Inca c. 1350

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Inca c. 1350 1550
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Geography

• Western coast of S. America
• Total Pop 10 million
• Capital at Cuzco, religious center Machu Pichu
• 4000 miles in length
• Made up of hundreds of tribes loosely ruled by
  the Inca
• Empire included deserts along the coast, jungle
  and high mountain villages

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Politics

• Loose confederation of tribes
• Smart captives were trained/brainwashed in Cuzco
  to rule for Inca and then sent back home to be
  Incan governors
• Maintain authority by trading supplies to good
  regions and not to bad regions
• Constant need to expand in order to support the
  trade/bribery with other regions

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Divine Kings

• Emperor and principle wife seen as gods
• Inca nobility dominate the bureaucracy

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Macchu Picchu
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Economy

• Agriculturally based
• terraced farming,
• different crops based on location and altitude
• Lots of labor/workers necessary for transport of
  goods
• Excellent Roads/infrastructure for transfer of
  goods from coastal desert to jungle to mountain
  villages
• Trade from different regions provided lots of
  different food to eat
• Domesticated and bred hundreds of varieties of
  potatoes, tomatoes, peppers

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Draw Bridge for Security
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Religion

• Religious tolerance but must worship Incan gods
• Polytheistic, sun god is most important?
• Human sacrifice rare
• Great Inca emperor, descendant of the sun god

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Social Life

• Diverse geography diverse population
• Social hierarchy
• Kings/nobles
• Merchants/rich
• Farmers
• slaves
• land/money split to several heirs kept people
  more equal in wealth
• Mita obligation to the empire (military
  service/public works)?
• women have almost no rights but work hard farming
  and run the home

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Intellectual life and Art

• No writing!
• Incan Knots (Quipu) used to keep records of
  taxes, population, trade and names
• Mummies are common
• Nazca lines in the desert sand form animal shapes
  (possibly festival dancing patterns?)

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Quipus (FYI only)

• Quipu means "to tie".
• A quipu was composed of a rope to which a
  collection of counting-threads, each about 60
  centimeters long, were tied.
• Information was recorded on the threads using
  different materials, colors, ties and placement.
  The most important information was placed on the
  leftmost thread. Yellow, white, and red
  represented gold, silver, and soldiers,
  respectively.
• In a population census, men and women were
  counted on separate quipus, in which the
• 1st thread recorded persons over the age of 60
• 2nd thread recorded persons between 50 and 60
  years ...
• 8th thread recorded babies, 0-1 years.
• When an event was to be recorded, a Quipu was
  used to store facts. The story itself had to be
  memorized and could be retold using the Quipu's
  recorded facts. Interpretation of a Quipu was
  complicated because every counter, Quipucamayo ,
  used his own system of ties and retold
  information from the Quipu orally

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