Global Studies 10 - The Inca Empire

Inca - location

Southern America

Peru

• brought the Andean people under control

• empire stretched from Ecuador to Chile (along the west coast of south america)

Inca - capital

Cuzco, Southern Peru

Inca - origin / context

based off of ancient civilization such as Chávin, Moche, and Nazca, followed by the Huari & Tiahuanaco of Southern Peru & Bolivia

originally lived in the high plateau of the Andes

settled on fertile lands in the valley of cuzco

1200s, established their own small kingdom

Inca - traditions & beliefs

• the incan ruler descended from the sun god, Inti

• only the men of 11 noble lineages believed to be descendants of the sun god were chosen as leaders.

• these beliefs helped unify the empire

Inca - 1438

Incan leader Pachacuti conquered all of Peru, moving into other lands

Inca - 1500

Inca ruled a gigantic empire called Land of the Four Quarters → 80 provinces, 16 million people

Inca - conquest

through both military & diplomacy

• before attacking, they offered an honorable surrender

• under the condition that they’d let them keep their own customs and leaders

• even after the war, they used similar measures to gain loyalty of those people

Inca - unity (general)

• rulers divided their territory into manageable units

  • governed by a central bureaucracy

• efficient economic system to support everyone’s needs, road system which ties them all together

  • imposed a single official language = Quechua

• Certain social groups were identified by officially dictated patterns of clothing

Inca - government presence

architecture of government buildings were the same all over the empire = showing gov presence

all roads led to the capital, Cuzco

Incan builders carved & transported huge blocks of stone

Inca - control over economic activity

regulating production & distribution of goods

allowed private commerce of trade unlike the Maya & Aztecs

Aylllu

based on the decimal system (extended family group)

families divided into 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 (led by chief)

to help meet the needs of everyone

mita

tribute in the form of labor

• all able-bodied citizens must work for the state at least certain number of days in a year.

• the people were cared for in return, and the government earned their loyalty.

• the state distributed chuño (freeze- dried potatoes) during hard times

Public works projects

Incan road system → symbol of power

• Inca built guesthouses to provide shelter for travellers

• Chasquis = a system of runners who travel as postal service from one end of the empire to another.

• road allowed for easy movement of troops

government record keeping

Incans had no writing system

history & literature - oral tradition

• quipu = a set of knotted strings

• knots & their positions indicated numbers

• colors of strings = different categories of info that is important to the gov

Incan calendars used for religious purposes

• one for night one for day

Inca - main gods

key nature spirits such as moon, stars, thunder

→ saw patterns for how humans could relate to each other and to the earth

chief of Incan Gods = viracocha & sun god Inti

religious practices

mamakuna → young, unmarried women who assist in religious services (women took lead in practices) “virgins of the sun”

yamakuma = young men who assist in religious services

human sacrifice X , sacrificed llamas instead

Temple of the sun

most sacred of all shrines

made up of gold

even had a garden made fully out of gold

Machu Picchu

discovered by Hiram Bingham 1912

had a sun temple

public buildings & central plaza

inca - traits of civilization

1. religious beliefs & theocracy = unity

2. major road systems

3. type of welfare state with huge bureaucracy

Inca - strengths

1. united culture

2. loyalty to the emperor

3. connected empire

4. care for entire population

inca - weakness

1. physical & human resources funneled into religion

2. enemy could use roads to move troops as well

3. elimination of welfare state → people struggle to care for themselves

discord in the empire

early 1500s - reign of Huayna Capac, the peak of Incan glory

1520s - Huayna undertook a tour of Ecuador, received a gift box, butterflies and moths flew out (bad omen) → died in Quito from smallpox

after his death - empire split between his sons Atahualpa (Ecuador and one fifth of empire) and Huascar (the rest)

Atahualpa tried to claim all the land, civil war outbreak