Inca Empire: A History from Beginning to End by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Life in the Inca Empire

“The Incas’ genius— like that of the Romans—lay in their masterful organizational abilities. Amazingly, an ethnic group that probably never exceeded 100,000 individuals was able to regulate the activities of roughly ten million people.”

—Kim MacQuarrie, The Last Days of the Incas

The government of the Inca Empire was autocratic and controlling in the extreme. Even the clothing which its citizens wore was defined and supplied by the state. Each Inca was provided with two sets of clothes—a tunic for everyday use, made from Awaska cloth woven from llama wool and another made from finer cloth, qunpi, often woven from alpaca wool, for formal or ceremonial occasions. These were worn until they were reduced to rags as no Inca was permitted to change or replace their clothing without permission. These tunics incorporated a geometric design which indicated the status of the wearer—for example, members of the army wore tunics decorated with a black and white checkered pattern.

People of special importance also wore a turban-like hat which incorporated designs and colors which denoted the family to which they belonged. These llawt'u also denoted the social standing of the wearer—the finer the cloth and more intricate the design, the wealthier the individual. In order to stress his importance, one Sapa Inca had a llawt'u made entirely from hair taken from vampire bats.

The designs which decorated clothes were also used on ceramics, wood carvings, and metalwork. Like every other aspect of Inca life, these designs were standardized and set by the state. Inca designs generally incorporated simple geometrical shapes, sometimes enlivened by simplified representations of animals. These formed an instantly recognizable imperial design which was replicated throughout the empire.

The government itself was headed by the Sapa Inca who was responsible for making all important decisions. He was assisted by a council comprising representatives from ten important Inca families. These panaqa were also involved in ratifying the Sapa Inca’s choice of his successor. Next in importance to the panaqa were the representatives of ten more groups taken from slightly less influential families (or from families with a less direct blood connection to the Sapa Inca). Then there were representatives of noble families who were not Incas, but whose assimilation into the Inca Empire made them important. There was no formal system of government or advising, and there was often great rivalry between these various group of nobles for the attention of the Sapa Inca.

Each of the four quarters of the empire was administered by a regional governor who had under his control up to 80 local administrators, generally ethnic Incas. Below these Incas were kurakas, nobles from the local area who were often not themselves ethnic Incas. One of the functions of local administrators was the taking of a regular census on which the level of tribute was based. This was overseen and checked by an inspector appointed by the regional governor, the tokoyrikoq (“he who sees all”). These records were not kept in writing (the Incas had no written language)

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