THE EARLY INCA PERIOD

By JoFlavius

Sican beer cup of hammered gold ca. 800-1370 C.E.

 

The rule of the Incas in Cuzco probably began about 1200 C.E. This period before they became a great military power is called Early Inca. At this time they were backward compared to the level of civilization on the North Coast. The earlier Sican people had already achieved a high level of technical, political and cultural sophistication. The Inca state also owed much to the Chimor long before the North Coast became part of the Incan Empire. Chimor may have been the principal model for the political organization of the Inca Empire.

In terms of material culture the Inca may have learned some mass production methods, metal working techniques, and some refinements in feather cloth making from the Chimor. A colony of North Coast workmen was established at Cuzco to work for the imperial government.

The title of Inca was not restricted to the ruler, but was given to any legitimate male descendant of the previous rulers. The Incas were a group of men related by blood that formed the ruling class.

Pachacuti, traditionally the nineth dynastic ruler, extended control throughout the southern highlands north of Cuzco, and took the lands of the Lupaqa. His successor, Topa Inca Yupanqui, incorporated both the highland and the central and north coast as far as Cajamarca and Quito. After a bitter battle in the Moche Valley, Topa Inca Yupanqui was finally able to defeat the Chimu. He took the Chimu Capac to Cuzco and incorporated the area into the Empire. Chimu Capac and most of the North Coast lords were allowed to keep their own estates, remaining the hereditary local nobility and kept a semblence of a court at Chan Chan, but essentially stripped of all power and wealth.

The Chimu ruler Minchancaman was taken to Cuzco where Topa Inca married him to one of his daughters. Minchancaman's son Chumun-caur was set up to govern in his father's place. The Inca wars were not campaigns of annihilation but wars of conquest. The native peoples were forced to give up arable land and submit to the authority of the Inca. The process of incorporating the conquered province into the empire developed an elaborate administrative and economic system. At it's greatest extent, the Inca Empire included 380,000 square miles of svannah, lakes, and forest.

Chimu feather cloth cape - Late Chimu period