The Conquest of the Inca The Inca Empire was bigger than Ming China and Ottoman Empire at the time the biggest pre Columbian nation state ever in the Western hemisphere Aztec conquests of earlier years led Europeans to believe there was more gold and silver to be found in the New World so Spaniard Pizarro embarked for New World in 1532 Spaniards quickly dominated the Inca The Inca empire fell rapidly due to multiple factors There are many persisting aspects of the Inca past which are present in archaeological remnants and current cultural practices The invaders really did a poor job at recording Inca life a tragedy but historical and prehistorical archaeology have helped us learn a lot about the Inca The Inca The Inca refers to a small group of kindred less than 40 000 individuals who built a great Andean state by force of arms and who ruled as the realm s governing nobility A the height of the Inca empire this head of state family s dominion extended over 10 million people these people were not Inca but Inca subjects the Inca were a closed ethnic body for comparison the population of the dense Los Angeles metropolitan area is about 13 million We may popularly call the Inca plus their subjects the Inca but archaeologists more accurately call the participants in this empire Tahuantinsuyu or Land of the Four Quarters Quechuan language The expanse of the Inca empire at its height Centered in the Cuzco Valley and extending over Bolivia and Argentina to Central Chile and north through Ecuador Four Quarters Four suyus Heart of land is Cuzco the origin point of the division of the 4 regions maps in next slides Antisuyu stretched to the east of Cuzco and contained deep forest covered valleys that gradually descended into the jungles of the Amazon basin Cuntisuyu included all the land west of Cuzco including the coastal regions of Peru from Chan Chan to Arequipa Collasuyu was the largest of the quarters Located south of Cuzco it took in Lake Titicaca and regions of Bolivia Chile and Argentina Chincasuyu contained the remaining land to the north of Cuzco Cuzco connected by roads to the different areas all roads lead to Cuzco Note the Suyus Inca Ways of Life Society Economy Weather geology Tax Religion the standard stuff Then conquest Society The basis of Inca society was the ayllu Typically ayllus were families living together and communally working land animals and crops and sharing the harvests The ayllus varied in size from small farming villages to larger towns Everyone belonged to an ayllu An individual was born into an ayllu and died within it Even the choice of a mate could be determined by the ayllu If an Inca man did not marry by the age of 20 the head of the ayllu selected a mate for him Most Incas were farmers who worked land owned by the state head land allotments determined by ayllu units Aside from producing their own food each ayllu worked additional fields to support the emperor and the state religion Society Different social classes Royalty and nobility were exempt from taxation and had such privileges as land llamas fine clothing and litters which were mats upon which the royalty and nobility would sit and be carried around by people of lesser social levels Nobles were often polygynous empereror and sister married to produce heir with uninterrupted links to the god Inti Inca farmers led a life of hard work After breakfasting at daybreak on chicha a kind of thick beer made from fermented corn the entire family worked in the fields until midmorning Then they ate the day s main meal consisting of such foods as corn kernels boiled with chili peppers and herbs soup or stew of guinea pig meat thickened with potato flour or cornmeal bread Potatoes were a staple especially in the mountains In addition to working in the fields women made chicha ground corn and potatoes into flour and produced cloth by spinning and weaving cotton or wool If an Inca man were not a noble he could have only one wife Society A typical Inca house was a one room rectangular building of adobe brick or stone with a thatched gabled roof and without windows or a chimney At night people slept on the floor around a crude stove which was made of stone cemented with mud During the day people spent most of their time outdoors Upper class houses were often larger and partitioned into several rooms Basic clothing somewhat consistent across classes men wore breechcloths sleeveless knee length tunics and cloaks or ponchos women wore long dresses and capes fastened with a pin of copper silver or gold The men fixed their hair in a distinctive style to signify the allyu to which they belonged and wore decorative earplugs of shell or metal Specially gifted boys were trained in crafts or in keeping records and used their skills to serve the emperor Some Inca girls also received education and distinction as chosen women The most beautiful 10 year old girls of each ayllu were selected After studying religion and domestic arts they were placed in the households of the emperor and his nobles Sometimes they were sacrificed to the gods and buried atop Andean mountain peaks Economy Agriculture was the basis of the economy Foods more than 20 varieties of corn 240 varieties of potato as well as one or more varieties of squash beans peppers peanuts and cassava a starchy root and quinoa which is made into a cereal By far the most important of these was the potato The Incas planted the potato which is able to withstand heavy frosts as high as 4600 m 15 000 ft The Incas faced difficult conditions for agriculture Mountainous terrain limited the land that could be used for agriculture and water was often scarce To compensate the Incas built stone walls to create raised level fields These fields formed steplike patterns along the sides of hills that were too steep to irrigate or plough in their natural state Terraces created more arable land and kept the topsoil from washing away in heavy rains The Incas constructed complex canals to bring water to terraces and other patches of arable land Economy Llamas and alpacas These camelids were very important to the economy In addition to carrying burdens llamas and alpacas were raised as a source of coarse wool and of dung which was used for fuel The finest quality wool came from the wild vicu a which was caught sheared and set free again The Inca also raised guinea pigs ducks and dogs which were the main sources of meat protein The Environment Stressful Very diverse with a lot of extremes
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