| The Inca Empire |
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| Inca, also spelled INKA, South American Indians who, at the time of the Spanish conquest in 1532, ruled an empire that extended along the Pacific coast and Andean highlands from the northorn border of modern Ecuador to the Maule River in central Chile. The Inca established their capital at Cuzco (Peru) in the 12th century. They began their conquests in the early 15th century and within 100 years had gained control of an Andean population of about 12,000,000 people. |
| In common with other Andean cultures, the Inca left no written records. Their history is known chiefly from the oral tradition that has been preserved through the generations by official "memorizers" and from the written records composed from them after the Spanish conquest. According to their tradition, the Inca originated in the village of Paqari-tampu, about 15 miles south of Cuzco. The founder of the Inca dynasty, Manco Capac, let the tribe to settle in Cuzco, which remained thereafter their capital. Until the reign of the fourth emperor, Mayta Capac, in the 14th century, there was little to distinguish the Inca from the many other tribes inhabiting small domains throughout the Andes. Under Mayta Capac the Inca began to expand, attacking and looting the villages of neighboring peoples and probably assessing some sort of tribute. Under Capac Yupanqui, the next emperor, the Inca first extended their influence beyond the Cuzco valley, and under Viracocha Inca, the eighth, the began a program of permanent conquest by establishing garrisons amound the settlements of the peoples whom they had conquered. |
| The earliest date that can be confidently assigned to Incan dynastic history is 1438, when Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, a son of Viracocha Inca, usurped the throne from his brother Inca Urcon. Under Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-71) the Inca conquered territory south to the Titicaca Basin and north to present day Quito, making subject peoples of the powerful Chancas, the Quechua, and the kingdom on Chimu. A policy of forced resettlement of large contingents from each conquered people helped ensure political stability by distributing ethnic groups throughout the empire and thus making the organization of revolt very difficult. Local governors were responsible for exacting the labor tax on which the empire was based; the tax could be paid by service in the army, on public works, or in agricultural work. |
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