500 years ago on the western coast of South America, thrived the largest pre-colonial
empire ever to inhabit the Americas, the Inca Empire.
Based in Cusco, the Inca spread all throughout a vast expanse encompassing modern-day Peru,
Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, and Ecuador, and did so without any of the fun stuff the Old
World had, like iron, large draft animals, wheels, or written language.
With this in mind, how did the Inca rule their empire, and how powerful was said empire?
The Inca believed themselves the descendants of four brothers and four sisters who emerged
from the cave at Tampu T’uqu known as Qhapaq T’uqu circa the early 13th century (oh by
the way, please don’t expect me to pronounce every Quechua word and name here perfectly
right).
After some arguments and disagreements among the brothers, Ayar Manco and his sisters would
lead the Inca people to Cusco, chasing off the locals who already inhabited the area.
Ayar Manco, now called Manco Cápac, became the first Inca emperor, him and his sisters
said to have built the first Inca homes in the valleys themselves.
Manco Cápac died around 1230, leaving his son Sinchi Roca to rule the Kingdom of Cusco,
then merely a city-state in and around Cusco itself.
The empire we would know as the Inca Empire got its start in 1438, when Cusi Yupanqui
launched a conquest of many neighboring kingdoms, namely the Chancas, who had previously attacked
Cusco, causing the previous Sapa Inca to flee with who would have been his successor.
This military victory under his belt, Cusi Yupanqui became the 9th Sapa Inca and adopted
the name Pachacuti.
Pachacuti comes from the Quechua term “Pachakutiq”, meaning “one who overturns space and time”,
generally shortened to “earth-shaker”, and like any conqueror who actually plans
to keep his land he reformed the Inca political system, establishing the Tawantinsuyu.
The Tawantinsuyu was a centralized provincial government, with the Inca ruling over the
four provinces of Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Qullasuyu, and Kuntisuyu, all radiating in
the four cardinal directions from Cusco; and hence the etymology of the term, with “tawa”
meaning four, “-ntin” forming a group (thus, “tawantin” meaning “quartet”)
and “suyu” referring to a province or a region, literally a quartet of provinces.
In addition, “Tawantinsuyu” was what the Inca actually called their empire, as the
term “Inka” actually meant “ruler” and thus more often referred to the ruling
classes.
Pachacuti would also commission Machu Picchu in around 1450, an estate that would be abandoned
after the Spanish conquest and unnoticed by outside eyes until its resurgence in 1911,
now one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World.
Throughout its rapid expansion, the Inca would send spies to a territory they wanted to conquer,
who would report back to Cusco with details on their government and rulers.
After this, the Inca would send emissaries with gifts to the rulers of these lands, promising
vast material wealth if they were to join the empire.
Many ended up joining voluntarily as intended, but of course if they said no, there was always
the conquest option.
At its height, the Inca Empire (as we will still call it for simplicity) stretched from
southwestern Colombia, all the way down to central Chile, and as far inland as central
Bolivia.
This vast empire had a population said to be anywhere from 4 to 37 million, though it
was more likely somewhere around 6-14 million.
The Inca actually kept excellent census records, and although they didn’t have a true written
language to do so, they were able to account these numbers using a complex system of knotted
strings known as quipus, unfortunately most of these strings (and the knowledge of how
to decipher them) were lost to time and conquest, hence our modern uncertainties about this.
Through its conquests of various other tribes and kingdoms, the Inca Empire became incredibly
diverse in people, ideologies, and especially in climate.
First, the Empire spread north-south instead of east-west, which meant that their climates
were much more diverse.
The distance from the northern to the southern ends of the empire was roughly the same as
Winnipeg to Mexico City, Trondheim to Tripoli, or Beijing to Brunei.
The Empire was also mainly situated at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, meaning
even more different climates within the Empire.
This meant that they couldn’t spread their knowledge of how to farm particular crops
as far as the Romans or Persians could, which they got around by simply… not, they just
used different crops in different climactic areas, meaning that an ecological disaster
in one area wouldn’t affect the rest of the empire as much.
Also unlike their horizontally-oriented Eurasian counterparts, the Inca didn’t have large
draft animals to do the heavy lifting.
They had llamas, which did do some work, but llamas can’t carry or pull as much as a
cow or an ox, especially up huge mountains, meaning manual labor was much more in fashion.
The Inca also connected the corners of the four Suyus with vast stone highways, one route
along the mountains and one along the coast.
While llamas were used for carrying bulkier goods, lighter goods and messages were transported
by a system of relay runners known as chaskis.
The Inca economy was also very centrally planned, and didn’t really use a centralized currency,
so much as bartering for goods and the mit’a, a mandatory public service for which the state
would provide food and shelter in exchange for things like the roads.
Like all great empires though, the Inca would inevitably collapse to an outside power, but
this time things were a little different.
In 1527 (or somewhere around there) Sapa Inca Huayna Capac (Wayna Qhapaq) suddenly died
from a mysterious infectious disease, this prompted a five-year civil war between half-brothers
Huáscar (Waskar) and Atahualpa (Atawallpa).
Though Huáscar spent these five years on the throne, it was Atahualpa who would emerge
victorious by May, 1532.
That November however Atahualpa would be captured by Francisco Pizarro and his forces, after
a meeting in which Atahualpa was allegedly presented with the Bible as the word of God,
throwing the book on the ground after not hearing any word (or so it goes, there’s
a *lot* of dispute with this story).
Whatever actually happened in that meeting, what happened afterward was the end of the
Inca Empire and the start of the Spanish Viceroyalty of Peru.
The Empire fell in 1533, through various Inca elements held their ground all the way up
until 1572.
Despite its somewhat short existence, the Inca contributed to our modern world in numerous
ways, from many of the cities that make up modern-day South America to English words
like jerky, puma and condor, and the various crops they farmed, including corn, tomatoes,
quinoa, and of course the Baltic and Irish favorite, the potato.
Even then there are so many things I could have mentioned but just didn’t have time
to, so actually quite a consequential civilization.
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