“Although it was very extensive and composed of many and very different nations, the entire empire of the Incas was a single republic, governed by the same laws, privileges, and customs, and it was observant of the same religion, rites, and ceremonies; however, before being brought under Inca rule, the several nations had their own common law and a different way of living and governing themselves. This union and uniformity was maintained everywhere; and it must be understood that what we say here that the Incas introduced into the nations that they subjugated was the same type of government that they maintained at the Inca court and where they ruled before.” – Father Bernabe Cobo, (p 189)
The Incas defined the social, religious, and physical landscape encompassed by their empire. They laid an inherent claim to all the lands within their domain and claimed the physical geography within the cosmological belief in their own superiority. According to Bernabe Cobo’s depiction, the Incas divided the land and resources of communities into three parts, one each for the state, religious service, and the community itself. The empire itself was divided into four parts, and villages into upper and lower moieties. The Incas also constructed and appropriated a vast system of roads, along which they built storehouses, regional administrative centers, and military forts in particularly problematic areas. The purpose of this new Inca geography was achieving unified political and economic control while perpetuating their cosmology.
Inca rule defined the landscape of a vast region in South America, and rural estates as well as Cuzco speak to the glory of the Inca elite. The effects of the empire among its subject people is a significant area of study, if for no reason other than that “peasant families living in towns and villages – farmers, herders, fishers, and artisans – made up about 95-98 percent of Tawantinsuyu’s population.” (D’Altroy, p 181) Even prior to Inca rule, the area of the future empire consisted of small kinship groups that often lived scattered across the landscape in order to take advantage of agricultural zones. The kin groupings varied in size and were generally self-reliant, which Inca rule apparently maintained although land use changed. Agriculture, the production of value-added goods or skilled labor, and religious activities appears to have occupied the majority of time among people living within the Inca empire.
While communities were free to use the land that was allowed them, this was only under the understanding “that the land was the property of the Inca and the community only had the usufruct of it.” (Cobo, p 212) According to Cobo the land given to religion, split among the gods and various shrines or guacas, was worked first. Second was the land designated to the state, and lastly came the land given to the community. Cobo further explains that while land was generally divided between these three uses, the amount of land given to each use varied with some areas devoted solely to either religion or the state.
Cobo attributes the division of land as evidence of “how absolute the power of the Inca was over everything his vassals possessed.” (p 213) The separation of land and its maintenance was a part of religious duty. This can be attributed to the Incas claim to a divine right to rule, and is seen in the way that punishments were levied. Among Cobo’s descriptions of various legal punishments, several indicate a different treatment of the perpetrator depending on whether the crime was committed against the Incas rather than against the common people. For example, the theft of fruit while traveling to meet an individual need for sustenance was pardoned unless is was stolen from lands belonging to the state in which case death was the reward. (p 205)
Terence D’Altroy explains this triple division of land as a classic view of how the Inca economy worked. While there is some accuracy in the description, “Cobo simplified things.” (D’Altroy, p 263) Between the lack of large urban populations and a physical landscape that made the movement of tributary goods difficult, the issue according to D’Altroy was also economic efficiency. However, unlike any uniform application of one simple system, “the Incas chose to intensify the highland economies they knew best and left the more integrated systems largely alone.” (p 264) The historical significance of Cobo’s work is not undermined by his simplification, as the motives behind the land divisions hold credence and later study has confirmed much of his writings.
The Incas divided communities into upper and lower moieties, or hanansaya and hurinsaya. Cobo explains that the reason for this division was another mechanism of control by creating internal division among villages to keep them from effectively unifying in rebellion. This system of moieties was possibly based on pre-Inca community divisions rather than a construct created during Inca rule. In either case, some accuracy can certainly be found in Cobo’s statement that the Incas worked to redefine the geographic and social landscapes with the purpose that “the will of his vassals would be divided.” (Cobo p 195) Breaking up communities to avoid rebellions is clearly seen in the forced relocation of peoples.
The Incas strategically reshaped the demographic landscape through the wide-scale relocation of communities. Cobo attributes this tactic as another means to ensure stability and especially uniformity, giving much praise to the way Inca rule applied the same system of laws and regulations across the empire. While there is a likely truth to the uniform application of the Inca legal system, the account remains idyllic in its description of just how far-reaching the Incas were in accomplishing any uniformity. In spite of Cobo’s claim to the contrary, it is extremely improbable that everyone was able to learn the language of Cuzco. D’Altroy confirms that Cobo’s “estimate that about a quarter to a third of the population was resettled may be about right on average.” (p 248)
The Incas also moved people from settlements in high, defensible locations to lower areas of valleys. Cobo writes that “When the Inca subjugated a province, he obliged the inhabitants to leave their former dwellings and come down from the high and rugged places … to other more appropriate places that were designated for them…” (p 194) D’Altroy confirms this and gives the example of the higher maize content in peasant diets after the Inca conquest, maize being a crop grown at lower altitudes. (p 181) These relocation strategies also moved settlements to agriculturally productive areas within easier reach of roads for communication and the distribution of goods.
Although the Incas claimed divine and state right to the land and goods produced in communities, they appear to have remained conscious of leaving enough for communities to remain self-reliant. According to Cobo, “it was always considered important that the people be well provided with food.” (p 211) Cobo describes the Incas as tyrannical in their demands on communities, but his own evidence seems to indicate that everyone remained cared for on a subsistence level. The reality of most people rested somewhere between an idyllic, if not communistic model of economic equality and Cobo’s depiction of harsh rule. The Incas warded off the danger of rebellion by a hungry populace by ensuring the continuance of at a minimum the subsistence life that existed prior to Inca rule.
The use of a census to enable proper administration of labor taxation and land distribution is another indication of Inca effects on the social and geographic landscape. The sole method of official taxation was in the form of labor service, which defined the socio-cultural landscape in parallel with the physical landscape. Because only males of a certain age were expected to provide labor service, other members of the family and community remained available to work on the land. Those with larger families were able to work faster and with less effort. Labor service enabled Inca state-building and created an additional layer of subservience among conquered peoples.
The physical landscape of the Andes defined human geography and placed limitations and challenges on the development of the Inca empire. Different altitudes formed agricultural ecozones made more effective through vast terracing and canal building projects. The demanding logistics of moving armies, goods, and information around the empire gave rise to storehouses and administrative outposts at critical junctures. Labor service was further used to maintain the road system and other Inca developments.
Swift movement of communications was significant to administer the vast empire effectively, and its accomplishment is a sign of the order and control that the Incas managed to institute over their land. Along the roads were built small huts called chuclla to house official runners, or chasques to distribute information across the empire. Cobo admired the speed by which information moved across the empire, which after the Spanish conquest took several days longer on horseback. “…Letters were carried from this city of Lima to the city of Cuzco in three days over one hundred and forty leagues of very bad road over very broken sierras. Now it takes the Spanish mail by horse twelve to thirteen days to do the same.” (p 230)
Beyond the simplistic definition of political control and economic stability, the Incas also changed the landscape according to their cosmology. The physical geography of the empire was saturated with meaning beyond administrative matters, exemplifying the deep meaning that the landscape held to those who lived within any given area. The Incas worked within the existing cosmology of the landscape if it suited their purposes, as long as everyone within their domain recognized the divinity of the Sun and the Incas. “The Incas eliminated, either completely or partially, the practices and rites that the conquered people had before Inca ways were imposed.” (p 191) While Cobo often describes the idolatry of Inca religious customs, it can be assumed that among subject peoples some resentment must have occurred against the imposition of the Inca religion, though from a perspective other than Cobo’s Christianized view.
The importance of religion and its effect on the landscape is clearly seen in the triple division of land and its enforcement. Cobo writes:
The boundaries of the lands and fields belonging to each one of these divisions were kept so exact, and the care and protection of these markers of the fields of the Inca and of Religion, the responsibility of cultivating them first and at the proper season, and their protection against damage or loss, were so impressed upon the Indians that it was one of the most important religious duties that they had; so much so that no one dared pass by these fields without showing their respect with words of veneration that they had reserved for the purpose. (p 211)
The Incas called their empire Tawantinsuyu meaning The Four Parts Together, a cosmological division with Cuzco at the juncture of the four divisions. This most arbitrary of Inca geographic divisions is clearly indicative of the religious layer that pervaded across all administrative matters. The main roads of the empire emanated from Cuzco, placing it at the proverbial center as a clear parallel to the Inca belief in themselves as the first people and the children of the Sun.
The social and physical landscape was affected by the great rural estates of the Inca elite. Cuzco itself was less an urbanized capital and more a religious and elite center of rule. While most of the subjected people lived in small rural villages, elite estates represented the higher social status of the Inca. The estates were maintained through the use of labor service, and served a purpose in administration of the area where each was located. The estates emphasized the region around Cuzco as the heartland of the empire. Cobo writes of the Inca elite that “there was not a province in their entire kingdom where they did not have houses and royal palaces to say in when they visited the states.” (p 248) While part of the geographic definitions created by the Incas, the estates were also marked by mummy worship and thus existed as another religious foothold. This again emphasized the divine importance of the Inca themselves, and existed as a prime example of the inner workings of Inca cosmology.
Physical control over the landscape echoed the social control the Incas emanated. The closer to the Inca ruler, the more social worth an individual held. While few could hope to achieve the social status to gain an Inca bride, the redistribution of land and redefinition of the social system meant that pre-Inca village rulers often obtained a new level of status. The Incas placed socially privileged administrators to supervise those lands used to serve religious and state needs. Alternatively, new rulers were appointed by the Inca, and at other times a member of the Inca elite was sent to administer an area. The subjugation of land was only a secondary result enabled by the Inca subjugation of society. Whether this was accomplished through fear of punishment or awe of Inca divinity is less important than the fact that they were able to achieve within a small number of decades a deep respect from many of those they ruled over.
The Inca geography was kept in place with a legal system that severely limited the free movement of people. “The vassals were not permitted to move from one province to another on their own free will. In fact, all vassals had to reside in their towns; they could not leave or wander around or take trips through strange lands without permission from their caciques.” (p 196) Different kinship groups were identified with unique insignias that Inca law required members to wear at all times. Various reasons may have been given as to why anyone did move, from military service to a call to duty, and some may well have asked permission from their caciques (local leaders) to travel. The fact that laws were in place to control travel is a significant sign of how carefully the Inca administered land and moved people. In spite of the multitude of reorganization that took place during the Inca empire, most people still lived their lives within relatively small areas.
The descriptive accounts of Cobo hold great value in understanding the lives of Inca subjects. Some of his language needs to be interpreted carefully, such as references to the Inca rulers as the “crown” which is a distinctly monarchic European terminology. While his information is deeply useful, there are reservations as to Cobo’s conflicting interpretations of Inca tyranny. The Incas did not base wealth on personal enrichment and accumulation, an inference that can be drawn from Cobo’s text but yet is directly opposite of his interpretation. Underlying Cobo’s accounts of the Inca empire is a deep respect for their success in gaining and maintaining control in spite of a challenging physical geography and diverse populations.
The landscape was redefined within Inca cosmology and controlled by law so that communities lived within a geography clearly marked out physically, socially, and religiously. The Incas exhibited social control through tactics of fear of punishment and religious respect. Political control showed itself clearly in the resettlement of people and redefinition of land use. Economic stability was achieved through a vast tributary system of labor taxation to work that land allotted to state or religious purposes, as well as a system of roads and storehouses to move and distribute goods designated for religious and state purposes. The effects of Inca rule on their subjects was vast, with multiple purposes all aimed at controlling a large sphere of domain as effectively as possible.
REFERENCES:
Trans. Roland Hamilton, 1979. A History of the Inca Empire: An Account of the Indians’ Customs and Their Origin Together With a Treatise on Inca Legends, History and Social Institutions by Father Bernabe Cobo. Texas: University of Texas Press.
D’Altroy, Terence, 2002. The Incas. Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing.
