The Creation of Inequality: How Our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire (84 page)

The Logic of Chimu Imperialism

Archaeologist Carol Mackey has provided us with insight into the way the Chimu turned their kingdom into an empire. For roughly 250 years, from
A.D.
1050 to 1300, the Chimu consolidated power in their heartland, which consisted of the adjacent valleys of Moche, Chicama, and Virú. Then, from roughly 1300 to 1450, they expanded south to the Casma Valley and north to the Leche Valley.

During their expansion the Chimu established three large, Level 2 administrative centers. One was Farfán in the Jequetepeque Valley, 70 miles north of Chan Chan. According to oral history, a Chimu general named Pacatnamu subdued this valley after a fierce battle.

A second Level 2 administrative center was Manchán in the Casma Valley, 180 miles south of Chan Chan. The last of the Level 2 centers to be established was Túcume in the Leche Valley, 150 miles north of Chan Chan. This 370-acre city had been occupied by a rival group since 1100, and it proved difficult to conquer.

In addition to Farfán, Manchán, and Túcume, the Chimu maintained Level 3 centers, such as Talambo in the Jequetepeque Valley and Quebrada Katuay in the Moche Valley. Below these smaller centers were thousands of villages, some of which Mackey believes had been newly created to produce agricultural staples for the Chimu state. This suggestion of an economy planned from the top down anticipates the later Inca.

All of the Level 2 centers of the Chimu empire were communities that had been previously occupied. At each place, in Mackey’s words, “the Chimu altered the infrastructure, either by constructing anew or rebuilding, with the result that [Chimu] state presence was highly visible.” She identifies the following four Chimu imperial policies, from which we can infer the logic of subjugation and administration:

  1. Level 2 centers were provided with large public areas and stored enough food to host state-sponsored rituals and feasts. Such feasts were designed to communicate the generosity of Chimu overlords.

  2. Level 2 centers were also located near long-established routes for the acquisition of valued resources, including the ores needed for making metal tools and sumptuary goods, as well as the spiny oyster shells used in so many rituals.

  3. In two of the Level 2 centers—Manchán and Túcume—local nobles and Chimu provincial lords seem to have lived side by side, using residential compounds built in different styles. This strategy of joint rule was borrowed by the later Inca.

  4. Level 3 centers show much less imperial interference, perhaps because the Chimu believed that indirect rule was less likely to disrupt the productivity of the local population.

The Chimu empire lasted until roughly
A.D.
1460. Unlike the earlier empires discussed in this chapter, it did not collapse as the result of internal factionalism or the revolt of its colonies. It was conquered by Peru’s fourth-generation empire, the Inca, who expanded out of the southern highlands.

THE RISE OF THE INCA

The heartland of the Inca state was a network of mountain valleys inhabited by speakers of the Quechua language. Lying at an average elevation of 11,000 feet was the basin of Qosko (Hispanicized Cusco). To the north was the valley of the Vilcanota River, some 9,000 feet above sea level. To the east was the basin of Lake Lucre, where the Wari empire had built Pikillaqta. The Wari eventually withdrew from Pikillaqta, having given local leaders no end of ideas about how to create their own empire.

Our two main sources of information on post-Wari developments consist of indigenous historical accounts and intensive archaeological surveys. Because Peru did not have hieroglyphic texts or picture-writing like the Aztec of Mexico, the accounts are purely oral histories, like those memorized and recited by Asante specialists. The intensive surveys are the work of archaeologists Brian Bauer, R. Alan Covey, and their associates.

Surveys show that from
A.D.
400 to 1000, even during the peak of the Wari empire, there was no settlement in the Vilcanota Valley larger than a village. The Wari colony at Pikillaqta seems to have had minimal impact on this area. During the post-Wari era, however, the Vilcanota Valley gradually developed its own four-level hierarchy of settlements. Many of these settlements seem to have chosen defensible localities.

According to Covey, the site of Pukara Pantillijlla in the Vilcanota Valley grew from village to civic-ceremonial center by 1400. An emerging ruling class built royal estates at Larapa in the Cusco basin and Qhapaqkancha on the southern rim of the Vilcanota Valley. Eventually Cusco became the capital for the region, while Pukara Pantillijlla was reduced to a Level 2 center.

The Inca took advantage of altitude differences that allowed them to produce corn at lower elevations and potatoes at higher elevations, accompanied by the herding of llamas and alpacas. Like the Wari before them, they dug irrigation canals and turned mountain slopes into thousands of agricultural terraces. The royal estates mentioned earlier were used to produce surplus food for the rulers, enabling them to host neighboring elites and impress workers with their generosity.

In the Cusco dialect of Quechua, the word
Inka
was used for the ruler. To avoid confusion, we use Inka (with a k) to refer to the emperor and Inca (with a c) to refer to the society.

Oral histories have given us the names of 12 Inkas, the earliest of whom may be partly legendary. The list begins with Manco Qhapaq, whose principal wife is said to have been his sister or half sister. If true, this claim suggests that the rulers of Cusco had suspended the usual incest taboos in order to ensure that their heirs would have the bluest bloodlines. We note that sibling marriage seems to have been more common in societies whose rulers were considered divine (Egypt and the Inca) or filled with the life force called mana (Tonga and Hawai’i).

As the expanding Cusco kingdom began to incorporate more and more of its neighbors, however, rulers turned frequently to marriage alliance as a way of solidifying their takeovers. Sinchi Roca, the second Inka, and Lloque Yupanki, the third, married noblewomen from other regions. Neighboring royal houses who accepted Cusco’s domination were declared “Inca by privilege,” making them feel less subordinate and giving them a stake in future imperial expansion.

Oral histories attribute a major escalation in territorial expansion to the ninth ruler, Pachacuti Inka Yupanki, who in 1438 is said to have defeated a powerful rival kingdom called the Chanka. This defeat removed a major roadblock to westward expansion and helped the Inca become the largest empire in the New World. Pachacuti Inka Yupanki returned to an earlier strategy by marrying his own sister. He also created a new set of royal estates, one of which—the spectacular mountaintop community of Machu Picchu—is now a major tourist attraction.

By conquest, intimidation, and alliance the Inca created an empire stretching 2,000 miles, from Ecuador in the north to Chile and Argentina in the south. From the Wari they borrowed the khipu, the kero for drinking chicha, and the practice of building many imperial installations from scratch. From the Tiwanaku they learned to connect the capital to its provinces with impressive roads, capture the monuments of defeated peoples, and use very tightly fitted stones for major buildings. From the Chimu they borrowed the policy of joint rule, which they used wherever it worked. To all these preexisting institutions, of course, they added policies of their own.

Inca Society

An important unit of Inca society was the
ayllu,
a corporate social segment analogous to the calpulli of the Aztec. The ayllu probably began as a large kin group that reckoned descent in the male line. In today’s Quechua-speaking communities, however, an ayllu can include unrelated extended families that live in the same region and share the same system of crop rotation.

At some point in the past, members of certain ayllus came to be considered nobles, while members of most ayllus were commoners. At the time of the Spanish conquest there were 11 noble ayllus in Cusco, six in one moiety and five in another. High-level officials were chosen from these ayllus.

Commoner ayllus had corporate land, and each married couple was allowed to cultivate as much of it as they needed. Relatives exchanged labor with each other on a day-for-day, person-for-person basis, a system of reciprocal aid known as
ayni.
Each ayllu had a leader whose lands were cultivated for him by his fellow members. Under Inca rule, state officials ordered the exchange of family plots each year to ensure the proper rotation of crops.

Contrasting with ayni was
mit’a,
or unreciprocated labor. Each citizen of the empire owed the government a period of labor service each year. Buildings, agricultural terraces, irrigation canals, and roads were all built with mit’a labor, which the Inca preferred over tribute in goods.

Not every commoner belonged to an ayllu. There were also landless serfs called
yanakuna,
the Andean counterpart of the Aztec mayeque. Many yanakuna were male laborers who worked full time for the state. Caring for royal herds of llamas and alpacas was a typical assignment for yanakuna.

While reciprocal exchange and unreciprocated labor service were important in the Inca economy, markets were not. This was one of two major economic differences between the Aztec and the Inca. The other economic difference, already mentioned, was that the Aztec preferred goods as tribute, while the Inca preferred labor.

Stratification

The hereditary ruling stratum of Inca society was divided into lineages of major nobles
(inka)
and lesser nobles
(kuraka).
The Inka claimed lineal descent from Inti, the Sun, and was considered divine. He had his hair trimmed short and wore large golden spools in his earlobes (
Figure 73
). He might wear a headdress of multicolored braid, wound four times around his head and decorated with golden tubes and crimson tassels. At times he carried a mace with a golden head or sat on a stool covered with fine cloth. As his kingdom grew, he came to be referred to as
Qhapaq Apu
(Emperor). Later emperors added titles such as
Sapa Inka
(Unique Inka),
Intip Cori
(Son of the Sun), and
Wakca Khoyaq
(Lover of the Poor). An emperor had many wives and concubines, but his principal spouse was referred to as
Qoya
(Empress) or
Mamancik
(Our Mother).

Anyone coming to see the Inka had to remove his sandals and place a burden on his back as a sign of subservience. The emperor ate from gold and silver plates held by female servants. All leftovers, including his used clothing, were burned in an annual ceremony. When the Inka traveled it was on a litter, carried slowly and with such dignity that his bearers rarely moved more than 12 miles a day. Oral histories claim that the route ahead of him was swept by members of an ethnic group called the Rucana.

FIGURE 73.
   Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala was the offspring of Inca nobles from the province of Rucanas. During the sixteenth century he served as interpreter for the Spanish priest Cristóbal de Albornoz. Guamán Poma de Ayala later wrote a critique of Spanish colonial rule that included drawings of indigenous life. On the left we see two Inca commoners engaged in agriculture. On the right is an Inca emperor in a checkerboard tunic, brandishing a lance and shield. (The artwork in Guamán Poma de Ayala’s book shows a mixture of Inca and Spanish elements.)

One Spanish eyewitness claims to have seen the Inka stop his litter bearers when he saw a blanketless commoner shivering in the mountain air. After ordering that the man be issued a blanket, the Inka berated the local administrator for not taking proper care of his subjects. This story illustrates the paternalistic, top-down attitude of the Inca state.

Because the Inka could not be in two places at the same time, he commissioned a statue referred to as his
huauque,
or “brother.” This statue stood in for the ruler when he was unavailable. Even in death, the emperor’s mummy would continue to counsel the living through an oracle. On occasion, a bundle that contained his hair and fingernail clippings was brought out to legitimize the rights of his descendants or the caretakers of his estates. This practice reminds us of the Tongan belief that a chief’s hair and nail clippings had powerful mana.

In a funerary ritual reminiscent of an Egyptian king’s mummification, the dead Inka’s intestines were removed and placed in a special container, while his body was dried and treated with preservatives. And just as among the Natchez and the ancient Panamanians, many of the Inka’s favorite women and servants volunteered to be stupefied and strangled so that they could accompany their ruler in the afterlife.

The Spaniards were surprised to find that each Inka’s mummy was served by royal attendants and paraded in public on a regular basis. Whenever a mummy, huauque statue, or hair/fingernail bundle was brought out, its caretakers sang about the history of the emperor’s reign, his conquests and his accomplishments. Each emperor’s oracle sat next to his mummy, passing along the dead Inka’s advice and his ongoing need for food and drink.