Inca Empire

While Mexica was building an empire in Mesoamerica, there was a small community of Quechua (catch-wha) speaking people, known to us as the Inca were building the Western Hemisphere’s largest imperial state located by the Andes Mountains. They took in previous civilizations cultures and land. It controlled some 2,500 m and 10 million people. Encompassed almost the whole of Andean civilization. “Rag to Riches”

The Incas, in comparison to the Aztecs, had a more bureaucratic empire. Like the Mandate of Heaven in China the ruler in the Inca culture was believed to be a descendant of the creator god Viracocha and sun god Inti. The state controlled all the land and resources, and had governors for all of the eighty regions. People were split into various sizes of hierarchical units. These units were led by a local official who was in turn supervised by a the governor of the region. The imperial center used inspectors to keep these rulers in line and to report any bad behavior. The Inca were very much into keeping track of marriages, deaths, and etc. It was recorded on quipus which were knotted cords used for accounting. Into (modern depiction) ViracochaQuipus

The Incas displaced 25% of the population in order to quell rebellion or resistance. Conquered people were forced to learn Quechua and their sons were moved to the capital Cuzco to learn Incan culture and language. This Quechua language is still alive in South America today and is even an official language in Peru. The human variety required a lot of flexibility on the part of the Incans. The Incas sometimes were able to work with the prior political systems but also in some cases had to create one from scratch. They faced resistance but also some were accepting of them in order to benefit themselves. The Incans incorporated local people into the lower level political levels. Religious freedom was allowed but they had to acknowledge the power of some Inca gods. This system then made it more essential to accommodate the local people rather then the Inca’s demands or desires.

Inca demands on their people were a labor service,known as mita, was a periodical required work of a household. What was made in home usually stayed there but also they had to work for the state. Some examples are people working on farms that supported religious temples or institutes, military service, or state-directed construction.

“Wives of the sun” People with specialized skills were put to work in making goods. An example of this were the “chosen women”

These were women that were taken from their hoes at a young age in order to be trained in Inca ideology and make beer and cloth in State centers. When they grew up these women were given to ranking officials or sent to serve as priestesses in temples. There they got the nickname as “Wives of the Sun”. In return the Incas provided large feasts for their services.

Incas and the Aztecs both believed that men and women were in two separate but equal spheres. In the Andes the men reckoned their descent from their fathers and girls from their mothers. On the other hand Mesoamericans belonged equally to their mother and their father. Parallel religious cults grew for both men and women in this region. WomenMoon “Mama Killa” MenSun

As the empire grew, there grew a parallel hierarchy. Women and men were seen doing separate jobs still but they were thought of as equal in their respective sphere. This still meant not full gender equality. Men occupied the top political and religious roles. Military life, that was exclusively for men, grew in prestige. The Inca rulers adapted the local gender systems of the people conquered. Inca rulers, sapay Inca, co-ruled with their female counter parts the coya. Each claiming descent of their respected moon or sun god.

The End