The Incas built over 40 thousand km of roads at the top of the most impervious Andean mountains, despite an extremely harsh climate, landslides, earthquakes and construction methods far removed from those of today. But not only that! They were the largest pre-Columbian civilization in South America, organizing themselves into the largest empire of their time in an area that included present-day Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and a good portion of Chile, Argentina, and Colombia. Just think that in this territory so large that at least 10 million people lived within it who spoke over 30 different languages. But how exactly did the Inca people arise?
The origin of the Inca people
We are in South America around 4500 BC. At that time the Andean area was populated by small communities that survived thanks to hunting and gathering. In particular, the basin of Lake Titicaca and a large part of the southern Andean plateau had particular environmental and geographical characteristics and therefore cultivation was very complicated due to the height, the impervious terrain and the climate. Rudimentary horticultural techniques were used which made some varieties of legumes available and, already between 4000 and 6000 BC, also the domesticated species of corn.
Often these small villages began to fight among themselves to obtain new lands, conquering each other and gradually creating increasingly larger villages, until they gave life to real cities, including Cusco, the future capital of the empire. The continuous conflicts with neighboring populations induced the ethnic group to which the Incas belonged to adopt a constant aggressive policy which, in less than two centuries, led to the birth of the most powerful Andean empire in all of history, around 1200 AD
Agriculture and livestock farming
Precisely in these years they also understood that in reality there was a way to cultivate more easily, that is, to create agricultural terraces built with the aim of multiplying the surface area of the land to be sown and to consolidate the landslide slopes of the impervious Andean valleys. So they basically killed two birds with one stone, having more space to farm and stabilize the mountainsides.
These terraces were irrigated by a system of canals designed to exploit the mountain slope and allowed the production of many varieties of potatoes, corn, legumes and quinoa. Furthermore, thanks to efficient conservation systems, they were able to store both surplus products and exotic products (such as Selva cocoa) obtained through barter in special warehouses. They were also able to preserve dried products, both animal and vegetable, including marine products from the coast. And drying was a perfect method for that type of climate, since it could be achieved by exploiting the combination of abundant sun and low temperatures.
The entire harvest was usually divided into three parts: one third went to the sovereigns, one third was to be donated to the Gods and only the last third was for the direct use of the farmer.
In their society, breeding also had a central role, especially llamas and alpacas, given that from these animals it was possible to obtain, in addition to meat, large quantities of wool, essential for the production of precious textile products. Here, these were of primary importance, so much so that they were produced by a special category of craftsmen who were strictly controlled and regulated. The most valuable items of clothing, reserved for the elite, were made from vicuña wool, a wild camelid. There was so much wool produced that they even used it to make the instruments used as a calculation system!
I am referring to the quipu, that is, a series of threads of different colors and lengths on which knots were tied: depending on their arrangement, the thickness of the thread and its colour, they indicated a number, and this system was used to take into account the quantity of available resources, taxes, accounting and censuses.
But let’s now return to the political scenario. We said that originally it was fragmented and characterized by conflicts, but subsequently the Incas began to assert themselves, dominating the situation thanks to internal tensions and building numerous urban settlements from which a single enormous empire began to take shape.
The birth of the Inca empire: culture and politics
Speaking of the Empire, we can establish 1200 as the conventional date of its foundation and the beginning of the royal dynasty which had 13 sovereigns. One of the most recurring names is that of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the first great Inca emperor in history. It was he who unified the kingdom and pushed for ever greater expansion, incorporating not only mountain areas, typical of the Andean area, but also plains, deserts and rainforests.
This activity of consolidating the state also allowed his son Tupac Yupanqui to continue with an intense activity of conquest, through military actions full of risks often conducted in hostile regions distant from Cusco and with exploratory expeditions of worlds that had until then been little or not at all known, such as the Selva and the islands off the coast of Ecuador. The last true emperor Huayna Capac is remembered not for his conquests, but for his work as a consolidator of the enormous empire, which is now beginning to be shaken by continuous rebellions and requires greater control, especially in the more peripheral regions
To do this, a mix of diplomacy and conquest was used, and obviously not all conquered peoples could enjoy equal rights. For example, those who spoke the Quechua language rightfully had a place of honor within society, holding noble and power positions and often wearing showy earrings, a striking symbol of their status and their incredible skills as artisans.
Those who spoke one of the other 30 languages present in the empire were put to do more humble and tiring jobs, such as the builder of roads, bridges or large works. So yes, the Incas imposed themselves by force on their neighbors, although for the record it is fair to say that their advent also brought benefits, such as a redistribution of food in case of disasters thanks to large warehouses, or the possibility of being hired directly by the empire as a worker. Furthermore, their empire could boast extremely efficient road connections: we are talking about something like 40 thousand kilometers of roads, many in the mountains… and you understand well that for the time it was an immense work. Also because, as we said, that was an area with a hostile climate, with frequent earthquakes and building in such inaccessible areas with the means of the time was truly a titanic undertaking which today seems almost crazy.
Yet these roads were essential for connecting the various Inca cities to each other. By the way, but how were the Inca cities made? Clearly they had various differences between them, given how vast the empire was, and therefore having to choose one I will tell you about the most famous one of all: Machu Picchu.
The Inca cities and Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu, let’s clarify, was not the capital of the Inca empire, that was Cusco. Machu Picchu was probably both a royal residence and an important religious and astronomical observation center built at 2400 meters above sea level… although to date its exact function is not 100% clear. Today, in addition to having been named one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, inside you can still observe the remains of various temples, including the Temple of the Sun, the Temple of the Condor, and the Temple of the Three Windows, just to name a few.
Although among all the buildings, the most important one was the temple of the Sun, given that the temple as a type of building was the central element of every Inca city. This is because, as often happened for various ancient peoples, religion had a central role in society.
The religion of the Incas
In fact, the Incas were polytheists and among the main deities we find Inti, the God of the Sun, his wife Mama Quilla, the goddess of the Moon, Viracocha, god of the storm and Pachamama, goddess of the earth and fertility. And as is often the case for the peoples of Central and South America, human sacrifices were sometimes expected. The Incas, it must be said, did not make them that often, but when they did it was mainly children, sacrificed to the gods to calm storms, droughts or to celebrate rites of passage in the life of the emperor, such as a wedding, the birth of a child or his death.
Speaking of the emperor, another interesting aspect is that the Incas often mummified him upon his death, then preserving his body in the capital. Here the body was not only carried in procession but people made donations of food and water in exchange for a grace. Although the grace, however, did not save them from the arrival of the conqueror Francisco Pizarro in 1532.
The end of the Incas with the arrival of the Spanish
He was the leader of the Spanish and their arrival was lethal for the empire. First of all, in that period the Incas themselves were facing internal civil wars between various ethnic groups who were not always in favor of submission – therefore we cannot say that the Inca was a cohesive empire. Added to this was the arrival of an invading people who were not only much more technologically advanced, but who introduced into the country diseases that were lethal for them, such as smallpox. It is estimated that this alone killed between 60 and 90% of the Inca population, as well as probably the emperor Huayna Capac.
Of course, following a revenge by the followers of his former ally Almagro, whom he had killed, Pizarro was assassinated in his palace in Lima in 1541. However, this did not stop the Spanish wave that in 1572 killed Tupac Amaru, the last rebel Inca leader, officially putting an end to the largest empire in South America. Nonetheless, the Inca culture is not dead and is still alive and breathing today! In fact, the Inca descendants are still present throughout South America today and, just to give an example, the Quechua language is still spoken by more than 8 and a half million people!
