Chapter 16

section 4

PachacutiAylluMitaQuipu

• Lived in high plateaus in the Andes

• Valley of Cuzco 1200’s• Rulers were descended

from the sun god Inti• Bring prosperity and

greatness• Men from one of eleven

families could serve• Believed to be

descendants of the sun god

• 1438 Pachacuti took the throne

• Inca conquered all of Peru

• 1500 Inca empire stretched 2,500 miles on western coast of South America

• “Land of Four Quarters” 80 provinces 16 million people

• Used diplomacy and conquest

• Before attacking offered an honorable surrender

• Keep customs and rulers in exchange for loyalty

• Many states gave up without resistance

• Once defeated Inca tried to gain loylaty

• Extensive road system

• Rulers divided their territory

• Quechau- official language

• Founded schools to teach the Incan ways

• Groups identified by certain patterns of clothing

• Built many cities in conquered areas

• Architecture was the same throughout the empire

• All roads led to the capitol

• Cuzco-stone homes, stones fit together without mortar

Total control over economic and social life

Regulated production and distribution of goods

Inca allowed little private commerce

Allyu- communinty cooperation

• Ayllu-extended family, undertook tasks not too big for one family– Irrigation canals– Cutting agricultural

terraces– Stored food to

distribute during hard times

• Families divided into groups of 10, 100, 1000, 10,000

A chief led each group

Chain of command stretched all the way to Cuzco

Inca ruler and council of state held court

If a group resisted Inca control the were relocated

• Main demand was for tribute (usually labor)

• Mita- was the labor tribute

• Have to work for the state a certain number of days

• Incan system more like socialism or modern welfare state

Aged and disabled taken care of by the state

State fed peopleFreeze-dried

potatoes (chunos)Stored in warehouse

for food shortages

14,000 mile road program

Paved to simple pathsBuilt guest houses

and shelters along the road

Chasquis- traveled the road as a postal service

Easy way to move troops

Inca never developed a writing system

History and literature done through oral tradition

Quipa- series of knots used as an accounting system

Position of knots and colors meant different thingsRes strings-

warriorsYellow strings-gold

Inca had two different calendars

Gods ruled the day and the time

Worshipped fewer gods

Key nature spiritsMoonStars, thunder

Viracocha- the creator

Sun worship amounted to worshipping the king

Temple of the sun , Cuzco most sacred

Decorated in goldGardens of plants

and animals made out of gold and silver

Walls of several buildings covered in gold

Hiram Bingham in 1912 found Machu Picchu

Isolated and mysterious

Religious centerRetreat for rulers of

Pachacuti

1500’s Huayan Cupac ruler

Inca’s at their peakReceived a gift in

EcuadorFilled with

butterflies and moths (bad omen)

Few weeks later died of small pox

Empire split by his sonsAtahualpa received

Ecuador (1/5 of empire)Huascar received the

restSoon Atahulpa claimed

the whole empireFought each otherTore empire apart