Page 269 - Perú indígena y virreinal

the reigning structure. In the same way that each person was obliged to serve his community or “ayllu”, a part of his obligations consisted of going to war. The peasants did not serve their masters willingly, even less so when they did not share the ethnic identity of the oppressor. We have very clear references to the peasants’ lack of enthusiasm for such service, such as collective fleeing from the recruitment parties and other systems whereby the rulers obtained human resources for war.
By some time between the 13th and 15th Centuries, the regional states were fully formed, with some being really quite extensive, such as Chimu, which had conquered or brought under its dominion all the peoples between Zarumilla, to the north of Tumbes, and Chillón, to the north of the current city of Lima.
Significant achievements were made in terms of handicraft production. Archaeologists in general have observed a strong decline in the unique character and details of works of art. There is no doubt that the pottery items of the Moche Period were much better made than those of Chimu, whilst Nasca wakos present a rather unaccomplished form during the Ica or Chincha Periods. Paracas woven fabrics, virtuoso examples of this skill, were never equalled. Rather than signifying a decline in artistic endeavour, these changes marked the development of handicraft production techniques that made it possible to mass-produce pottery items through the use of moulds for all types of ceramic goods, as well as textiles through the extensive use of painting or techniques such as tapestry, which achieved beautiful decorated canvases within a model-based iconographic system. This phenomenon was associated with the growth of the urban population and the expansion of the élite classes, featuring the incorporation of groups other than the exclusive class of priests.
The skill of metal-working reached its peak, both in terms of technique and function. Since the days of Wari expansion, all the metal-working techniques had been known, but it was during this period that they were generally applied and perfected. Metal was not only used to create adornments and weapons, but also tools of production such as hoes for farming, knives (tumis), axes, chisels and burins.
This does not mean that there were no refined works. On the contrary, their production was associated with sophisticated technological achievements. There is no doubt as to the artistic value of many pottery pieces in different styles or the fabrics of Chimu, Chancay and Ica, although they were produced by the hundred. Furthermore, we might highlight the jewellery items for personal adornment and authentically exclusive items for wearing or decorating elegant enclosures.
THE TAWANTINSUYO EMPIRE
It was within the context described above that the Inca Empire emerged. One of the castes of chiefs, based in Cusco, managed to organize a successful economy with the well- established agricultural activities in the Vilcanota-Urubamba basin and a rich high- mountain cattle-breeding and agricultural system in the mountain ranges. All of this was combined with easy access to the Amazon towards the north and the east, and the high plateau of Titicaca towards the south. The former area covered by the Wari Empire constituted the Chinchaysuyo of the inhabitants of Cusco; the eastern jungle was known as Antisuyo, the region of Titicaca, Collasuyo, and the dry lands of the south, Contisuyo. They conquered the four suyos and it was for this reason that they called their empire Tawantisuyo “the land of the four regions”.
The Cusco state, like the rest of the Andean states of the period, began to be organized as such as of the 11th-12th Century, following the period of Wari domination. Strongly linked with Titicaca, in the same way as Wari and the entire Andean south, the new state established its origins there through the use of mythology, thus promoting the magical legitimization of the governing class—the Incas. The great sacred lake was known as the paq’arina (place of birth) of its founders and even its gods. Manko Qhapaq and his wife, Mama Oqllo, emerged from its waters in order to found Cusco on the orders of the Sun God (Inti). Furthermore, the Wari, their former oppressors, who were associated with the Chancas, were their historical enemies.
History relates that during the period in which the Incas kings had managed to establish a state of regional power around the area of Vilcanota, always besieged by their neighbours from Apurímac and Pampas (the Chancas), they were forced to face them in
a definitive war, which ended in victory for the natives of Cusco. That victory over the Chancas is considered to be the starting-point of the Empire, whose founder was the ninth Inca, known as Pachakuti. However, this event is shrouded in myth and legend, which means that the history of the Incas can easily be split into two stages: a legendary stage that ended with this episode, and a strictly historical stage that began with the reign of Pachakuti, a brilliant and almost mythological figure, whose leadership transformed the state of Cusco into an Empire. It matters little whether he was a real person—his mummy was captured by the Spanish in the 16th Century—who was endowed with a mythical image, or whether he was simply the symbol of the period. His reign initiated the most powerful economic and political organization in the Pre-Columbian American world.
The inhabitants of Cusco had not build up a state starting from scratch. They boasted a centuries-old tradition of urban order, which meant that they were able to apply all their accumulated experience to the needs of the new empire. Their conquests began with diplomatic treaties between states or power groups and ended with violent subjection if the treaties bore no fruits. In this manner, beginning in the 14th and early 15th Century, they conquered the Andes, from Los Pastos in Colombia to Los Picunches in Chile (to the south of Santiago), establishing their dominion over the lands that today belong to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, north-eastern Argentina and northern and central Chile.
One of the most outstanding aspects of Inca policy was the creation of the Qhapaq-ñan, a complex networks of roads that connected all the colonies throughout the empire with Cusco, managing to ensure a unique circulation of people and goods and to handle this traffic from Cusco. These roads crossed their territory from north to south and from east to west, featuring many less important connections. They took special care of this road network, both in terms of construction and maintenance. It was laid with stones and paved along extensive stretches, featuring bridges, tunnels and drainage systems for rain; it was filled in order to avoid excessive bumps, and, of course, offered a provision of services for walkers. These roads formed the fundamental basis for the existence of this empire, which some 5,000 kilometres long. They carried the treasures that imperial Cusco consumed, ranging from exclusive products from far-off lands to precious gold and magic coca. Walkers could stay at inns known as tambos located at intervals along the way, where in addition to obtaining food and rest they could find clothing, weapons and provisions.
The earth was the main source of wealth, although wealth did not simply depend on owning it, but on the capacity to make it productive. That was how collective ownership of the land was maintained, based on rural communities. In fact, the Andean environment, above all due to problems of access to water, even today requires collective working régimes, thus favouring this form of ownership and organization.
The ayllu, the family clan, was the owner and exploiter of the land. The State, in the same way as the ayllus, also possessed what were known as the “lands of the Sun” and “Inca lands”, which were exploited by means of its access to labour, to which it had a right as a form of tribute. In this manner the Incas were able to fully satisfy their needs and accumulate larger surpluses, given that with each conquest they incorporated new state lands and a larger number of workers. Thus, it was possible to maintain servants and officials, the king’s entourage, soldiers, etc. This wealth was stored in the state deposits, freely available for the rulers to exercise their power.
The state, for its part, was responsible for creating new and better lands everywhere, facilitating a life that offered a certain degree of security and equilibrium. This image of the Inca State has been excessively idealized, with the Tawantinsuyo Empire being called “socialist” or even “communist”; at the other extreme, others have condemned it for not even having gone beyond the condition of “Primitive Community”.
The Inca State was based on ownership of the labour force, in the same way as has occurred in all early forms of the state throughout the world. Its structure has led some historians to believe that the state is a recent phenomenon in Peru and that the Incas were the founders of the Peruvian State, that a community—that of the Incas—imposed itself on a world of Neolithic barbarians. This approach is also erroneous. The Andean state, as we can see, was an old and mature structure, not a weak and incipient one. The Incas not only established their state based on a long local tradition, but also conquered and subjected many other states that were as established as their own or even more established.
[ 276 ] ENGLISH TEXTS