Who are the Incas. The Incas
At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. on the Pacific coast and in the northern regions of the South American continent, the first empires arose. The most significant of them was the state of the Incas. During its heyday, from 8 million to 15 million people lived here.
The term "Inca" denoted the title of the ruler of several tribes in the foothills of the Andes; this name was also worn by the tribes of the Aymara, Huallacan, Keuar, and others, who lived in the Cusco Valley and spoke the Quechua language.
The Inca Empire covered an area of 1 million square meters. km, its length from north to south exceeded 5 thousand km. The Inca state, divided into four provinces around the city of Cusco and located in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca, included the territory of modern Bolivia, northern Chile, part of present-day Argentina, the northern part of the modern Republic of Peru and present-day Ecuador.
The supreme power in the state belonged entirely to Sapa Inca - that was the official name of the emperor. Each Sapa Inca built his own palace, richly decorated according to his taste. The best artisan jewelers made for him a new golden throne, richly adorned with precious stones, mostly emeralds. Gold in the Inca Empire was widely used in jewelry, but was not a means of payment. The Incas did without money, since one of the main principles of their life was the principle of self-sufficiency. The whole empire was a huge subsistence economy.
Religion of the Incas
Religion occupied an important place in the life of the Incas. Each population group, each region had its own beliefs and cults. The most common form of religious beliefs was totemism - the worship of a totem - an animal, plant, stone, water, etc., with which believers considered themselves to be related. The lands of the communities were named after deified animals. In addition, the cult of ancestors was widespread. The dead ancestors, according to the ideas of the Incas, should have contributed to the ripening of the crop, the fertility of animals and the well-being of people. Believing that the spirits of their ancestors live in caves, the Incas erected stone mounds near the caves, which, with their outlines, resembled the figures of people. The custom of mummification of the corpses of the dead is associated with the cult of ancestors. Mummies in elegant clothes, with decorations, utensils, food were buried in tombs carved into the rocks. The mummies of rulers and priests were buried especially magnificently.
Own buildings The Incas built from various types of stone - limestone, basalt, diorite and raw brick. The houses of the common people had light roofs of thatch and bundles of reeds; there were no stoves in the houses, and the smoke of the hearth came out right through the thatched roof. Temples and palaces were built especially carefully. The stones from which the walls were built were so closely fitted to each other that no binders were required during the construction of buildings. In addition, the Incas built fortresses with numerous watchtowers on the mountain slopes. The most famous of them rose above the city of Cuzco and consisted of three rows of walls 18 m high.
In their temples, the Incas worshiped a whole pantheon of gods who had strict subordination. The highest of the gods was considered Kon Tiksi Viracocha - the creator of the world and the creator of all other gods. Among those gods whom Viracocha created were: the god Inti (golden Sun) - the legendary ancestor of the ruling dynasty; the god Ilyapa - the god of weather, thunder and lightning, to whom people turned with requests for rain, for Ilyapa could make the waters of the Heavenly River flow to the earth; Inti's wife is the goddess of the moon - Mama Kilya. The Morning Star (Venus) and many other stars and constellations were also revered. In the religious ideas of the ancient Aztecs, a special position was occupied by the extremely ancient cults of the mother earth - Mama Pacha and the mother sea - Mama Kochi.
The Incas had many religious and ritual festivities associated with the agricultural calendar and the life of the ruling family. All holidays were held on the main square of Cusco - Huakapata (Sacred Terrace). Roads radiated from it, connecting the capital with the four provinces of the state. By the time the Spaniards arrived, there were three palaces in Huacapata Square. Two of them have been turned into shrines. When an Inca ruler died, his body was embalmed and the mummy left in his palace. From that time on, the palace became a sanctuary, and the new ruler built another palace for himself.
The highest achievement of Inca architecture is the ensemble of temples Koricancha (Golden Court). The main building of the ensemble was the temple of the sun god - Inti, where there was a golden image of the god, decorated with large emeralds. This image was placed in the western part, and it was illuminated by the first rays of the rising sun. The walls of the temple were completely upholstered with sheet gold. The ceiling was covered with wood carvings, the floor was covered with carpets stitched with gold threads. Windows and doors were studded with precious stones. Several chapels adjoined the temple of the Sun - in honor of thunder and lightning, rainbows, the planet Venus, and the main one - in honor of the Moon (Mother Chilia). The image of the Moon in the Inca Empire is associated with the idea of a woman, a goddess. Therefore, the chapel of Mama Chigli was intended for the koim - the wife of the Inca ruler, only she had access to this chapel. Here were the mummies of the dead wives of the rulers. In the chapel of the moon, all the decoration was made of silver.
Various crafts reached their peak among the Incas. The Incas mastered mining quite early and mined copper and tin ores in mines to make bronze, from which axes, sickles, knives and other household utensils were cast. The Incas could smelt metal, knew the technique of casting, forging, chasing, soldering and riveting, and also made products using the cloisonné enamel technique. The chroniclers reported that the Inca masters made a golden cob of corn, in which the grains were golden, and the fibers surrounding the cob were made of the finest silver threads. The pinnacle of Inca jewelry was the image of the Sun God in the Sun Temple in Cusco in the form of a huge golden solar disk with a skillfully chiselled human face.
The golden wealth of the Incas reached its apogee during the reign of Huayn Capac. He orders! line the walls and roofs of their palaces and temples with sheet gold; in the royal palace there were many golden sculptures of animals. During the ceremonies 50 thousand. warriors were armed with golden weapons. A huge portable golden throne with a cape of precious feathers was placed in front of the residence palace.
All this was plundered by conquistadors from the expedition of Francisco Pissaro. The pieces of jewelry were melted down into ingots and sent to Spain. But much remains in hiding and has not yet been discovered.
According to researchers of the Inca culture, their empire died largely because of religion. First, the rite was approved by religion, in which the ruler chose a successor from among his sons. This led to an internecine war between the brothers Huascar and Atahualpa, which significantly weakened the country before the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors led by Pizarro. Secondly, there was a legend among the Incas that in the future new, unfamiliar people would rule the country, who would conquer the empire and become its sole rulers. This explains the fear and indecision of the Incas before the Spanish conquistadors.
It is known about several civilizations that existed in South America, but the Inca civilization is considered the most significant. In the fifteenth century, its population was at least six million people, who lived on a vast territory. At the head of the Empire was the son of the Sun Inca - the divine ruler. The economy was based on agriculture. All citizens were obliged to work for a month in public works, building state facilities: fortresses, canals, bridges, roads. The state regulated all aspects of the life of citizens, including personal life. The Incas created legends, myths, religious hymns, epic poems and even dramatic works. This civilization did not have a real written language, so little has been preserved of its cultural heritage. The Inca Empire fell with the arrival of conquerors from Europe in the middle of the sixteenth century.
The Inca Empire (Quechua Tawantin Suyu, Tawantinsuyu, Tawantinsuyu, Tawantinsuyu, Tawantinsuyu) is the largest Indian early class state in South America in the 11th-16th centuries in terms of area and population. It occupied the territory from the present Pasto in Colombia to the Maule River in Chile. The empire included the entire territory of present-day Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador (with the exception of part of the flat eastern regions overgrown with impenetrable selva), partly Chile, Argentina and Colombia. The first European to enter the Inca Empire was the Portuguese Alejo Garcia in 1525. In 1533, the Spanish conquistadors established control over most of the empire, and in 1572 the Inca state ceased to exist. There is a hypothesis that the last independent refuge of the Incas is the undiscovered city (country) of Paititi (until the middle or end of the 18th century).
Archaeological studies show that a large number of achievements were inherited by the Incas from previous civilizations, as well as from their subordinate neighboring peoples. By the time the Incas appeared on the historical arena in South America, there were a number of civilizations: Moche (the Moche culture, famous for colored ceramics and irrigation systems), Huari (this state was the prototype of the Inca Empire, although the population apparently spoke a different language - Aymara) , Chimu (the center is the city of Chan Chan, characteristic ceramics and architecture), Nazca (famous for creating the so-called Nazca lines, as well as for their systems of underground water pipes, ceramics), Pukina (the civilization of the city of Tiahuanaco with a population of about 40 thousand people, located east of Lake Titicaca), Chachapoyas ("Warriors of the Clouds", known for their formidable fortress of Kuelap, which is also called "Machu Picchu of the North").
The name of the country in Quechua, Tawantinsuyu, can be translated as four united provinces (Tawantin - "a group of four items" (tawa "four" with the suffix -ntin, meaning "total"); suyu - "country", "region" or "province "). As the Quechuan linguist Demetrio Tupac Yupanqui points out: “-ntin is “the whole integrated”, “everything that makes up one whole”. The previous parts disappear to make room for one great integration - one whole. It creates what, on a whim, we call a "legal entity", the subject and the bearer are distinguished by their constituent parts. As if there were one enterprise in which a legal entity takes responsibility, thereby freeing the constituent parts.
This name is due to the fact that the country was divided into four provinces: Kuntinsuyu (Kunti Suyu Quechua), Kolyasuyu (Quulla Suyu Quechua), Antisuyu (Anti Suyu Quechua) and Chinchasuyu (Chinchay suyu Quechua). In addition, four roads left Cuzco (Quechua Qusqu) in four directions, and each of them was named after the part of the empire to which it led.
In the Andean region and the coast adjacent to it in the 1st millennium BC. e. - 1st mill. e. developed agricultural civilizations Chavin, Paracas, Nazca, Mochica, Tiahuanaco, etc. arose. In the 12th century, a people appeared on the shores of Lake Titicaca, led by the Inca, the supreme ruler. He moved to the new capital - Cusco and spread his influence over a vast territory, covering by the XV-XVI centuries. most of modern Ecuador, Peru, a significant part of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, as well as a small area of Colombia.
The creation of the state is attributed to the legendary Inca Manco Capac, he also founded the capital - the city of Cusco, at an altitude of 3416 meters above sea level, in a deep valley between two mountain ranges.
After the creation of the country's territory has been constantly expanding. Especially after the Inca Yahuar Huakak created a regular army in the empire. Great conquests were made by Inca Pachacuti. He created a real empire, because before that the Incas were just one of the many Indian tribes, and Cusco was an ordinary town. Most of the Inca-controlled lands were conquered by Pachacuti and his son Tupac Inca Yupanqui. A small part of the territory was annexed by the eleventh Inca - Huayna Capac. The rulers of Huáscar and Atahualpa were the sons of Huayna Capac. After his death, they began a grueling internecine war. By the time the Spaniards arrived, Atahualpa had won the war.
When conquering neighboring tribes, the Incas, on the one hand, used their strong and numerous army, and on the other hand, they attracted the elite of the conquered regions. Before undertaking military action, the Incas three times invited the rulers of the conquered region to voluntarily join the empire. They forced the conquered tribes to learn the Quechua language, imposed their customs and introduced their own laws. The local nobility and the priesthood of the conquered peoples retained their position, and the practice of local religions was not forbidden, subject to the obligatory worship of the all-imperial sun god Inti. The Incas paid great attention to the preservation of local folk crafts and costume, so that by the dress of any inhabitant of Tahuantinsuyu it was easy to determine his origin and social status.
The Incas were characterized by the division of power and society into: warriors and non-warriors. The main commanders and commanders were either the rulers of the Empire, or people appointed by them from the ruling ethnic group - the Incas. At the same time, it seems that there was still some kind of dual power - a full-fledged duumvirate: when the ruler (governor) of the city of Cusco was engaged in the economic activities of the Empire, supplying and providing troops, which is repeatedly mentioned by the historian Juan de Betanzos.
At the peak of its existence, the Inca Empire was one of the largest states on Earth. The number of subjects of the empire reached, according to various sources, from 5-6 to 12 million people.
In 1521, Hernán Cortes conquered the Aztecs. This conquest inspired Francisco Pizarro. According to the report of Juan de Samano, secretary of Charles V, Peru became known for the first time in 1525 in connection with the completion of the first Southern expedition of Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. The expedition left Panama on November 14, 1524, but was forced to return in 1525. After that, two more campaigns were carried out. In 1532, Pizarro arrives on the coast of modern Peru with 200 foot soldiers and only 27 horses. However, on the road, his army is replenished by those dissatisfied with the rule of the Incas. The Incas fiercely fight the conquerors, but the empire is weakened by internal turmoil and civil war, in addition, a large number of Inca warriors die from smallpox and measles brought by the Spaniards.
By deceit, Pizarro was able to capture and execute the Great Inca Atahualpa, after which the resistance was led by the commander Rumiñavi for 2 years. The capital of the Incas, the city of Cusco, was conquered by the Spaniards in 1536. Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui, with a small number of adherents, hides in the mountainous region of Vilcabamba, where the rule of the Incas continues for about 30 years. In 1572, the last Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru, was beheaded. This marked the end of the Tahuantinsuyu empire. The state was plundered, the culture of the Incas was destroyed.
In the book Chronicle of Peru, Cieza de Leon was the first European to question the reason for such an easy conquest of the Inca Empire:
Thus, although I have depicted Peru as three deserted and inhabited Cordilleras, from among them, as I said, by the will of the Lord, valleys and rivers protrude, beyond which in no way could people survive: this is the reason why the locals were so easily conquered and why they serve without raising rebellions, because if they did, then everyone would die from hunger and cold. Because (as I said), with the exception of the land inhabited by them, most of them are uninhabited, they are solid snow-capped mountains and peaks of amazing height.
- Cieza de Leon, Pedro. Chronicle of Peru. Part one. Chapter XXXVI.
The conquered Incas became part of the Quechua people. The result of the Spanish conquest was clearly noted by the same chronicler Cieza de Leon:
I do not approve of the overthrow of power in any way, but still I lament the extortion and mistreatment perpetrated by the Spaniards on the Indians, enslaved by cruelty, regardless of their nobility and such a high dignity of their people. Because of this, all these valleys are now almost deserted, in the past they were densely populated, as many know.
- Cieza de Leon, Pedro. Chronicle of Peru. Part one. Chapter LXI.
The empire was divided into 4 parts: Chinchaysuyu - it corresponded to red, Kolasuyu - blue, Antisuyu - green, and Kuntisuyu - yellow, in turn, each such part consisted of provinces:
north of Cusco were: Vilcas, Xauxa, Bombon, Caxamalca, Guancabamba, Tomebamba, Latacunga, Quito, Carangue ;
on the other side of Cuzco, to the South: Hatuncana, Hatuncolla, Ayavire, Chuquiabo, Chucuito, Paria and others, stretching to Chile.
Each province had its own capital, where the collection of taxes flowed, where there was a temple of the Sun, foundries and jewelry workshops, a garrison, large inns, warehouses, as well as a representative of the Court - the governor.
Separately, in the administrative division, as the capital, the city of Cusco stood out. It was marked in yellow. Each village, which was the capital of the province, had its own number. For example, to indicate that “Manco Capac, the first ruler of the Inca, conquered the first capital of the province, one large knot was introduced into the thread, the second two large knots, and so on with all the others. Cuzco, the capital of the Empire, is known to have had three or four nodes, one above the other." It is also known that the remoteness of a province from the capital of the empire, Cuzco, was often made dependent on ordinal reckoning: for example, the closer the province, the closer it or its representative, the kuraka, to the Inca ruler in services, campaigns, rituals, and ceremonies.
To define the provinces of the Tawantinsuyu Empire in the Kipu script, each province had its own mixture of colored threads. On the thread, in turn, a red thread could be placed (inserted) to indicate those who died in their army “from / in such and such a province”. Also, the use of the thread color for the provinces of the Empire was found in quipus related to the statistics and taxation of such provinces. The same system extended to reports on the geographical and economic description of the Empire.
Pedro de Ciesa de Leon, in his Chronicle of Peru, reported on the unprecedented accuracy of accounting using the quipu: from silver, gold, clothing, and livestock, down to firewood, and other much more insignificant things; and with the help of these same quipu, after one year, or ten, or twenty, they informed the one who was charged with collecting reports[s]; and it was done so well that even a couple of alpargata could not be hidden.
Cieza de Leon cited information on the number of posts of kipukamayoks in a single territorial unit: “and in every valley this account is still available today, and there are always as many bookkeepers in inns as there are stewards in it [the valley], and every four months they provide their reports the aforementioned way." For the provinces, the reporting period was set at 1 year, since “at the end of the year, each province ordered that all people, both those who died there that year, and, accordingly, those who were born, be brought into the kip according to the number of its knots. And by the beginning of the year they entered, they came to Cusco with a kipu, from which it became clear how many were born that year and how many died.
In the vicinity of the village of Cotapachi in Cochabamba, there were 2076 kolkas (a round-shaped storage), which is 22.09% of the storage buildings of the 9395 units known today in the Inca Empire, that is, it was one of the strategic regions of the empire, where procurement and storage of provisions took place. The average diameter of the vaults in Cotapachi was 3.5 m, and the approximate height was 2 m, therefore, the volume of rounded vaults in the Cochabamba Valley could be 45,000 m3 (almost the entire volume was filled with provisions), which was a very significant figure even in relation to other provincial centers empire of the Incas. In modern terms, this is comparable to 1360 TEU (20-foot containers), which could fit on a Handymax Class container ship (1000-1700 TEU). In general, the scale of the warehouse economy of the Incas was so great that it is quite comparable with our modern ones.
The absence of a distinguished layer of free artisans and the associated weak development of private exchange, the absence of trade and any sort of intermediaries were a feature of the Inca society, in contrast to the Aztecs. It is explained by the fact that in Peru the early despotic state appropriated the labor of the community members, leaving them little surplus for exchange.
coins
In general, coins were not used in domestic trade, but in foreign trade mulu shells, coca leaves, clothes, and copper hatchets were used. In the XV-XVI centuries, the Indians of the Chonos culture (Ecuador) smelted copper with a content of 99.5% and used it as a coin in the form of hatchets 2 cm on the sides and 0.5 cm thick. This coin circulated all over the western coast of South America, including in the state of the Incas in the province of Chincha, where 6,000 merchants lived.
Origin and history of the Inca tribe
During the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1483), small tribes - the forerunners of the Incas - lived in the Cuzco region. The Incas were just one of many local population groups. Although information about the chronology and development of the Cusco region is incomplete, some of the main stages of Peruvian archeology can be recognized in the styles of local ceramics. Evidence of Huari influence is found in the very south of the valley, at Piquilacta, about 30 kilometers south of Cuzco. However, there are no traces of Huari architecture or ceramics in the area of Cusco itself. It is assumed that in the middle horizon it was not permanently inhabited. The basic style of pottery prevalent in the pre-Inca period is generally referred to as sprat, and variations of this style are found everywhere between San Pedro de Cacha and Machu Picchu. The local origin of the Incas is proved by the fact that the sprat style is akin to the characteristic style of the Inca period of their empire.
Partially preserved structures have been found on the hills - settlements of the Late Intermediate Period, in which some attempt to adhere to the general plan is visible. This period is characterized by round and square buildings, which bear little resemblance to the houses of Pikilakta. The Spanish conquerors heard from the Incas that before they came to dominate, the peoples of the Sierras (mountains) were very diverse and disorganized and settled in hard-to-reach places because they were constantly at war with each other.
Written reports about the early period of Inca rule - approximately between 1200 and 1438. - are very unreliable historical evidence. This period covers the time from the founding of the Inca dynasty until 1438, when the Inca Empire was already the most significant state in the Andes.
Origin myths say that the Incas originally consisted of three original tribal groups united under the leadership of Manco Capac, the legendary founder of the dynasty. These myths tell how the Incas were looking for fertile land and found it in the Cusco Valley and how they settled on this land.
On their arrival in Cusco, the Incas encountered resistance and were forced to settle nearby until they reclaimed the site where they later built the famed Sun Temple, Coricancha. The power of Manco Capac extended only to the natives of the Cusco area. The second and third Inca leaders after him, Sinchi Roca and Lloque Yupanqui, had a reputation for peace, while the fourth, Maita Capac, aroused enmity, and as a result an uprising arose among the inhabitants of Cuzco itself.
The fifth, sixth, and seventh Inca chiefs captured small territories in the surrounding areas. During this early period, neither the Incas nor their neighbors made organized conquests, but periodically raided neighboring villages when there was a danger that their inhabitants would begin to assert their rights, or when they apparently had something to plunder.
Inca Viracocha, eighth ruler of the Inca dynasty, was the first to take the title Sapa Inca(The only, or Supreme Inca). He put an end to local conquests by forming a relatively small but powerful state. At the end of his reign, a situation was created that was critical for the Incas, since the Cuzco region was threatened from three sides. In the south, strong opponents were tribes stakes and lupaka, but they were at enmity with each other, and the Incas could focus their attention on the west and northwest, where the tribes lived Quechua and chunk. The Incas were on friendly terms with the Quechua, a powerful people, a kind of buffer between the Incas and the formidable tribe of the Chanca. It was growing stronger and had already captured the province of Andahuaillas, which was formerly occupied by the Quechua, settling in its territory. Anticipating the inevitable clash in the future with the powerful Chunks, Inca Viracocha strengthened the position of his people by taking the daughter of a tribal leader as his wife. anta, nearest neighbors to the northwest, and by making an alliance with the Quechua.
When the Chunk reached the Incas, Viracocha was already an old man, and among the people there was a strong belief in the invincibility of the Chunk. Viracocha and his heir, Inca Urcon, apparently simply fled Cuzco with their retinue. However, the situation was saved by another group of Inca nobles and military leaders, led by Yupanqui, another son of Inca Viracocha, who called as many warriors under his banner as he could and successfully defended Cuzco. Then the Chanca were defeated in a series of battles, and it turned out that the Incas won the struggle for power and began to reign supreme in the mountains. After these events, Viracocha was out of work, and Yupanqui was proclaimed Pachacuti. He retained power and was crowned as the ruler of the Incas.
The late Inca period, or period of empire, began with the reign of Inca Pachacuti Yupanqui in 1438 and ended with the Spanish conquest in 1532. The history of the Incas of this period is much more reliable than the previous one. There is quite reliable information about the reign of the Inca rulers and about the military expansion of the empire, which spread over the entire territory of the Andes (see Fig. 3).
Rice. 3. The territory of the Inca Empire, indicating the areas annexed as a result of the wars of the late Inca period (according to J. Rove)
Inca Pachacuti consolidated previous conquests and new alliances, allocating new subjects to lands near Cuzco and giving them the opportunity to participate in the newly created administrative structure of Cuzco with the right to call themselves Incas. He then proceeded to develop reforms that would integrate the new provinces into the growing state.
The ruler of the Incas began a military campaign to annex the lands of the tribe urubamba, located to the west of the territories of Quechua and Chanca, and the southern lands up to Lake Titicaca. Having achieved military success, but realizing the urgent need to create a new effective system of government, Inca Pachacuti considered it good to stay permanently in the capital, transferring command of the troops to his brother Capac Yupanqui, who was ordered to move north and conquer territories within clearly defined and limited limits - apparently up to Huanuco himself. Complications arose after a successful campaign, when the Chunk Indians, whom Inca Pachacuti had taken into his army, deserted near Huanuco. Chasing the Chanca, Capac Yupanqui went beyond the strictly defined borders, lost the fugitives, and then - probably hoping to return the favor of the Inca Pachacuti - attacked and captured Cajamarca, the most powerful possession in the northern mountains. Leaving a small garrison there, Capac Yupanqui returned to Cuzco and was executed here - for exceeding his authority and for allowing the chanca to leave.
The cruel punishment that befell Capac Yupanqui will become clearer if you look at the situation from the point of view of Inca Pachacuti. Cajamarca was an important province and allied with the coastal state of Chimu, growing, powerful and extremely well organized - it represented the only obstacle to the expansion of the Incas to the north. At that time, Pachacuti was not ready to fight the entire Chimu army and therefore feared their possible attack on the insignificant garrison left in the prematurely captured Cajamarca. In addition, Capac Yupanqui, due to his apparent success, could arouse the jealousy of Inca Pachacuti.
Inca Pachacuti had to first march personally to put down the rebellion in the south, in the basin of Lake Titicaca, before he could again turn his attention to the north. By his will, Inca Topa, his son and heir, led an army and led it on a campaign through the highlands as far as Quito. Then, having reached the coast of what is now Ecuador, the Inca Topa turned his army southward, approaching the country of the Chimu from where they least expected him. He successfully conquered the entire northern and central coast to the very valley of Lurin. Shortly after this great campaign, the Inca Topa undertook another to subdue the valleys of the south coast from Nazca to Mala. While the Inca Topa expanded the empire, the Inca Pachacuti remained in Cuzco, establishing an administrative structure and rebuilding Cuzco into a capital appropriate to the imperial scale.
Inca Topa became ruler around 1471. He had just started his campaign in the eastern forests when stakes and lupaka raised an uprising in the south - a serious threat that had to be dealt with as quickly as possible. After the successful suppression of the rebellion, the Inca occupied the territory of Bolivia and Chile, penetrating as far south as the Maule River, which since then has remained the southern border of the empire.
After the completion of the eastern expedition, Inca Topa, like his father, settled in Cuzco in earnest, busily engaged in the formation of an empire, reshaping and making more flexible administrative policies to suit the many new tribes and provinces now united under one rule. Perhaps it was this Inca who expanded the Inca conceptual system with some Chimu representations, since it was he who convinced many noble people and Chimu artisans to move to live in Cuzco.
Inca Topa died in 1493 and was succeeded by his son Huayna Capac. This Inca crushed several uprisings and annexed new lands to the empire chachapoyas and moyobamba, and the area north of Quito, where he set up boundary markers along the Ancamayo River (today's border between Ecuador and Colombia). His merit was also the full integration of the territory of Ecuador into the empire and the construction of new cities like Tomebamba, where he himself lived for a long time. Before his death in this city - he died suddenly of the plague - Huayna Capac learned that some strange bearded people were seen on the coast (this was Pizarro's first expedition).
During the five years left of the Inca Empire, Huayna Capac's two sons, Atahualpa and Huáscar, fought a civil war for power. The war was won by Atahualpa, and he was just preparing for his official coronation when the Spaniards reappeared in 1532 (see chapter 10).
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The Incas are a small South American tribe that managed to rise to the very pinnacle of power and create a powerful empire that conquered many peoples and changed the face of the Andes.
They managed to turn from a small obscure tribe from the Cusco Valley into the rulers of the Andes. And to create a great Inca empire, built on the most accurate accounting of food and striking newcomers from Europe with grandiose structures.
The Inca Empire became the largest state in South America in terms of area and population in the 11th-16th centuries. The territory of their empire stretched from the current Pasto in Colombia to the Maule River in Chile and included the territories of present-day Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and partly Chile, Argentina and Colombia.
The Incas called their empire - Tahuantinsuyu (four connected cardinal points). This name came from the fact that four roads left the Cuzco Valley in different directions, and each, regardless of its length, bore the name of the part of the empire where it led.
The ruler of these vast territories was the Inca, as the Indians called their ruler. Literally, "Inca" means "ruler", "ruler", "king". And the very word "Inca" was an integral part of the name of the leader of the empire. Over time, "Incas" began to be called not only the ruler of the empire, but also other representatives of the ruling class. And with the advent of the conquerors, the concept of "Inca" or "Inca" spread to the entire tribe of Indians who inhabited the Tahuantinsuyu empire.
Formation of the Great Inca Empire.
For a long time it was believed that the great Inca empire was created by a single genius. The brilliant Pachacutec-Inca-Yupanqui, the first ruler of the Incas, a sort of local Alexander the Great, was supposed to have turned a handful of adobe huts into a powerful empire in the early 15th century in the span of a single generation.
But University of Chicago archaeologist Brian Bauer is confident that the roots of the Inca dynasty go deeper than the 15th century. Arriving in Peru in 1980, together with his colleague R. Alan Covey, now an archaeologist at the University of Dallas, and a team of Peruvian assistants, he combed the steep mountain slopes up and down for four field seasons - and eventually discovered thousands of unknown monuments Inca culture. It became obvious: the state of the Incas arose between 1200 and 1300 years. And they were given power by ... climate change. Stronger neighboring tribes, by the beginning of the XII century, gradually lost their power. This was partly due to the drought that raged in the Andes for over a hundred years and led to famine and confusion.
In all corners of the Peruvian highlands there were skirmishes over scarce supplies of water and food. Crowds of refugees rushed to the mountains, because. only on the cold, windswept peaks of the Andes could one hide from raids.
But the Incas in the fertile valley of Cusco had no shortage of water sources - and the farmers from the Inca tribe did not move. While the less fortunate neighbors exterminated each other, the prosperous Inca villages united into a small state that could protect itself from enemy raids. And between 1150 and 1300, when the climate in the Andes became much warmer, the Incas from Cuzco were able to take advantage of this warming.
As temperatures rose, they gradually climbed 250 to 300 meters up the mountain slopes, constructing multi-tiered agricultural terraces to protect soil from erosion, irrigating fields with engineering canals, and harvesting record crops of corn. The oversupply of crops allowed the Incas to "free up a large number of people for other activities - for example, building roads or maintaining a large army." And then the day came when the Inca was able to call on more warriors and provide weapons and food to a larger army than any other of the neighboring leaders.
Having created a regular army, the Inca rulers began to look at foreign lands and riches. They began to conclude dynastic alliances with the leaders of neighboring tribes and lavish gifts to new allies. When conquering neighboring tribes, the Incas, on the one hand, used their strong and numerous army, and on the other hand, they attracted the elite of the conquered regions. Before undertaking military action, the Incas three times invited the rulers of the conquered region to voluntarily join their empire. If the neighbors were not led to diplomacy, they were pacified by force. And gradually a powerful state was formed with its capital - the sacred city of Cusco, founded at an altitude of 3416 meters above sea level, in a deep valley between two mountain ranges.
Inspired by the success of their conquests, the Inca rulers turned their eyes further - to the rich lands in the southeast, where at an altitude of 3840 m there was a vast plateau with Lake Titicaca. In the 15th century, one of the greatest Inca rulers, Pachacutec-Inca-Yupanqui, planned a military campaign to the south.
The arrogant rulers of the lakeside states had almost 400 thousand subjects. Their abundant land beckoned. The mountain slopes were cut by gold and silver veins, and herds of alpacas and llamas grazed on lush green meadows. Military success in the Andes largely depended on them: the llama, the only animal on the entire continent, could carry a load of 30 kilograms on its back. In addition, llamas, as well as alpacas, are meat, leather and wool. Military rations, uniforms, the movement of the army - everything depended on the availability of llamas. And if the ruler of the Incas had not succeeded in subduing the lords to whom these herds belonged, one would have to wait with trepidation for the day when they themselves would have to surrender to the mercy of the winner.
Pachacutec subjugated one southern ruler after another, increasingly expanding the boundaries of his empire, which at the peak of its existence became one of the largest states on Earth. The number of subjects of the Inca Empire reached, according to various sources, from 5-6 to 12 million people.
However, military victories were only the first step on the road to greatness. If the empire of Alexander the Great collapsed immediately after his death, then the legacy of the Inca ruler Pachacutec-Inca-Yupanqui turned out to be much more tenacious. Because here, after the soldiers, officials and builders got down to business.
Wise rule of the Incas.
When an uprising broke out in any of the provinces, the Inca rulers organized the migration of peoples: they diluted the local population with loyal subjects, and took the recalcitrant closer to the capital. Residents of remote, high-walled villages were moved to new cities, which were located along the roads built by the Incas - the roads ensured the rapid advance of troops. The Inca governors ordered the construction of roadside warehouses for these troops, and the subjects had to fill the warehouses with provisions and other necessary supplies. Everything was foreseen, and the chances of an uprising became negligible. The Incas were organizational geniuses.
Andean civilization flourished. Engineers turned disparate groups of roads into a single system that connected all corners of the empire. The peasants created irrigation canals, laid out high-mountain agricultural terraces, where they grew about seven dozen different crops, and stored enough food in storage that it was possible to hold out on it from three to seven years. Officials mastered the inventory to perfection. They knew about the contents of all vaults in the territory of the vast empire, keeping records using the Andean form of computer code - bundles of multi-colored threads with a combination of knots called quipu. Stonemasons erected masterpieces of architecture.
Huayna Capac is the dead ruler of the Incas.
Around 1493, a new ruler of the Incas, Huayna Capac, ascended the throne. At that time it seemed that the Inca dynasty was subject to everything in the world. During the construction of the new capital in Ecuador, workers who did not know the wheel dragged blocks of stone from the Cusco Valley to a distance of 1.6 thousand kilometers along a mountain road. For these works, Huayna-Capac rounded up more than 4.5 thousand rebellious subjects.
And a small army of men and women changed nature in an amazing way for those times. In creating the royal residence of Huayna Capaca (an area the size of seven football fields), workers moved the bed of the Urubamba River to the southern part of the valley, leveled the hills and drained the swamps to plant corn, cotton, peanuts and chili peppers. In the center of the "new land" of stones and bricks, the country palace of Huayna-Capac - Quispiguanca was erected.
In spacious palaces, surrounded by parks, cultivated fields and gardens, Huayna Capac received guests, played games of chance with those close to him. Sometimes he went hunting. For this, it was not necessary to travel outside the estate: the ruler had at his disposal a secluded hunting lodge and a forest where deer and other wild animals were found in abundance.
Around 1527, Huayna Capac died in Ecuador from some mysterious illness - but he did not lose power. His associates mummified his body, transported it back to Cuzco, and members of the royal family often visited the deceased monarch, asking him for advice on important issues and listening to the answers that the oracle sitting next to him spoke. And after his death, Huayna-Capac remained the owner of Quispiguanca and the estate: the entire crop from the local fields had to go to keep his mummy, servants, wives and descendants in luxury for all eternity.
Since the traditions of inheritance were so strange that all the palaces remained the property of the rulers even after their death, it is not surprising that each Inca, having ascended the throne, built for himself and his descendants a new city palace and a new country residence. To date, archaeologists and historians have discovered the ruins of a dozen royal residences built by at least six rulers.
Conquest of the Incas by the Spaniards.
In 1532, foreign invaders landed on the coast of modern Peru, led by Francisco Pizarro. Who arrived with 200 foot soldiers clad in steel armor and armed with deadly firearms and only 27 horses. However, on the road, his army is replenished by those dissatisfied with the rule of the Incas. The Incas fiercely fight the conquerors, but the empire is weakened by internal turmoil and civil war, in addition, a large number of Inca warriors die from smallpox and measles brought by the Spaniards.
The Spaniards reached Cajamarca, the northern city of the Incas, where they captured the ruler Atahualpa. Eight months later, they executed their royal prisoner, and their leader, Francisco Pizarro, placed a puppet on the throne - the young prince Manco-Inca-Yupanqui.
The capital of the Incas, the city of Cusco, was conquered by the Spaniards in 1536. In the next few months, the Spanish conquerors appropriated the palaces of Cuzco and vast country estates and took girls from the royal family as wives and mistresses. The enraged Manco-Inca-Yupanqui revolted and in 1536 tried to drive out foreigners from their lands. When his army was defeated, he with a small number of adherents hides in the mountainous region of Vilcabamba, where the rule of the Incas continues for about 30 years.
In 1572, the last Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru, was beheaded. This marked the end of the Tahuantinsuyu empire. The state was plundered, the culture of the Incas was destroyed. The vast network of Inca roads, storehouses, temples and palaces gradually fell into disrepair.
In the western half of South America, under the equator line, on the vast plains between the Andes, lived a hardworking people who created a large civilized empire. Its kings, called the Incas, descended from the sun. It was said that, taking pity on the miserable life of the savages of the country of Peru, the sun sent its children Manco Capaca and his sister, who was also his wife, to gather them into a well-organized society, to teach agriculture, the art of spinning and weaving, and other crafts necessary for a comfortable life.
The first parts of the country to which Manco Capac and his sister introduced learning were the environs of Lake Titicaca, on the islands of which there were later colossal temples of the sun and moon, surrounded by sacred maize fields. The Inca people went to these temples on a pilgrimage. To the north stood in the beautiful valley of the Andes the sacred city of Cusco, protected by surprisingly strong walls. It was the capital of the king of the Incas; there was a magnificent temple of the sun, where pious Peruvians from all over the kingdom also came to pray. Like the Aztecs, the inhabitants of Peru did not know iron, but they knew how to build huge stone buildings. These were government buildings. The king called the people to build them. The mass of the population was in slavery to the aristocracy, whose members, in fact, called the Incas, were considered to belong to the same genus. The head of this clan was the king, whose rank was inherited by the eldest son or, if there were no sons, then to the closest relative, who had the father and mother of people of the royal family.
Growth of the Inca Empire in the reigns of its various sovereigns
Inca kings
The Inca kings, the sons of the sun, were considered sacred. They had unlimited power, appointed all rulers and judges, established taxes and laws, were high priests and commanders in chief. The nobles, whose highest rank were the Incas, members of the royal family, observed forms of special reverence in their relations with the king. The Peruvian aristocracy had a rite similar to knighthood: a young man of noble birth knelt before the king; the king pierced his ear with a golden needle. On solemn occasions, the king of the Incas appeared to the people in magnificent clothes, woven from delicate vicuña wool, decorated with gold and expensive stones. He traveled frequently throughout the state; he was carried in a rich palanquin; he was accompanied by a numerous brilliant retinue.
In all areas of the state, the kings had magnificent palaces. Their favorite residence was Yucay, a rural palace in a picturesque valley near Cusco. When the king of the Incas "departed to his father's dwelling", the entire population of the empire observed the established forms of mourning. Precious vessels, expensive garments were placed in the king's tomb, and his beloved servants and concubines were sacrificed on his coffin; the number of these victims is said to have reached several thousand people. Expensive things were also placed in the coffins of nobles; their wives and servants were also sacrificed at their funerals.
Social structure of the Inca empire
All the land of the Peruvian Empire was considered the property of the Incas. It was divided among people of all classes; the size of the plots was proportionate to class needs, but only the lower class cultivated the land. In those villages that belonged directly to the government, a third of all agricultural and industrial products belonged to the king and his family; another third went to the maintenance of temples and numerous clergy; the remaining third was annually divided in each rural community among householders in proportion to the number of souls in the family. Agriculture was under the patronage of the king. Products of agriculture and industry, including fine vicuña fabrics, were stored in the royal stores and distributed as needed.
Taxes and natural duties lay only on commoners; the nobility and clergy were free from them. A commoner in the Inca empire was obliged to work like a working animal, to regularly perform the work assigned to him, without improving his position, but he was provided from need. The people worked diligently under the supervision of overseers, the land was excellently cultivated, the mines delivered a lot of silver and gold; bridges and stone paths were built along the main roads. Many of these structures were enormous; roads were carefully repaired; all regions of the state were connected by them with Cuzco; mail went through them.
Inca City of Machu Picchu
Inca conquests
The Inca Empire was peaceful. Its kings did not forget to take care of the good organization of the army, but they loved to conquer neighboring tribes not with weapons, but with the influence of civilization, industry, by persuasion; in those cases where they made conquests, they dealt with the conquered mercifully. The purpose of the conquests was to spread the Peruvian worship and social structure. Sun temples were built in conquered areas; numerous clergy settled at the temples; the land was divided into plots, the Peruvian order of work was introduced; the rough dialects of the conquered were gradually replaced by the language of the Incas. In those areas whose population stubbornly resisted this influence, numerous Inca colonies were founded, and the former inhabitants moved en masse to other areas.
The scientists who were called amauta, were in charge of schools and kept chronicles of events through a special method of "nodular writing", called quipu. The tribes that lived near the originally small kingdom of the Incas were once hostile to it, but little by little they merged with the Peruvians into one people, assimilating the Peruvian language and submitting to the orders introduced by the Incas.
Quipu Knot Letter Sample
Service to the sun
The service of the sun in the Inca Empire was magnificent and almost completely free from human sacrifice; they were produced only occasionally and in small sizes. Usually only animals, fruits, flowers, incense were offered to the sun. Cannibalism disappeared from the Peruvians. Their main food was maize, bananas and cassava; from young maize stems they prepared an intoxicating drink, which they loved very much. Another favorite delight was chewing coca leaves, which have an opium-like effect.
In the temples of the sun, an eternal sacred fire burned, which was maintained by the maidens of the sun, who lived like nuns. There were a lot of them. Some of them were honored to enter the number of wives of the Inca king. The king and nobles were allowed polygamy; but only one wife seems to have been considered legitimate.
Inca Empire before the arrival of the Spaniards
Such was the Inca Empire when the Spaniards, led by Pizarro, came to enslave him. They marveled at the carefully cultivated cornfields of the Peruvians, the excellent products of their industry, well-built houses, usually having only one floor, to prevent harm from earthquakes, but spacious and comfortable; marveled at the huge magnificent temples, the solid walls of the fortresses; they saw a people industrious, temperate, meekly obeying the laws, which were considered the decrees of the deity.
The theocratic structure gave the state the character of an organism in which everything happens according to the law of necessity; each Peruvian was assigned his place in one caste or another, and he remained in it with resignation to fate. Commoners lived according to the rules imposed on them by the higher castes, but for their lack of freedom they were rewarded with security from want.
