{ink'-uh} The Incas were the rulers of the largest native empire of the Americas. Near the end of the 14th century the empire began to expand from its initial base in the \TCuzco\t region of the southern Andes mountains of South America. It ended abruptly with the Spanish invasion led by Francisco \TPizarro\t in 1532. At the time of its demise the empire controlled an estimated 12 million people in much of what is now Peru and Ecuador as well as in large parts of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. INCA EMPIRE The Incas called their land Tawantinsuyu, which in \TQuechua\t, the Inca language, means the "four parts." A land of markedly diverse terrain and climate, it included a long coastal desert strip, broken by rich irrigated valleys; the high peaks and deep fertile valleys of the Andes; and the mountainous edges of the tropical forest to the east. The term Inca refers to the ruler himself as well as to the people of the valley of Cuzco, the capital of the empire. It is sometimes used to refer to all of the peoples included within Tawantinsuyu, but this is not strictly correct. Most of the dozens of smaller local kingdoms retained their identities even though politically and economically subject to the Incas. Quechua was the official language and was spoken in most of the realm by the time the Spanish arrived, but at least 20 local languages persisted in various parts of the empire. Origins The early period of the empire is shrouded in mystery. An official version of early Incan history was told to the Spanish invaders, but it is difficult to separate actual historical events from the myth and legends with which they were mixed. The Incan empire probably started out as a small kingdom, similar to many others in the Andes during the 14th century. A powerful state centered at \THuari\t, in the vicinity of what is now Ayacucho, Peru, and well to the north of Cuzco, had apparently controlled the area several centuries earlier, but by the 10th century small feuding kingdoms dominated the scene. The reasons for the Incas' earliest triumphs over their neighbors are impossible to discern from existing sources. It is not known for certain whether \TManco Capac\t, listed as the founding ruler, was a historical personage. Territorial Expansion The Incas began their remarkable territorial expansion under \TPachacuti\t (r. 1438-71). According to accounts set down by the Spanish, the empire achieved about two-thirds of its final size under Pachacuti. Although Pachacuti's reign was a long one, the conquest was achieved extremely rapidly considering the limited means of transportation and communication available to the Incas. The wheel was not employed, and the horse did not exist here. The expansion was achieved in part as the result of a program of conquests by the Inca armies. The battles of conquest were frequently brutal invasions of neighboring territories by which strong resistance was crushed. Not all of the groups were brought into the realm by direct military action, however. Some joined in alliances with the Incas as the result of peaceful overtures from the expanding state. Others joined out of fear that military intervention would result if an invitation to peaceful alliance were rejected. About 1470 the Incas captured the rich and powerful \TChimu\t kingdom on the north coast of what is now Peru. With that major conquest won, little remained to challenge Inca expansion throughout what then constituted the "civilized world" of South America. Pachacuti's sons helped to complete the conquests. The heir Topa Inca (r. 1471-93) pressed on to the northern border of present-day Ecuador before ascending the throne. During his reign the south coast of Peru was conquered (1476), as was northern Chile, much of northwestern Argentina, and a portion of the Bolivian plateau. In parts of this vast territory, notably along the south coast of Peru, the price of conquest was high; great losses on both sides and the virtual extinction of local groups resulted. In addition, rebellions that sprang up periodically among previously conquered peoples had to be quelled. In the last years before the Spanish invasion the Incas were still expanding in the north. \THuayna Capac\t (r. 1493-1527), father of the last Inca ruler \TAtahualpa\t, was ruling the empire from his northern outpost in \TQuito\t at his death in 1527. Collapse of the Empire It is theorized that, though still expanding when the Spanish arrived, the Inca empire was approaching a series of geopolitical limits that would preclude further expansion. Inca rule was predicated on a relatively stable sedentary life that provided both a system for political control and the basis around which the production of the goods needed to sustain the state could be organized. Inca incursion into the eastern jungles and other lightly populated areas was never successful; the effort required to exert control was too great, and the resources were not sufficiently concentrated to be easily mobilized. The death of Huayna Capac plunged the Inca state into civil war. No fixed system for determining the succession of rulers appears to have been set up. Atahualpa, who had been with his father in the north, claimed that Huayna Capac had decided to divide the kingdom, setting up a new northern capital at Quito that Atahualpa would rule. His brother Huascar claimed from Cuzco to be the legitimate ruler of the entire realm. Atahualpa finally won the bloody war and was on his way to Cuzco in 1532 to claim the whole kingdom when the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro arrived. The Incas allowed Pizarro and a contingent of about 150 soldiers to enter the regional capital at Cajamarca, where Atahualpa and his army were camped. The Spaniards were able to take the Inca ruler captive and assured the collapse of the empire. INCA CULTURE The sketchy 16th-century written accounts of the Incas do not provide a very complete understanding of the economic and political organization of their state. It is clear, however, that the principles of Inca economics and politics were derived from old Andean traditions and were very different from European ones. State Organization The Inca state was not a monolith under the absolute control of its ruler. It was an amalgam of dozens, if not hundreds, of different political, ethnic, and even linguistic groups. In order to maintain unity within the empire, an attempt was made to introduce uniform organizational and administrative procedures to the realm. This process, however, was far from complete in 1532, and administrative practices varied greatly from one part of the empire to another. In some places members of the Inca elite came from Cuzco to exercise direct control over local peoples; in others the pre-Inca scheme of leadership was left relatively intact and a form of indirect rule was pursued. The threat of military force was probably always an important element in the control of the hinterlands. An unusual characteristic of the Inca state was its ability to move people about the empire as "colonists" far from their homes. This custom of internal colonization allowed the Incas to place loyal groups in regions that were difficult to control. The practice also appears to have had economic aims in some cases; people could be relocated to develop new lands, new mines, or other resources. This use of colonists to exploit the Andean landscape was an old tradition that the Incas merely expanded to a state scale. Politics and economics were not really separate for the Incas. The role of markets was very limited, and the exchange of many products was carried out through political channels. The exchanges were seen as gifts and favors, and purely economic value was not independent of the social and political positions of the people between whom goods and services passed. Leaders maintained their power by providing gifts of luxury goods and elaborate entertainment. The people returned the favors by providing their leaders with labor. Such labor provided the Inca state with its "tax" revenues. A census of the male population was held regularly in connection with labor conscription. Perhaps the greatest achievement of the Incas lay in their efficient mobilization and organization of the state's labor force into armies of conquest, a class of bureaucrats, and attendants for the ruling class. Of greater long-term importance, however, was the planning and execution of construction projects that increased production and improved the management of resources. Most of the technologies used by the Incas were improvements on innovations dating from several centuries earlier, but the Incas wedded their organizational skills to these existing techniques and produced a series of remarkable public works. Architecture The Incas developed a highly functional style of public architecture distinguished above all by its superior engineering techniques and fine stone masonry. The plan of their cities was based on a system of broad avenues intersected by smaller streets that converge on an open square lined by state buildings and temples. Structures were usually single-storied, with perfectly bonded joints of cut stone, although adobe bricks and plaster were commonly used in the coastal lowlands. For building large monuments such as the great fortress of \TSacsahuaman\t near Cuzco, massive polygonal blocks were fitted together with extraordinary precision. In mountainous regions, as at the spectacularly situated Andean citadel of \TMachu Picchu\t, Inca architecture often reflects ingenious adaptations to the surrounding land forms. (See \Tpre-Columbian art and architecture\t.) Road System Approximately 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of Inca roads constituted a transportation network rivaled only by that of the Romans in the pre-industrial world. Since the Incas did not utilize the wheel, the road system did not serve vehicular traffic, only pedestrians and the llamas they used to carry cargo. Levees were constructed across swamps in many areas, steps were carved into hillsides, and bridges of several types were built across rivers and streams. Two so-called royal roads were built, by which the rulers could travel the length of the empire--one near the coast and one through the Andean highland. These roads were fed by many lateral routes. As important as the roads themselves were the administrative and service centers that were built along them. On principal roads a way station was located at the end of each day's travel so that travelers could rest and get fresh supplies. On parts of the highland road, at the Peruvian sites of Tambo Colorado in the Pisco valley and at Huanuco Viejo, near modern Huanuco, several enormous administrative centers with more than 3,000 buildings each were constructed to house the bureaucracy, state manufacturing and storage facilities, and related activities. Agricultural Production Increases in agricultural production were achieved through the construction of large-scale terracing and irrigation systems. Many highland valleys--most notably the Urubamba, near Cuzco--were completely reshaped with terraces. By converting steep slopes to flat fields, terraces substantially increased the amount of tillable land. In warm, dry valleys irrigation systems were built into the terraces, bringing these valuable lands into production. Maize grew well in such warm areas, and maize and the beer made from it were luxury foods served by the state on ceremonial occasions. The increased production of these and other foods was important in giving the state access to an ever-increasing labor surplus, in turn leading to more craft specialization. Irrigation systems were especially important in the coastal desert regions of the empire, but most of the systems there were built long before the Incas had conquered the region. Storage and Recordkeeping Storage was another technological and organizational achievement of the Incas that enabled them to maintain a stable food supply in spite of a climate that resulted in frequent crop failures, especially in the highlands. Some of the administrative centers along the roads had food storage facilities that held as much as a million bushels of grains and tubers. Some of the thousands of storehouses throughout the realm had specialized ventilation systems, and many were placed at high altitudes to take advantage of the cool temperatures that extended storage life. The Incas did not have writing as we know it. But the quipu--a recording device by which numbers were represented in the form of knotted strings--was developed to considerable complexity. The Inca numerical system employed a base of ten. Quipu frequently had hundreds of strings in different colors, enabling the Incas to keep accurate account of the goods in their storehouses, census and manpower figures for various parts of the realm, and other information. Religion The state religion centered on the worship of the Sun. The Inca emperors were believed descended from the Sun god and were worshiped as divine beings. Gold, the symbol of the Sun god, was extensively mined for use by the rulers and members of the elite, not as a means of exchange but principally for decorative and ritual purposes. Religion permeated the entire political structure. From the Temple of the Sun in the center of Cuzco imaginary lines ran to shrines (huacas) in and around the city that were identified with different social groups. Religious practices included the consultation of oracles, the offering of sacrifices, religious trances, and public confessions. An annual cycle of religious festivals was regulated by the extremely accurate Inca calendar, as was the agricultural year. In this and other respects, Inca culture strongly resembled certain cultures of \TMesoamerica\t, such as the \LAztec\ls and the \LMaya\ls. AFTERMATH OF SPANISH CONQUEST After the Spanish captured and killed Atahualpa, the decline of the Inca state was swift. Although resistance to the invaders continued in several places, effective native rule ceased immediately, and the fabric of the state quickly disintegrated. Manco Inca, a half brother and enemy of Atahualpa who had collaborated with the Spanish, became a puppet ruler. He had no real power, however, and was abused by the Europeans. In 1536 he left Cuzco for Vitcos, on the edge of the jungle, where he set up a retreat inaccessible to the Spanish. There he tried to maintain the customs of the Incas and to set up a base for reconquest. In spite of some military successes and near-successes, Manco's aim was not to be achieved. After his death his son, Sayri Tupac, negotiated capitulation in exchange for personal concessions and returned to Cuzco in 1558. Resistance continued under other Inca descendants, ending in 1572 with the execution of Tupac Amaru. Some of the Inca regional capitals along the roads were converted to Spanish towns; others were abandoned within a few years of the arrival of the Spanish. The colonial governments that replaced Tawantinsuyu were very different from that of the Incas, and much of the native population was reduced to servitude. It is easier, however, to topple a government than to alter the customs and traditions of a people. The Quechua language is today spoken by millions of Indians in the Andes region. Many native customs continued during centuries of European domination, especially in isolated parts of the Andes, and some are still maintained. Craig Morris Bibliography: Baudin, Louis, Daily Life in Peru under the Last Incas, trans. by Winifred Bradford (1961); Bingham, Hiram, Lost City of the Incas (1948; repr. 1981); Brundage, Burr C., Empire of the Inca (1985); Cobo, Bernabe, Inca Religion and Customs, ed. and trans. by Roland Hamilton (1990); De la Vega, Garcilaso, Royal Commentaries of the Incas and General History of Peru, Part I, trans. by Harold Livermore (1987); Gasparini, Graziano, and Margolies, Luise, Inca Architecture (1980); Hemming, John, The Conquest of the Incas (1970); Lumbreras, Luis G. The Peoples and Cultures of Ancient Peru, trans. by Betty Meggers (1974); Markham, Sir Clements R., The Incas of Peru, 2d ed. (1912; repr. 1969); Mason, J. Alden, Ancient Civilizations of Peru, rev. ed. (1968); Metraux, Alfred, The History of the Incas, trans. by George Ordish (1969; repr. 1987); Moore, Sally F., Power and Property in Inca Peru (1958; repr. 1973); Prescott, William H., History of the Conquest of Peru, 2 vols. (1847; repr. 1988); Rowe, John H., "Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest" in Steward, Julian H., ed., The Handbook of South American Indians, vol. 2 (1946); Von Hagen, Victor W., ed., The Incas of Pedro de Cieza de Leon (1976).