla, a stone-tipped club to break up clods, a bronze-bladed hoe, and a digging stick.
Accomplishments
Of all the urbanized people (those that live in cities) of the Americas, the Incas were the most
brilliant engineers. The Inca built massive forts with stone slabs so perfectly cut that they didn't require
mortar—and they're still standing today in near-perfect condition. They built roads through the mountains
from Ecuador to Chile with tunnels and bridges. They also built aqueducts to carry water to their cities,
just as the Romans did.
And of all ancient peoples, they were the most advanced in medicine and surgery. In pre-Inca times,
only one-third of skull surgery patients survived the procedure of cutting the skull to relieve pressure, as
indicated by short- or long-term healing around cranial openings. Survival rates
rose to between 80 and 90 percent during the Inca era, from A.D. 1400 to 1532. Few
skulls showed signs of infection near surgical holes.
The Incas had no formal system of mathematics.
Communication
The Incas did not have any written language. Some suggest that they must have used some symbols
and diagrams. The Incas did have a class of verbal historians. It was their job to keep the stories and
history alive by telling it to others and passing it on to the next generation (oral history).
They used quipus to keep records of things like crops, live stock, number of soldiers, and other
things that could be counted. The quipus were colored strings with knots tied
into them. The different colors and the different types of knots recorded
different information. They were a history book made of strings but, it
required special quipu rememberers to interpret the knots. Even though
many of these quipus exist no one can interpret what they mean.
The main form of communication between cities was the chasqui. The
chasqui were young men who relayed messages. Say the army general in
Nazca needs to report a village uprising to the Sapa Inca in Cuzco. One
chasqui runner would start from the chasqui post in Nazca and run about a
kilometer to another chasqui, waiting outside another hut. The message would
be relayed and the chain would be continued for hundreds of miles by hundreds of runners until the last
runner reached the Sapa Inca and told the message, exact to the original word, because a severe
punishment awaited a wrong message, The runners training to get a message exact began in boyhood.
Religion
The Inca were a deeply religious people. They feared that evil would befall at any time. Sorcerors
held high positions in society as protectors from the spirits. They also believed in reincarnation, saving their
nail clippings, hair cuttings and teeth in case the returning spirit needed them. There were many gods
among the Incas, but the sun-god outshone them all. It was the only god that had temples built for him.
The sun-god was the father of the royal family. At sunrise, the population had to greet the Sun God by
sending forth-resounding kisses offered symbolically with the fingertips. During this most important
religious ceremony in Incan times, the High Priest had to perform the llama sacrifice offering a completely
black or white llama. With a sharp ceremonial golden knife called "Tumi" he had to open the animal's chest
and with his hands pull out its throbbing heart, lungs and viscera, so that observing those elements he
could foretell the future. Later, the animal and its parts were completely incinerated.
After the sacrifice, the High Priest had to produce the Sacred Fire. Staying in front of the Sun he
had to get its rays in a concave gold medallion that contained some soft or oily material in order to produce
the fire that had to be kept during next year
Gold
The Incas believed that gold was the sweat of the sun. Gold was not
valued as money by for creating ceremonial objects, such as containers and
jewelry, or when it was used to adorn tombs and temples. The Incas also believed
that there was a heaven, a hell, and a resurrection of the body after death.
Crime
The Inca were not only fierce conquerors but they also had a violent punishment system. If someone
stole, murdered, or various other crimes, they were thrown off a cliff, hands cut off or eyes cut out, or hung
up to starve to death. Prisons were of no use because punishment usually consisted of death.
Adapted from
http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/INCAS.HTM , http://www.crystalinks.com/incan.html,
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/south/cultures/inca.html and
http://coe.fgcu.edu/students/webb/meso/incacul.htm