Page 140 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol III

inca empire 959

I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes.
The moral effect should be good... and it would spread a lively terror...
• Winston Churchill (1874–1965)

rugged mountains, and verdant forests. From the imperial against overwhelming odds. As he and the forces under
capital of Cuzco (located southeast of present-day Lima, his command awaited certain death at the hands of the
Peru), the emperor, known as the Sapa Inca (Unique Inca), Chanca, Cusi Inca Yupanqui had a vision.The creator god
held sway over 10 million subjects from myriad ethnic told him that if he spread the true religion, he would be
groups that spoke different languages, followed different a great ruler and conqueror. Inspired by his vision, Cusi
subsistence strategies, supported different political struc- Inca Yupanqui broke the siege and then went on to rout
tures, and worshipped different gods. the Chanca. He was crowned ruler and took on the
The Incas called their empire Tawantinsuyu, “the land name of Pachakuti—“Cataclysm” or “He Who Remakes
of the inextricably linked four quarters.” The four quar- the World.” Over the space of fifty years, Pachakuti
ters, Collasuyo, Antisuyu, Cuntisuyu, and Chinchasuyu, (reigned 1438–1471) and his son Tupac Yupanqui
were political provinces defined by imaginary lines ema- (reigned 1471–1493) conquered almost all of what
nating from the capital.The name Tawantinsuyu reflected would become the Inca empire.The remaining portions
more a desire than a reality—the union of these quarters, of the empire, Ecuador and the chiefdom of Chacha-
and the people that lived within them, remained tenuous poyas in northern Peru, were captured by the succeeding
throughout the state’s short life span. When the empire king, Huayna Capac (reigned 1493–1526).
was about one hundred years old, a band of 168 Span- The Incas legitimatized their expansion as a means to
ish adventurers led by Francisco Pizzaro (c. 1475–1541) spread the true religion. The true religion entailed two
helped bring an end to Tawantinsuyu in 1533. Since things—reshuffling existing gods and practices to fit
there was no indigenous system of writing in the Andes, within a “proper” imperial pantheon and the placing of
our understanding of the empire is gleaned from archae- the Inca sun god, Inti, at the second position in that hier-
ology, early Spanish documents, and a handful of native archy (Viracocha, the creator god, held the highest posi-
accounts.These sources often disagree, and there remain tion). As long as a conquered group agreed to both
many gaps in our understanding of Inca life. acquiesce to the god’s position in this hierarchy and
worship Inti, local religions could remain intact. In this
The Rise and Fall way, the Inca were able to fulfill their divine mandate for
of an Empire expansion without seriously challenging local beliefs.
According to their oral histories, the Inca civilization be- The Incas conquered through a mixture of diplomacy
gan when four brothers and four sisters emerged from a and force. Resisting the empire often had terrible conse-
cave at the site of Pacariqtambo (The Inn of Dawn) near quences; after defeating the Collas of the Lake Titicaca
Cuzco.The siblings, led by Manco Capac and his sister/ Basin, for example, the Sapa Inca destroyed many vil-
wife Mama Oqlla, went on a quest to find a place to set- lages, killed many of the inhabitants, and cut off the
tle. At the end of this search, Manco Capac founded heads of all of the Colla lords.Those that acquiesced to
Cuzco and became the first Inca king.The Incas were just Inca rule, however, were offered sumptuous gifts and
one of many small, warring, ethnic groups that popu- given a privileged position in the new imperial hierarchy.
lated the mountains of central Peru until the beginning By the end of Huayna Capac’s reign, the strain of
decades of the fifteenth century. At this time, the eighth keeping the massive empire together was beginning to
ruler,Viracocha Inca, was preparing to give the throne to show. The Sapa Inca was faced with unrest along both
one of his sons. Before a transfer of power could occur, the northern and southern frontiers of the empire. Rebel-
a rival group, the Chancas, invaded and surrounded the lions within the realm, although a problem throughout
village of Cuzco. the empire’s existence, may have become more frequent.
Viracocha Inca and his heir fled the city, and another The groups that populated the semitropical forests along
son, Cusi Inca Yupanqui, was left to defend Cuzco much of the regime’s eastern border were nuisances that