The Beginnings of the Empire
Since the Incas never developed a system of writing, their early
history is cloaked in myth. According to one Inca legend, the people were
descended from Inti, the sun god. Inti commanded his son, Manco Capac, to
rise out of the waters of a lake and found the Inca tribe.
The Incas probably began as one of many small tribes in the Andes Mountains. At its
peak, the Incan empire spread through parts of what are now Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and
Argentina. Theirs was the largest civilization in the Americas and around 10 million people lived
under Inca rule. The center of the Inca Empire was the capital city of Cuzco, which was located
in a valley high in the mountains of southern Peru.
Class Structure
Inca society was based on a strictly organized class structure. There were three
broad classes: the emperor and his immediate family, nobles, and commoners. At the
top of Inca society was the emperor, called the Sapa Inca. The Incas believed that the
Sapa Inca was descended from Inti, the sun god. For this reason, the Sapa Inca ruled
with complete authority and everything in the empire belonged to him.
Below the Sapa Inca were the nobles. The Inca nobility was made up of leaders who
helped administer the vast empire. All nobles enjoyed certain privileges such as gifts of land,
servants, llamas, and fine clothing. They did not pay taxes, and noble men had the right to marry
more than one wife.
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Most of the people in the Inca Empire were commoners who worked as farmers and
herders. The Incas did not practice slavery. However, they did require commoners to support the
government, both through the products of their labor and by working on government-sponsored
projects. Men did jobs like building roads, while women might weave cloth.
Managing a Vast Empire
To manage their far-flung holdings, Inca leaders came to rely on a
system of roads. The roads allowed the emperor at Cuzco to communicate
with officials in distant places. The Incas sent messages by an elaborate relay
system. They built shelters called tambos every 15 to 30 miles to give
messengers places to rest. Chasquis, or messengers, carried the messages from
one shelter to the next. Using this system, messages could travel more than 250
miles a day.
The two main routes were the coastal road and the inland road, which was called the
Royal Road. The coastal road was located along the ocean while the inland road was surrounded
by land. Smaller roads connected them. Some historians have said that the Incas’ system of roads
was as impressive as that of ancient Rome. About 15,000 miles of road linked all corners of the
empire.
Without a written language, messages were sent using quipus- sets of knotted
strings that stood for words or numbers. The quipus served as memory aids. The
location or color of the knots might indicate the importance of the message.
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Taxation
The Incas had no currency (money), so taxes were paid in the form of goods and labor.
The Sapa Inca claimed one third of everything an ayllu produced. Another third supported the
Inca temple system. Commoners kept the remaining third for themselves.
Marriage
Families in the Inca Empire belonged to neighborhoods called ayllus. Everyone
was born into an ayllu, and most people lived their entire lives within the borders of its
land. Male commoners married only one wife. Young men married in their early 20s,
while girls could marry at 16. Every year, the ayllu’s also held a “marriage market”
where young men chose brides. When a couple agreed to marry, they held hands and
exchanged sandals.
Religion
To the Incas, the most important god was Inti, the sun god. Inti was important for two
reasons. First, Incas believed that the emperor’s family was descended from Inti. Second, Inti was
also the god of agriculture, which was the basis of Inca life.
The Incas practiced human sacrifice, but only on the most sacred occasions or in times of
a natural disaster. At such times children might be sacrificed because the Incas believed that their
purity honored the gods.
Agriculture
The Incas used a system of terraces to farm the high mountains of the Andes. The Incas
anchored their step-like terraces with stones and improved the drainage systems in the fields. On
some terraces, they planted different crops at elevations where the plants would grow best. To
irrigate the crops, the Incas built canals that brought water to the top of the terrace. From there, the
water ran down, level by level.
Inca farmers grew a variety of crops, including squash, peppers, beans, peanuts, corn, and
more than 200 types of potato. The most important crop was the potato, which could survive
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heavy frosts at altitudes as high as 15,000 feet above sea level. Corn could be grown at altitudes
nearly as high. The Incas enjoyed corn fresh, fried, and popped.
The llama was also an important animal to the Inca. They tamed the llama and used
it for transportation of men and materials. The llama also provided the Incas with
wool and food. Llamas were also offered as sacrifices to the Gods.
Expanding the Empire
The Incas had several methods of bringing other groups of people into the empire. They
did not immediately resort to war. Instead, the Sapa Inca generally sent a delegate to meet with a
tribe. The delegate explained that the tribe could join the Inca Empire and enjoy peace and
prosperity. Everyone understood that the alternative was war against the strong Inca army. When
faced with these options, many tribes chose to join the empire. Their leaders were then allowed to
retain some local power. In this way, the Incas expanded their empire without always having to
fight.
If a tribe resisted, however, the two sides met in battle. The Incas used a variety of
weapons, including spears, axes, and clubs. They were especially skilled at hurling stones with a
sling. The fighting often cost the enemy tribe many of its men. Usually the Incas won. Sometimes
the Incas moved a defeated tribe to other parts of the empire, so that its people lost their native
lands as well.
