Inca Empire

“ In no other part of the world has the administration of a purely socialistic government been attempted. The Incas not only made the attempt, but succeeded.
CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION. THE student of Inca civilization will first seek for information from those Spanish writers who lived during or immediately after the Spanish conquest. They were able to converse with natives who actually flourished before the disruption of the Inca empire, and who saw the working of the Inca system before the destruction and ruin had well commenced. ”

“ The sovereign was the centre of all civilization and all knowledge. All literary culture, all the religious ceremonial which had grown up with the extension of the empire, had the Inca for their centre, as well as all the military operations and all laws connected with civil administration. Originally but the Sinchi, or chief of a small ayllu, the greatness of successive Incas grew with the extension of their power, until at last they were looked upon almost as deities by their subjects. ”

“ It is also true that the natives, the peons of Peru and Ecuador, the descendants of the Incas, never wear anything except black, and still celebrate with impressive and appropriate ceremonies the anniversary of the day on which Atahualpa was strangled. In Chili the custom has died out, for the Inca empire was never able to sustain itself there against the savage{374} Araucanian tribes of Indians who inhabited the southern range of the Andes.
The Inca women in Peru and Ecuador are not at all pretty. ”

“ The chief of the six Indian races, including the Quichuas and the warlike Chancas, which formerly occupied the central mountain-region of Peru. The Incas became the dominant race about 1000 A.D., and built up a vast and peaceful civilisation, in which a purely socialistic government was successfully administered. This Inca Empire was destroyed by the Spanish under Pizarro in 1533, but the Inca Indians still survive as a race in Central Peru, where they are known as industrious and honest agriculturists. ”

“ In the course of time, might not Inca philosophers, such as Pachacutec and Huayna-Ccapac, more advanced in their ideas by social evolution, gradually extend more privileges to their subjects and lift them up to a 62higher level? The empire had apparently reached its farthest boundaries with the conquests of Chile and Quito, and the period of insurrection and insubordination had passed, as a result of wise measures taken to bind all the Inca’s subjects together in a common interest, through the practice of a common religion and the exclusive use of a common language. ”

“ Apart from the treatment which they meted out to the subject races under their sway, the rule of the Inca monarchs was enlightened and contained the elements of high civilisation. It is scarcely clear whether the Inca race arrived in the country at such a date as would have permitted them to profit by adopting the arts and sciences of the Andean people who preceded them. But it may be affirmed that their arrival considerably post-dated the fall of the megalithic empire of the Andeans, so that in reality their civilisation was of their own manufacture. ”

“ The Inca shall be established with his wives and household, and shall have every privilege and liberty consistent with security. His nobles and people are to be admitted to him without hindrance, and for the present he shall be allowed to conduct the affairs of the empire—with our guidance and counsel when it seemeth expedient. The nobles shall be treated as befitteth their rank, and we'll have no violence offered any man or woman, noble or other. ”

“ The other half was divided between the Inca and the priesthood who celebrated the worship of the sun.
Out of the proceeds of his specially allotted lands the Inca had to keep up the army, the roads throughout the whole empire, and all the machinery of government. This was conducted by a special governing class all more or less closely related to the Inca himself, and representing a civilization and a culture much in advance of the great masses of the population. ”

“ The Inca was represented in the provinces by governors of the blood-royal. Ofiicials were placed above ten thousand families, a thousand families, and even ten families, upon the principle that the rays of the sun enter everywhere, and that therefore the light of the Inca must penetrate to every corner of the empire. There was no such thing as personal freedom. Every man, woman, and child was numbered, branded, and under surveillance as much as were the llamas in the royal herds. ”

“ At the time of the Inca Empire they lived in a condition of happy and contented enjoyment of the fruits of their toil—a quiet, pastoral life, ruled by beneficent laws and monarchs who had their welfare at heart in a manner such as has never been carried out among the subjects or citizens of any Christian nation. ”

“ The system of administration, which made it possible for the Inca to maintain his absolute authority over such a vast territory and population is explained partly in the frequent transporting of mitimaes, or colonists, from their native province to another, which prevented concerted plans for revolt, and partly in the division of the population into decades, or groups of ten, five of these groups constituting a body of fifty, two of these bodies making a centenary, and so on, the whole empire being governed in provinces of ten thousand inhabitants ”

“ Nor was this due to the fact that it alone, under Inca domination, had reached the stage of stable and diversified social organization; for the archaeology of Peru and [Pg 189] Bolivia shows that the Empire of the Incas was only the last in a series of central Andean civilizations which it excelled, if at all, in political power rather than in the arts, industrial or aesthetic.
Our knowledge of the religious and mythic ideas of these various groups reflects their relative importance at the time of the Spanish conquests more than their natural diversity. ”

“ Lima (200) , the capital, is 8 m. inland from its port Callao (35) ; has an old cathedral, and is the chief centre of commerce; its principal merchants are Germans. The government is republican; the ruling classes are of Spanish descent, but half of the population are Inca Indians and a quarter are half-castes. From the 12th to the 16th centuries the Incas enjoyed a high state of civilisation and an extensive empire administered on socialistic principles; they attained great skill in the industries and arts. ”

“ CHAPTER LXIX. Of the lineage, and character of Huascar and Atahualpa.
THE empire of the Incas was in a state of such profound peace when Huayna Capac died, that there was not to be found a man, throughout its vast extent, who would dare to raise his head to foment disturbance, or to refuse obedience, as well from fear of the Inca, as on account of the mitimaes who were stationed in all parts, and maintained order. ”

“ The Aymara.
Manco established himself in the Cuzco valley, his third successor finally subjugating the tribes there. The early position of the Incas, cemented by judicious marriages, seems to have been one of priority in a very loose confederacy. The rise of the Incas was due to the ambition of the lady Siuyacu whose son, Inca Rocca, appears to have been the pioneer of empire; material prosperity began under him, schools were erected and irrigation works begun. ”

“ In this country governors and mitimaes were stationed, as in all other parts. [244]
After he had re-organised the country, the Inca passed{219} onwards with great renown from his past victory, and proceeded with his discoveries until he reached the river Ancasmayu, which was the northern limit of the empire. He learnt from the natives that further on there were many tribes who went naked without any shame, and that all fed on human flesh. He made some defensive works in the district of Pasto, and ordered the principal men to pay tribute. ”

“ If it happened that because of ignorance they held out against the benefits an indulgent sovereign was waiting to bestow, the Inca’s messengers informed them of his exact intentions. All good gifts would be theirs, provided only they would renounce their independence, their language and religion, and send their chief god as an hostage of submission to the Temple of the Sun in Cuzco. Honored servants of the Inca would come to them in return to acquaint them more in particular with the new benefits they were about to receive. Skilled workmen would teach them the arts. ”

“ This tassel (or borla, as the Spaniards called it; llauta, according to the Peruvians) was the supreme mark of the imperial dignity in that no one but the Inca could wear it. The Inca was surrounded by a gorgeously attired body of retainers who were preceded by hundreds of menials who cleared the streets of every obstacle which might impede the progress of their master, the Son of the Sun. The processions divided at the square, and the monarch was carried forward in the open. Not a Spaniard save the watchful sentries pacing the fort above, was to be seen. ”

“ If the rise of the Incas to power was not related to the topography and climate of the Cuzco basin, at least it is certain that without so broad and noble a stage the scenes would have been enacted on a far different scale.
The first Inca king and the Spanish after the Incas found here no mobile nomadic tribes melting away at the first touch, no savages hiding in forest fastnesses, but a well-rooted agricultural race in whose center a large city had grown up. Without a city and a fertile tributary plain no strong system of government could be maintained or could even arise. ”

“ Husbandry was pursued by them on principles that may be truly called scientific. It was the basis of their political institutions. Having no foreign commerce, it was agriculture that furnished them with the means of their internal exchanges, their subsistence, and their revenues. We have seen their remarkable provisions for distributing the land in equal shares among the people, while they required every man, except the privileged orders, to assist in its cultivation. The Inca himself did not disdain to set the example. ”

“ For centuries the Inca people had lived in undisturbed repose in their beautiful valleys and on their sunlit tablelands between the mountain ranges—or cordilleras, as they are called—which compose the Andes. If their peace was occasionally disturbed by neighbouring tribes, messages in knotted signs flew through the country, and the roads were full of armed men; but the Inca kings dreamed of no serious danger. For several hundred years their power had passed from father to son, and no neighbour was strong enough to wrest the sceptre from the Inca king's hand. ”

“ The Inca’s conditions were that estates should be given to those who were with him and had served him; that the lands which he and his father had desolated near the land of peace and the valley of Amaibamba should be granted to him; that the Indians taken from there should be his; that his Majesty should gratify the persons favoured, that they should be given a promise that they should enjoy the liberties and privileges enjoyed by people of noble birth; that friars and clerics should enter to preach the holy evangel ”

“ General Andrés Santa Cruz was of the Inca’s race, as were many others who contributed to the triumph of republican principles in the great war of independence. In the sierra, many families of Inca descent, whose sons have filled posts of importance in the republic, have comfortable homes and broad acres rich in harvests. The race, as a whole, however, shows no more initiative to-day than at the time of the conquest; under the present government, the Indian is generally contented and obedient, peacefully cultivating the fields as he did under the Inca’s rule. ”

“ They sent chosen men to examine the land, to see the roads, and learn by what means they were defended, as well as the places whence the enemy received supplies. When the road that should be taken and the necessary measures were decided upon, the Inca sent special messengers to the enemy to say that he desired to have them as allies and relations, so that, with joyful hearts and willing minds they ought to come forth to receive him in their province, and give him obedience as in the other provinces; and that they might do this of their own accord he sent presents to the native chiefs. ”

“ MAP OF TITICACA, WITH WIENER’S ROUTE.
The architectural excellence reached by the Incas, their advances in the other arts and in literature, and the imperial magnificence of their court and religious worship, imply the existence of an orderly and well-regulated administrative [249] system. An examination of their social polity will not disappoint even high expectations. The Inca, though despotic in theory, was bound by the complicated code of rules and customs which had gradually developed itself during the reigns of his ancestors. ”

“ The Spaniards came at an opportune moment and received without trouble the large landed inheritance of the Inca overlord, whose domains covered the territory now occupied by Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili.
In estimating the standard of civilization attained by the Incas their theology, which is certainly of an advanced type, is naturally taken into account. The worship of the sun was one of the strongest bonds that kept together their widely separated lands. In each pueblo there was an estate of the sun god that was worked exactly as if it belonged to a chieftain. ”

“ We shall hear what they hold respecting their first age, [and afterwards we shall come to the inveterate and cruel tyranny of the Inca tyrants who oppressed these kingdoms of Peru for so long. All this is done by order of the most excellent Don Francisco de Toledo, Viceroy of these kingdoms] . I have collected the information with much diligence so that this history can rest on attested proofs from the general testimony of the whole kingdom, old and young, Incas and tributary Indians. ”