The Incas, or more precisely, the Inca, are an Indian tribe belonging to the Quechua language family. The tribe appeared in the 11th century, gaining a foothold in the territory of modern Peru. In the 15th century The Incas created the state of Tawantinsuyu and began to occupy a dominant position in it. This is how one of the ancient civilizations of South America arose. The Inca civilization was one of the most highly developed; Their household items and decorations amaze with their unsurpassed beauty, and the people themselves – with their hard work, talent, courage and energy.

The Inca's possessions covered more than 4000 km 2. The empire stretched across the Andean mountains, and its central part was located on the second highest (after the Himalayas) mountain peak of the Andes. The territories of modern Ecuador and Peru, Northwestern Argentina and part of Bolivia at that distant time were part of one of the great empires of the world - the Inca Empire. The number of peoples inhabiting Tawantinsuyu reached 10 million people - that's almost 100 ethnic groups.

From archaeological research it is known that on the Pacific coast of modern Peru, and in the mountainous areas (from Ecuador to Lake Titicaca in South America), various cultures appeared, developed and died out. The Incas themselves were originally a pastoral tribe that wandered, moving from Lake Titicaca to the north. On their way (not far from the northern borders of Bolivia) they found monumental structures and a small group of impoverished people.

Some archaeological finds indicate that before the 6th century. n. e. A new culture appeared in Tiahuanaco, which reached its peak in the 7th century. Apparently, the coastal cultures of Peru also contributed to its development. For about 3 centuries, the culture of Tiawanaku was the most highly developed of all that existed at that time on the American continent. But then its decline occurred, the reasons for which are still not clear. Various hypotheses have been put forward regarding this: a strong earthquake, an epidemic, the expansion of other tribes, etc.

The Incas adopted much of Tiahuanaco's cultural heritage, particularly its magnificent architecture. So, about 20 km north of Lake Titicaca there is a high cliff, and under it is a monumental semblance of a pyramid. In addition, ancient sculptors recreated in stone almost the entire animal world of the Andes and the Amazon Valley. Archaeologists have found a sculptural figure of a shaman holding in his hand the severed head of a wild beast; statues of jaguars and fantastic beasts, such as a lizard with the head of a puma.

Birth of an Empire

Stopping in the Cusco Valley, the Incas founded a settlement here, which later became the capital of their empire. The settlement was founded by the Inca leader Manco Capac. He also became the first ruler. His title was called "Sapa Inca", and all the inhabitants of this territory began to call themselves Incas.

According to the beliefs of the Incas, the sun god Inti destined for them, his children, the great mission of turning representatives of semi-wild tribes into cultural (for their time) people. The ruler of Pachacuti especially succeeded in this. He was a fairly ambitious man, and luck was with him. Pachacuti, in addition to annexing many tribes to the empire, also spread the Inca religion and culture among them.

An ancient Indian legend tells that on two islands - Copti and Titicaca - the son of the sun, Inca Manca Capac, and the daughter of the moon, his sister Mama Oklo, were born. Their christening took place, and at it the sun god gave the brother and sister each a golden staff and sent them to the north. Having reached the first valley, the Inca tried the ground with his staff, but came across a stone. He went further and continued to stick the staff into the soil until it went deep into it. This happened in the Cusco Valley. Then the Inca called to him shepherds from the northern environs, and his sister went south and brought the rest. Together they built the main city of the empire, and in its very center they erected a temple of the Sun.

The next ruler, Tona Inca Yupanca, continued the work begun by Pachacuti, and as a result, one of the great civilizations appeared - the Inca Empire. Each of its new rulers adhered to a well-thought-out and effective system of government. When new lands were annexed to the empire, rulers left the conquered peoples with their leaders, local languages, and the ability to worship their gods. There was only one requirement: it was necessary to know the official language of Quechua, which was spoken only in Cusco. The Inca Empire was, perhaps, the only one in which relations between the peoples who inhabited it were built not on fear and violence, but on trust and cooperation.

At the peak of power

When the Inca Empire reached its height and power, the population of its main city of Cusco numbered about 20,000 people. The sacred place of Cusco was the main square, or rather its center. The Incas brought soil from all over the empire, symbolically mixed it and placed it in the center of the square. This act confirmed the equality and unity of all inhabitants of the vast empire. The highest achievement of both Incan architecture and fine art was the Temple of the Sun. Built of stone, it had gilded walls and a roof covered with gold slabs, and a spacious courtyard into which five main chapels opened. The first was the chapel of the sun god. Its front side was decorated with a huge golden disk, personifying the supreme deity and his governors on earth - the rulers of the Incas. The ceiling and walls were lined with pure gold. The nearby chapel was dedicated to the moon; accordingly, all its decoration was made of silver. The chapel intended for worshiping the stars was also made of silver, only the metal here was supplemented with precious stones. And finally, the fourth and fifth chapels were dedicated to the rainbow and lightning and were decorated with corresponding symbols.

The Incas were very skilled builders. Until now, the technology of their masons remains a sealed secret. In the same temple of the Sun, for example, slabs, not fastened with lime and laid one on top of the other, form high sloping walls. In the courtyard of the temple, a stone was found with very smooth walls and cylindrical holes drilled in it with a diameter of about 6 cm. This is all the more surprising considering that the Incas were not familiar with either steel or iron, i.e. those metals without which life is impossible. the profession of a modern mason.

There are practically no gaps between the stones from which the temples are built. Neither a needle nor the thinnest piece of paper can pass between them. The ability of the Incas to give stones complex geometric shapes is also striking. Thus, individual stones (their front part) formed polygons with twelve sides.

Other buildings in Cusco were just as perfect as the Temple of the Sun. However, there is a version, supported by archaeological research, that the Incas borrowed construction skills from their predecessors. For example, ritual and public buildings in the city of Tiahuanaco, erected (as chemical analysis showed) in the 1st century. n. e., are distinguished by monolithic masonry. Even though the individual blocks weighed about 100 tons, they were cut and fitted with amazing precision.

One of the legends tells that Tiahuanaco was built either by gods or giants. The most impressive is the Gate of the Sun, made from a single stone block. The lintel of the gate is decorated with the figure of an unknown deity (which, however, can be found in other areas of the Andes) with large round and bulging eyes and a halo of snakes and cat heads. The deity holds staffs in his hands, on the top of one of them is the head of a condor.

In addition to the stonemasons of Tiawanaku, the builders who lived in the territory of Huari were unsurpassed masters of their craft. Perhaps they were the closest predecessors of the Incas in terms of urban planning. Having in their arsenal only cobblestones and a bronze crowbar, they erected buildings that have survived to this day, having withstood earthquakes more than once.

At Wari, stones were made of the same size, but their upper and lower surfaces were different. So, the upper surface was slightly concave, and the lower, on the contrary, convex. And when the stones were stacked on top of each other, they held very firmly due to the fact that the upper stone entered the cavity of the lower one with its convex back surface. Thus, by order of Pachacuti, palaces and temples were built in Cuzco. They were erected on the site of the demolished huts of the previous settlement.

Social structure

The social structure of the Inca Empire was based on the principle of hierarchy. Each new ruler declared that he reigned by divine right, since he was a descendant of the sun god. The power of the Incas was hereditary. The Inca ruler, or emperor, had a harem of about a hundred concubines, but the empress - the coya - was chosen from among the ruler's sisters. In turn, the emperor chose his heir from the children and grandchildren of the Koyas.

In a number of cases, problems arose with inheritance. So, Pachacuti’s grandson, Huayna Capac, died of smallpox, without even officially becoming an heir. His own heir, Ninan Kuyuchi, also could not survive the epidemic. The survivors of Huascar and Atahualpa plunged the country into the abyss of civil war, which marked the beginning of the decline of the empire. As for the transfer of inheritance in everyday life, a man inherited from his father, and a woman inherited from her mother. Interestingly, succession to the throne did not automatically include inheritance of wealth. In this regard, the new emperor almost immediately set out on a campaign to conquer new lands and gain wealth.

For greater efficiency in government, all families in the Inca Empire were divided into groups consisting of ten families. Each of them chose a head, who reported to the heads of the groups, which already consisted of fifty families. Thus, groups appeared that included one hundred, five hundred or more families (their number could reach ten thousand). This system made it possible to effectively collect taxes, and in kind. These included food, various tools, weapons, clothing and shoes, and much more. All this was sent to warehouses (kamkas), and every day widows, orphans, sick and disabled citizens received everything they needed for themselves. Such an exchange (not only of knowledge and culture, but also of resources) allowed residents to feel protected and not be afraid of natural disasters.

A service of special inspectors was created to oversee the actions of local officials. No one knew where and when they would appear (these were people from among the noble Incas) to check the work of the local authorities. They were called tokoy-rikok, which translated means “those who see everything.”

Inca writing

The Incas did not have a written language; instead they used a quipu (literally “knot”) - a system of multi-colored laces with knots. All the necessary information was recorded in the bundles: the number of inhabitants of the empire (able-bodied and elderly), the amount of food (down to each grain barn) and much more. Woolen laces of different colors expressed different concepts. For example, red meant war or a warrior, white meant peace or silver, green meant corn, and yellow meant gold. One knot represented the number ten, two knots next to it represented twenty. The profession of the creators of the quipu (these people were called quipucamayocs) was very important in the Inca Empire, because the reliability of the entire state machine depended on the correctness of the recording. Kipukamajoki combined the qualities of an artist, a logistician and an accountant. How important the preservation and interpretation of statistical data was for the Incas is evidenced by the fact that the creators of the quipu enjoyed privileges, in particular they did not pay taxes, but at the same time they had a huge responsibility, since a mistake they made would lead to failure in work and provided for the death penalty as punishment.

Researchers have shown that the colored knots gradually developed into a complex three-dimensional writing system that resembled Braille for the blind. It turned out that the pile contains more than one and a half thousand individual characters. This is twice as much as the Egyptians and Mayans, and slightly more than the Sumerian-Babylonian writing. Mathematical research has shown that the quipu uses a binary system, reminiscent of the basis of a computer language.

Inca engineering art

The Incas created a whole network of roads with a total length of more than 240,000 km, which connected the most remote or inaccessible areas of the country. The mountain road through the Andes from Cusco to the current capital of Ecuador, Quito, is especially impressive. On wide highways, stations (tambo) were located at certain distances so that courier runners (chaski) could rest and refresh themselves. Hardy people were chosen for this in their youth. They had to be able to run quickly in the thin air of the highlands. The constant attributes of the couriers were headdresses with flowing feathers and a twisted sea shell. Chaska, approaching the place where the next courier was waiting for him, blew into the conch and ran for a while next to his replacement, who memorized the contents of the message. This is how this kind of relay race took place.

Agricultural production of the Incas

The Incas showed themselves to be unsurpassed masters in creating a system of irrigation canals. It had no equal in terms of length and efficiency. The Incan irrigation structures survived centuries. It should be noted that the Incas adopted the principles of field irrigation from the Chimuor people they conquered.

The city of Chan Chan, the capital of the kingdom of Chimuor, was one of the most beautiful in South America. It was home to more than 36,000 inhabitants. Chimuora artisans made gold items that can be recognized as genuine works of art. When the Incas annexed Chimuor to their empire, they adopted to a large extent the skill and talent of this people and, to a certain extent, became disciples of their subjects.

The Inca fields were terrace-like systems, which were fortified on the mountain slopes with stone bastions. The earth belonged to the Sun, the people and the emperor. A family Inca could claim a personal plot (tupa). A plot that belonged to the sun god could be allocated to a resident of the empire if he had an addition to his family. The land could not be sold; it was bequeathed only to children. The inhabitants of the empire cultivated the fields together. First of all, the lands of the sun god were subject to cultivation, then the lands of the poor, disabled, widows and orphans, then their own, and last but not least, the princely and royal allotments. In the same sequence, the harvest was collected and poured into public barns, which were divided into common ones and those belonging to the sun god. From the latter, bread was distributed to the army, officials and people performing public works. The part of the harvest that belonged to the sun god was associated with the costs of priestesses and priests. If the year was poor, the reserves of the sun god were used.

The common people did not have livestock; this was the privilege of the king and God. The Incas used llamas and alpacas as pack animals. The state itself took care of the animals. Thus, the Inca royal dynasty, like that of the ancient Egyptians and Chinese, was closely associated with agriculture.

Medicine

The Incas were good doctors. They achieved especially great success in surgery, in particular in such a field as neurosurgery. During archaeological excavations in Peru, surgical instruments were found that were intended for trephination, that is, for opening the skull.

Life of the Incas

In order for the inhabitants of the empire to feel protected from natural disasters, famine and other extreme situations, the rulers ordered them to lead a regulated lifestyle. This primarily meant that no one spent time in idleness, everyone worked for the good of the empire. Only elderly people over 50 years of age were exempt from taxation and labor service. Nevertheless, they also participated in public works to the best of their ability. For example, they looked after children, cooked food, prepared firewood, or did some other simple work.

The Incas were extremely clean people. This trait was manifested in everything, from the cleanliness of the cities themselves to the housing of every inhabitant of the empire.

The Incas had a special inspection that checked whether the owner of the house complied with the established standard of cleanliness. On a certain day an inspection was scheduled, and at that time the reed mat over the front door had to be raised. The inspector watched the woman prepare food, clean the house, do laundry and do any other work. The mistress of the house, who failed (in the opinion of the inspector) with her duties, was punished. In front of everyone watching, she had to eat all the dirt swept out of the house, and the owner had to drink the dirty water left after bathing all family members.

The Incas did not have divorces; all marriages they entered into were considered lifelong. This applied to both the nobility and the common people. The Incas did not have prisons, since any crime (violence, theft, robbery and other serious deviation from social norms) was immediately punishable by death.

The aristocratic part of society wore tunics: for women they were to the toes, for men they were to the knees. The tunic was tied at the waist with a belt with a heraldic sign. Sometimes the belt was replaced by a robe attached with pins. One of the main decorations of the Incas were large silver or gold discs that were worn in the earlobes. Their considerable weight pulled down the ears significantly.

Education

The Incas had a school in which not only the sons of the nobility studied, but also the young children of the rulers of the conquered kingdoms. She was in Cusco. Students learned oratory, military affairs, religion, and some sciences (for example, history, geometry). The training ended with exams, in which sixteen-year-old young people were subjected to quite difficult tests, demonstrating their knowledge, strength, dexterity and courage.

The exams lasted about thirty days. They took place in open areas, and everyone could watch their progress. The test involved a six-day fast (those fasting were allowed to consume only water and herbs), followed by a 7.2 km race. The next test consisted of the ability to stand motionless while the fencer inflicted thrusts and cuts on the subjects. In addition, there was a more severe test of strength, when strong blows were inflicted on their arms and legs with whips made of vines. These actions tested the graduates' ability to withstand any pain. Anyone who could not stand it, showing signs of suffering through facial expressions or gestures, was immediately expelled. There were often cases of serious injury and even death during the exams.

The culmination of the tests was the knighting of former students. The Inca ruler personally pierced the earlobes of the young men who knelt before him with a golden needle. Having received gold discs as signs of caste, young people (both the sons of the Incas and the sons of vassals - curacs) became representatives of the ruling class.

Girls were trained separately, this happened in monasteries. Special people ensured that the number of such girls in the empire reached a certain figure - no less than 15,000. Agents traveled to all regions of the country and, paying attention to the girl’s origin, her abilities and beauty, selected those suitable for training. Elderly mentors (mamakona) taught the pupils. Particular attention in the learning process was paid to the ability to dye fabrics and weave, since it was the girls who made thin fabrics (cumbi) from alpaca wool. These fabrics were used to make clothes for the emperor and his khoya.

Education at the monastery lasted 3 years, after which the emperor himself chose wives for himself and his nobles from among the pupils. Those of the girls who were not chosen became priestesses. They lived like noble ladies in houses in the main square near the Coraxanga temple in Cuzco and were respected by everyone.

Holidays

The Incas attached great importance to holidays. First of all, during these days the connection between the people and the emperor was strengthened. In addition, during such events, people got rid of accumulated emotions, and finally the holiday was presented to the people as a gift for their hard work and loyalty to the emperor.

The ruler himself presided over the holiday. Firstly, his responsibilities included providing all participants with food and drinks; secondly, the program included musical performances, dances, exhibition fights, religious events - all this took place under his patronage.

One of the indispensable components of the holiday was the reading of poems in different genres. These were religious poetry, love ballads (usually about unrequited love), and heroic tales (about exploits). All this was passed on from mouth to mouth, supplemented by vivid descriptions of valleys, mountain peaks and gorges. No less interesting was the musical performance, which consisted of dances (usually of a ritual nature), which were accompanied by mournful monotonous chants.

According to some sources, the Incas had about forty different dances. One of the most spectacular was the so-called jumping dance. It was performed by masked men, holding animal skins in their hands.

Inca music stood out primarily for its rhythmic diversity and richness. Hence they have a considerable number of different percussion instruments. These are large and small drums, as well as many flutes, representing a group of wind instruments. Flutes were made from animal bones or reeds, some were made from clay or condor feathers.

Particularly popular was the quena flute, carved from reeds and having eight finger holes. The musician alternately opened and closed them during the performance. In addition, the Incas often played flutes tied together.

In addition to flutes, the favorite instrument of the Incas were trumpets. There were even more of them than flutes, and they were made from wood, hollowed out gourds and sea shells.

The Incas held three festivals every month. The most important of them took place in December, the first month of the rainy season. It was called kopak raimi, i.e. “big holiday”. During it (it was celebrated in Cusco), a rite of passage took place to initiate young men into men. The holiday was so seriously and strictly revered that only the Incas remained in Cuzco, and everyone else (not the Incas) left the capital at this time. At the end of the ceremony, they returned to the city again and confirmed their loyalty to the throne through the rite of communion.

To appease the gods, the Incas made human sacrifices. As a rule, these were children. The victim was then mummified; researchers managed to find more than four hundred similar ritual burials.

In 1995, archaeologists discovered a well-preserved ritual sacrifice, its historical age was about 500 years. It was a girl of 12–14 years old. Anthropologists conducted a lot of research on her, as a result of which they were able to find out the state of health, the diet of the Incas and a number of other details. These findings were obtained for the first time because the victim was frozen, with internal organs preserved, and not a dried-out mummy, as previous findings were. Interestingly, ritual figurines and several bright feathers were located on the top of the Nevada-Sabancay volcano near Cabanaconde (Peruvian village), and the body itself was in the crater of the volcano. Another intriguing fact was that before setting off on a difficult expedition, the American scientist Johan Reinhard and his guide Miguel Zarata offered corn beer to the spirits of the mountains. The ancient ritual worked and brought good luck to the anthropologist.

The Incas mummified their deceased rulers and their khoya. The composition that they used for embalming has not yet been clarified. After mummification (wrapping in fabrics made from the highest quality cotton, impregnated with the appropriate composition), the mummies were dressed in elegant clothes.

There were special servants who looked after the mummies, fed and watered them. The mummies even “went” to visit each other (servants carried them on stretchers) and to the emperor, attended holidays and were the first to “make” toasts. Caring for mummies was carried out at the expense of the state and was quite ruinous. Gradually this custom ceased to exist.

Decline of the Empire

Scientific research has proven that there was no gold in the Andes, therefore, the Incas must have received it from other areas of the empire. And one of these provinces was the Amazon. Even before the arrival of the Incas, local tribesmen paved trails in the Amazonian lowland. The Incas connected them by building a network of roads that connected isolated and inaccessible areas.

A special feature of the Inca transport network was the presence of suspension bridges. They were made from ropes and woven mats and hung across rivers, gorges and chasms, some of which were up to 30 m wide. Some roads built by the Incas are still in use today. They are being restored and completed.

In addition to the various goods (tropical fruits, honey, colorful parrot feathers, etc.) that caravans consisting of numerous llamas brought to the Inca capital, the main product was gold. It was this that was the main reason why the main person in the Spanish campaigns of conquest, Francisco Pizarro, decided to personally undertake an expedition to South America to verify its existence.

Francisco Pizarro was a semi-literate military man. He participated in suppressing the rebellion of the Taino Indian tribe on the island of Hispaniola (now the Dominican Republic) and in Haiti. His first two attempts to enter the Incan lands ended in failure. But in 1527 he reached the city of Tulebes. Seeing temples decorated with precious metals, luxurious gardens with fresh flowers and their copies made of gold, Pizarro realized that the “golden land” was not fiction, but reality. He returned to Spain and told Charles V about the richest land, the simplicity and friendliness of its inhabitants. The king gave him the title of governor and captain-general of all the lands he would conquer in the future.

Pizarro recruited about 160 conquistadors. Charles V supplied them with muskets, crossbows, spears and cannons. In 1532, Pizarro and his team again arrived in the land of the Incas. Just at this time, a civil war broke out between Huascar and Atahualpa over the position of sapa inca (translated as “the only, unique Inca”). The Spaniards, even with such a small number, managed to defeat the Incas, weakened by civil strife and a smallpox epidemic.

Back in 1493, Columbus wrote about the cordiality and friendliness of the inhabitants of the New World: “They refuse nothing that you ask of them; on the contrary, they willingly share with everyone and treat everyone so kindly that they would be ready to give their hearts.” What a contrast with these lines about the character traits of the Incas are the intentions of the Spaniards as stated in the Requisition of 1509: “We will wage war against you with all the ways and means that we have; we will subject you to the church and its officials and force you to obedience; we will take you, your wives and children captive and enslave you!”

When Pizarro and a handful of adventurers first saw the thirty thousand Inca army, the Spaniards realized that they could not defeat them in open battle. Therefore, the conquistadors resorted to cunning. An agreement was reached that Atahualpa would greet the Spaniards as friends. But when the Great Inca, dressed in luxurious clothes sparkling with gold, accompanied by his military leaders, advisers and priests, came out to meet Pizarro, then, at a signal from the monk Valverde, the conquistadors jumped out of ambush, killed Atahualpa’s entire entourage, and captured the Inca himself.

In this terrible massacre, which Pizarro organized, 3,000 Incas were killed, and the rest fled in panic, because they saw that the one who was both king and god for them was taken prisoner. The Spaniards took advantage of the fact that Atahualpa’s retinue had no weapons, because a ceremonial meeting was being prepared.

Pizarro's team, meanwhile, did not lose a single soldier. The captive Atahualpa was kept in royal conditions, and in a short time he learned to speak Spanish. The smart Inca realized that gold was perhaps his only way to stay alive. He offered an unimaginable ransom for his life and freedom - a room measuring 7 by 6 m, which would be filled with gold just above the head of an adult.

The Incas were indifferent to gold in the sense that, unlike fabrics, it never had any material exchange value for them. They called gold “the sweat of the sun,” from which they made beautiful things, real works of art.

The Spaniards were amazed at such untold wealth. But with this proposal, Atahualpa signed his own death sentence: the Spaniards again broke their word, and as soon as the ransom was received, Pizarro sentenced the Inca to death - he was to be burned. Subsequently, the Spaniard replaced burning with death by hanging.

The Spaniards melted down the ransom for Atahualpa, eventually receiving over 6,000 kg of gold and almost 12,000 kg of silver. In the same way, by order of Charles V, all products made of precious metals made by Incan craftsmen were melted down. The Spaniards destroyed temples and palaces, and forced the inhabitants to work in mines and mines, lifting heavy objects high into the mountains. As a result, the country's population fell from 7 million to 500,000.

The surviving Incas, under the leadership of one of the last kings - Manco - went into the jungle and built the city of Vilcabamba there.

It consisted of three hundred relatively small residential buildings and sixty majestic structures made of stone; roads and canals were built in the city. Periodically, the Incas attacked their enslavers, striking their outposts. This continued until 1572. When the conquerors decided to deal with the surviving Incas and came to Vilcabamba, they saw only ashes instead of the city. Manco's three sons, who took turns ruling the city after their father's death, burned it down before leaving. The last Inca leader, Tupac Amaru, was captured by the Spaniards as they carried out their punitive expeditions, going deeper and deeper into the jungle. Tupac Amaru was beheaded in the main square in Cusco. So the Inca Empire ceased to exist.

On the ruins of former greatness

The descendants of the once great Inca Empire currently live in Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador. Their number is about 18 million people. Most of the inhabitants of these countries speak Quechua. Peruvians, Bolivians and Ecuadorians believe in the restoration of the former glory and power of the Incas. Schoolchildren in Peru know by heart all the rulers of the Inca Empire. Peruvians also believe that one of the sons of the sun, beheaded by the Spaniards Inkarr, according to legend, will return to them and restore their former civilization. Even foods that were once part of the Incan diet are now becoming more and more popular. These are amaranth, araksa, nynyas, oka, cherimoya, etc.

Tawantinsuya (“the land of four quarters,” as the Incas themselves called their domain) demonstrated the will and intelligence of its people, who created a highly developed civilization in less than a century. And this despite the fact that the Incas did not know wheeled vehicles or writing. The birth, development, flourishing and fall of the Inca Empire were like an explosion, the echo of which has survived to this day.

• Karanke. The capital of the province with the inns of the local governor, as well as the courts of the Inca, where permanent military garrisons with military leaders were located.

• Otavalo. Of secondary importance.

• Koceski. Of secondary importance.

• Muliambato. Of secondary importance are courtyards and warehouses. They obeyed the steward in Latacunga.
• Ambato.

• Urine. Large and numerous buildings.

• Riobamba, in the province of Puruaes.

• Kayambi.
• Teocahas. Small inns.

• Tikisambi. Main inns.

• Chan-Chan, in the Chimu Valley.

• Chumbo, province. Main inns. They served the Incas and their rulers.

• Tumbes, inns and large warehouses, with a steward, a military leader, soldiers and mitimayas.

• Guayaquil had a warehouse for the caciques and villages.

• Tambo Blanco. Inns.

• Solana, valley. Warehouses.

• Poechos, or Maikavilka, a valley with royal palaces, large and numerous inns and warehouses.

• Chimu, a valley with large inns and pleasure houses of the Incas.

• Motupe, a valley with inns and numerous warehouses.

• Hayanka, a valley with large inns and warehouses of the Incas, in which their rulers stayed.

• Guanyape Valley. Warehouses and inns.

• Santa Valley. Large inns and many warehouses.

• Guambacho Valley. Inns.

• Chilka, valley. It contained Incan inns and warehouses to support inspection visits to the provinces of the kingdom.

• Chincha, province. The Inca ruler was installed in the valley and there were luxurious inns for kings, many warehouses where food and military equipment were stored.

• Ica, a valley with palaces and warehouses.

• Nazca, a valley with large buildings and many warehouses.

• Chachapoyas, province. Large inns and warehouses of the Incas.

• Guancabamba, capital of the province.

• Bombon (Pumpu), capital of the province.

• Conchucos province. To obtain enough provisions for the soldiers and servants of the Inca, every 4 leagues there were inns and warehouses filled with everything necessary from what was available in these parts.

• Guaras, a province with inns, a large fortress, or the remains of an ancient structure similar to a city block.

• Tarama. Large inns and warehouses of the Incas.

• Akos, a village in the province of Guamanga. Inns and warehouses.

• Pike, inn.
• Parks, inns.

• Pucara, a settlement with Inca palaces and the Temple of the Sun; and many provinces came here with the usual tribute to present it to the steward authorized to monitor the warehouses and collect this tribute.

• Asangaro, inn.

• Guamanga city. Large inns.

• Wilkas. Geographical center of the Empire. The capital of the province with the main inns and warehouses. Inca Yupanqui ordered the construction of these inns, and his successors improved the buildings: Inca Tupac Yupanqui built for himself palaces and many warehouses, of which there were more than 700 for storing weapons, elegant clothes and maize. These inns served more than 40 thousand Indians.

• Soras and Lucanas, provinces. Inca residences, inns and ordinary warehouses.

• Uramarca. Inns with mitimayas.

• Andavailas, province. There were inns here before the arrival of the Incas.

• Apurimac, a suspension bridge over the river. There were inns nearby.

• Curaguasi, inn.

• Limatambo, inn.

• Jaquihaguana, the valley had luxurious and magnificent bedchambers for the entertainment of the Inca rulers.

• Cusco. Capital of the empire. In many places in this city and around it there were the main inns with warehouses of the Inca kings, in which the one who inherited the property celebrated his holidays.

• Pucamarca, an inn where mamakons and royal concubines lived, spinning and weaving exquisite clothes.
• Atun Kancha, similar to the previous one.
• Kasana, similar to the previous one.

• Yukai, a valley with a royal residence and inns.

• Quispicanche, inns on the Collasuyu road.

• Urcos, inns.

• Kanches, inns.

• Chaca, or Atuncana, provincial capital with large inns in the province of Canas, built by order of Tupac Inca Yupanqui.

• Ayyavire, the capital of the province with palaces and many warehouses where taxes were collected. Built and inhabited by the Mitimayas on the orders of Inca Yupanqui.

• Khatunkolya. The capital of the province of Collao with the main inns and warehouses. Before the Incas, it was the capital of the ruler of Sapana.

• Chucuito, provincial capital with large pre-Inca inns. They came under the rule of the latter, presumably under Viracocha Inca.

• Guacs, inns.

• Tiahuanaco, a small settlement with main inns. Manco Capac II, son of Vain Capac, was born here.

• Chuquiapo Valley. The provincial capital of the same name with the main inns.

• Pariah. The capital of the province with the main inns and warehouses.

• Chile, province. There were also many large settlements with inns and warehouses.

Ancient Inca civilization

At the turn of the XIV-XV centuries. The first empires arose on the Pacific coast and in the northern regions of the South American continent. The most significant of them was the Inca state. During its heyday, between 8 million and 15 million people lived here.

The term "Inca" denoted the title of the ruler of several tribes in the foothills of the Andes; this name was also borne by the Aymara, Huallacán, Quéuar and other tribes who lived in the Cusco valley and spoke the Quechua language.

The Inca Empire occupied an area of ​​1 million square meters. km, its length from north to south exceeded 5 thousand km. The Inca state, divided into four provinces around the city of Cusco and located in the vicinity of Lake Titicaca, included the territory of modern Bolivia, northern Chile, part of modern Argentina, the northern part of the modern Republic of Peru and modern Ecuador.

The supreme power in the state belonged entirely to Sapa Inca - that was the official name of the emperor. Each Sapa Inca built his own palace, richly decorated to his taste. The best artisan jewelers made for him a new golden throne, richly decorated with precious stones, most often emeralds. Gold in the Inca Empire was widely used in jewelry, but was not a means of payment. The Incas managed without money, since one of the main principles of their life was the principle of self-sufficiency. The entire empire was a huge subsistence economy.

Religion occupied an important place in the life of the Incas. Each population group, each region had its own beliefs and cults. The most common form of religious ideas was totemism - the worship of a totem - an animal, plant, stone, water, etc. with whom believers considered themselves related. The lands of the communities were named after the deified animals. In addition, the cult of ancestors was widespread. The deceased ancestors, according to the Incas, were supposed to contribute to the ripening of crops, the fertility of animals and the well-being of people. Believing that the spirits of ancestors lived in caves, the Incas erected stone mounds near the caves, whose outlines resembled human figures. Associated with the cult of ancestors is the custom of mummifying the corpses of the dead. Mummies in elegant clothes, with jewelry, utensils, and food were buried in tombs carved into rocks. The mummies of rulers and priests were buried especially magnificently.

The Incas erected their buildings from various types of stone - limestone, basalt, diorite and raw brick. The houses of ordinary people had light roofs made of thatch and tufts of reeds; There were no stoves in the houses, and the smoke from the hearth came out directly through the thatched roof. Temples and palaces were built especially carefully. The stones from which the walls were made were fitted so tightly to each other that binders were not required when constructing buildings. In addition, the Incas built fortresses with numerous watchtowers on the mountain slopes. The most famous of them rose above the city of Cusco and consisted of three rows of walls 18 m high.

In their temples, the Incas worshiped a whole pantheon of gods, who had a strict chain of command. The highest of the gods was considered Kon Tiksi Viracocha - the creator of the world and the creator of all other gods. Among those gods whom Viracocha created were: the god Inti (golden Sun) - the legendary ancestor of the ruling dynasty; the god Ilyapa is the god of weather, thunder and lightning, to whom people turned with requests for rain, for Ilyapa could make the waters of the Heavenly River flow to the earth; Inti's wife, the goddess of the Moon, is Mama Kilja. The Morning Star (Venus) and many other stars and constellations were also revered. In the religious ideas of the ancient Aztecs, a special position was occupied by the extremely ancient cults of the earth mother - Mama Pacha and the sea mother - Mama Cochi.

The Incas had many religious and ritual festivals associated with the agricultural calendar and the life of the ruling family. All celebrations were held in the main square of Cusco - Huacapata (Sacred Terrace). Roads diverged from it, connecting the capital with four provinces of the state. By the time the Spaniards arrived, three palaces towered in Huacapata Square. Two of them were turned into sanctuaries. When an Inca ruler died, his body was embalmed and the mummy was left in his palace. From that time on, the palace became a sanctuary, and the new ruler built himself another palace.

The ensemble of temples of Qorikancha (Golden Court) is considered the highest achievement of Inca architecture. The main building of the ensemble was the temple of the Sun God - Inti, where
There was a golden image of God, decorated with large emeralds. This image was placed in the western part, and it was illuminated by the first rays of the rising sun. The walls of the temple were entirely covered with gold sheets. The ceiling was covered with wood carvings, the floor was covered with carpets stitched with gold threads. The windows and doors were studded with precious stones. Several chapels adjoined the Temple of the Sun - in honor of thunder and lightning, the rainbow, the planet Venus, and the main one - in honor of the Moon (Mama Quilla). The image of the Moon in the Inca Empire is associated with the idea of ​​a woman, a goddess. Therefore, the chapel of Mama Killa was intended for the coyma - the wife of the Inca ruler, only she had access to this chapel. The mummies of the rulers' dead wives were also located here. In the Chapel of the Moon, all the decorations were made of silver.

Various crafts among the Incas reached their highest peak. The Incas mastered mining quite early and mined copper and tin ore in mines to make bronze, from which axes, sickles, knives and other household utensils were cast. The Incas could smelt metal, knew the techniques of casting, forging, chasing, soldering and riveting, and also made products using the cloisonné enamel technique. Chroniclers reported that the Inca craftsmen made a golden ear of corn, in which the grains were golden, and the fibers surrounding the cob were made of the finest silver threads. The pinnacle of Inca jewelry was the image of the Sun God in the Temple of the Sun in Cusco in the form of a huge golden solar disk with a skillfully minted human face.

The gold wealth of the Incas reached its apogee during the reign of Huayna Capac. He's giving orders! cover the walls and roofs of their palaces and temples with sheet gold; There were many golden animal sculptures in the royal palace. During the ceremonies, 50 thousand. warriors were armed with golden weapons. A huge portable golden throne with a cape of precious feathers was placed in front of the residence palace.

All this was plundered by conquistadors from the expedition of Francisco Pissaro. The works of jewelry were melted down into ingots and sent to Spain. But much remains in hiding and has not yet been discovered.

According to researchers of Inca culture, their empire died largely because of religion. Firstly, the religion approved the ritual in which the ruler chose a successor from among his sons. This led to an internecine war between the brothers Huascar and Atahualpa, which significantly weakened the country before the invasion of the Spanish conquistadors led by Pizarro. Secondly, there was a legend among the Incas that in the future the country would be ruled by new, unfamiliar people who would conquer the empire and become its only rulers. This explains the fear and hesitation of the Incas before the Spanish conquistadors.

Sociology

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Inca civilization

INCA CIVILIZATION , formed in the 16th century. in areas adjacent to the Pacific coast of South America (Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, part of Argentina and Chile).
Initially, the word “Inca” meant the Indians who lived in the capital of Cusco and spoke the Quechua language. The Spaniards called all the peoples that were part of the Inca state this way. It was called Tauantinsuyu ("four cardinal directions") and consisted of 4 parts: Chinchasuyu (northwest), Kolyasuyu (south), Kuntisuyu (west) and Antisuyu (east). The parts were divided into provinces, and those into districts. Each unit was headed by a governor. The country was united by a network of roads.

Inca civilization. Golden mask. 13 - beginning 14th century

The history of the Incas is divided into 2 periods: legendary (12th century.

Inca Empire

1438) and the imperial period (1438-1533). Their official history is largely legendary and closely intertwined with myths. During the legendary era, 7 rulers changed: Manco Capac, Sinchi Roca, Lloque Yupanqui, Maita Capac, Capac Yupanqui, Inca Roca and Yahuar Huacac. The 8th ruler was Viracocha. His reign is a transitional period from legendary history to historical history. Pachacutec, who ruled after Viracocha (from about 1438), subjugated neighboring communities and laid the foundation of a great empire.

Traditional Inca costume

Supreme power was inherited. The supreme ruler was the Sapa Inca. Close relatives, Incas by blood, were a serious political force. Community members in Tawantinsuyu united into clan groups - the foundation of the political system of the empire. Temple and palace servants, settler colonists, and artisans (coppersmiths, tanners, jewelers, potters, and priests who interpreted the knotted quipu script) were excluded from the communal system.
The basis of the economy was agriculture. Cattle breeding was developed in the highlands: llamas, alpacas, vicuñas and guanacos were bred. These animals were used as pack animals (for transporting goods), their meat was used for food, and fabrics were made from wool. Root crops were grown a little lower. Maize (corn) was sown in the fertile valleys. Due to the lack of fertile land in the valleys, terrace farming was practiced on the mountain slopes.

Craftsmen were skilled in cold processing of meteorite iron and made products from gold, lead, copper, and tin. Jewelry, figurines of people and animals were made from precious metals. Fabrics were considered the most valuable products; the Incas reached great heights in their production. Taxes were collected in kind. A third each went to the Sapa Inca (state), the gods and the producers themselves. Education depended on social status. Children of the nobility studied theology, history, mathematics, geography, engineering, and economics in special institutions. The children of the community members learned from their parents and elders.

In the era of the empire, 3 gods of the sky were considered the main ones: the creator god of the Universe (Viracocha and others had many incarnations), the sun god Inti and the thunder god Ilyapa. The main female deity (Mama Kilja - the wife of the Sun god) was associated with the Moon. The ruling Inca was considered the embodiment of the Sun, and his wife the embodiment of the Moon. Ancestors were revered (the Incas worshiped their mummies, which were kept in special rooms).
In 1532, the Spaniards, led by F. Pizarro, invaded the territory of the Incas, occupied Cuzco in 1533 and soon, using the discontent of the Indian tribes conquered by the Incas, took possession of the entire empire. The Incas conquered by the Spaniards later joined the Quechua.

Inca civilization

Quechua, the language of the Incas, is very distantly related to the Aymara language spoken by the Indians who lived near Lake Titicaca. It is not known what language the Incas spoke in before Pachacutec elevated Quechua to the rank of the state language in 1438.

Inca culture

Thanks to a policy of conquest and resettlement, Quechua spread throughout the empire, and is still spoken by the majority of Peruvian Indians to this day.

Agriculture.

Initially, the population of the Inca state consisted mostly of farmers who, if necessary, took up arms. Their daily life was governed by the agricultural cycle, and under the guidance of experts, they turned the empire into an important center for plant cultivation. More than half of all foods currently consumed in the world come from the Andes. Among them are over 20 varieties of corn and 240 varieties of potatoes, camote (sweet potatoes), zucchini and pumpkin, various varieties of beans, cassava (from which flour was made), peppers, ground nuts and quinoa (wild buckwheat). The most important agricultural crop of the Incas was the potato, which could withstand extreme cold and grow at altitudes of up to 4600 m above sea level. By alternately freezing and thawing potatoes, the Incas dehydrated them to such an extent that they turned them into a dry powder called “chuño.” . Corn (sara) was grown at altitudes up to 4100 m above sea level. and was consumed in various forms: cheese on the cob (choklo), dried and lightly fried (kolo), in the form of hominy (mote) and made into an alcoholic drink (saraiyaka, or chicha). To make the latter, women chewed corn kernels and spat the pulp into a vat, where the resulting mass, under the influence of salivary enzymes, fermented and released alcohol.

At that time, all Peruvian tribes were at approximately the same technological level. The work was carried out jointly. The main tool of the farmer's labor was the taklya , a primitive digging stick - a wooden stake with a burnt tip for strength.

There was arable land, but not in abundance. Rain in the Andes usually falls from December to May, but dry years are not uncommon. Therefore, the Incas irrigated the land using canals, many of which indicate a high level of engineering. To protect soils from erosion, terrace farming was used by pre-Inca tribes, and the Incas improved this technology.

The Andean peoples practiced predominantly sedentary agriculture and extremely rarely resorted to slash-and-burn agriculture, common among the Indians of Mexico and Central America, in which areas cleared of forest were sown for 1–2 years and abandoned as soon as the soil was depleted. This is explained by the fact that the Central American Indians did not have natural fertilizers, with the exception of rotten fish and human excrement, while in Peru, coastal farmers had huge reserves of guano, and in the mountains llama (taki) dung was used for fertilizer.

These camelids are descended from wild guanacos, which were domesticated thousands of years before the Incas. Llamas tolerate high mountain cold and desert heat; they serve as pack animals, capable of carrying up to 40 kg of cargo; they provide wool for making clothes and meat - it is sometimes dried in the sun, called “charki”. Llamas, like camels, tend to defecate in one place, so their manure can be easily collected to fertilize fields. Llamas played an important role in the formation of settled agricultural cultures in Peru.

Social organization. Ilyu. At the base of the social pyramid of the Incan empire was a type of community - the aylew. It was formed from family clans that lived together on the territory allocated to them, owned land and livestock together, and divided the harvests among themselves. Almost everyone belonged to one community or another, was born and died in it. Communities were small and large - up to an entire city. The Incas did not know individual land ownership: the land could only belong to the aylyuili, and later, to the emperor and, as it were, leased to a member of the community. Every autumn there was a redistribution of land - plots increased or decreased depending on the size of the family. All agricultural work in the aylyu was carried out jointly.

At the age of 20, men were supposed to get married. If the young man himself could not find a mate, a wife was selected for him. In the lower social strata the strictest monogamy was maintained, while representatives
The ruling class practiced polygamy.

Some women had the opportunity to leave the ailya and improve their situation. We are talking about “chosen ones” who, for their beauty or special talents, could be taken to Cuzco or to the provincial center, where they were taught the art of cooking, weaving or religious rituals. Dignitaries often married the “chosen ones” they liked, and some became concubines of the Inca himself.

State of Tawantinsuyu. The name of the Inca Empire, Tawantinsuyu, literally means “four connected cardinal directions.” Four roads left Cuzco in different directions, and each, regardless of its length, bore the name of the part of the empire to which it led. Antisuya included all the lands east of Cuzco - the Eastern Cordillera and the Amazonian jungle. From here the Incas were threatened by raids from tribes they had not pacified. Continsuyu united the western lands, including the conquered cities of Costa - from Chan Chan in the north to Rimac in Central Peru (the location of present-day Lima) and Arequipa in the south. Collasuyu, the largest part of the empire, extended south from Cuzco, covering Bolivia with Lake Titicaca and parts of modern Chile and Argentina. Chinchasuyu ran north to Rumichaka. Each of these parts of the empire was ruled by an apo, related by blood to the Inca and answerable only to him.

Decimal administrative system. The social and, accordingly, economic organization of Inca society was based, with certain regional differences, on a decimal administrative-hierarchical system. The accounting unit was purik - an adult capable man who has a household and is able to pay taxes. Ten households had their own, so to speak, “foreman” (the Incas called him a pacha-kamajok), a hundred households were headed by a pacha-kuraka, a thousand were headed by a malku (usually the manager of a large village), ten thousand were headed by a provincial governor (omo-kuraka), and ten the provinces made up a “quarter” of the empire and were ruled by the apo mentioned above. Thus, for every 10,000 households there were 1,331 officials of various ranks.

Inka. The new emperor was usually elected by a council of members of the royal family. Direct succession to the throne was not always observed. As a rule, the emperor was chosen from the sons of the legal wife (koya) of the deceased ruler. The Inca had one official wife with countless concubines. Thus, according to some estimates, Huayna Capac had about five hundred sons alone, who happened to live under Spanish rule. The Inca appointed his offspring, who made up a special royal ailya, to the most honorable positions. The Inca Empire was a true theocracy, since the emperor was not only the supreme ruler and priest, but also, in the eyes of the common people, a demigod. In this totalitarian state, the emperor had absolute power, limited only by custom and fear of rebellion.

5 Art of American Civilizations

Report: Inca Empire

Another great state of pre-Columbian America was the Inca Empire, or, as the Incas themselves called their country, Tawantinsuyu or “Land of the Four Parts.” The latter name is due to the fact that the country was divided into four provinces: Kuntinsuyu, Collasuyu, Antisuyu and Chinchasuyu with the capital in the city of Cusco. The founding of the country is attributed to the legendary Inca Manco Capac. The word “Inca” itself never referred to the name of the tribe; it only denoted the ruler of the state. Under his successors, the territory of the state constantly expanded, especially when a regular army was created under Yaruara Huacaca.

When conquering a state or city, the Incas resettled other tribes on their territory, due to which the national element, which could lead to a war of liberation, disappeared. In the conquered territories, the state language of the Incas, Quechuan, was introduced without fail, which also contributed to the unity of the huge country. The symbol of the country's power was the city of Cusco, one of the most beautiful cities in the world, on whose territory there were hundreds of palaces and temples. The main square in the city was Huacapata Square (sacred terrace), from which roads departed to the four main provinces of the country. There were also palaces there, one of which had an area of ​​30 by 160 meters. The wealth of the Inca rulers can be judged by the fact that when the old Inca emperor died, his body was embalmed and placed in the palace, which from now on became a sanctuary. His successor had to build a new palace for himself. No European ruler could afford such luxury. But the most striking thing with its magnificence was the temple complex of Cusco Coricancha (golden courtyard). Its main building was the temple of the sun god Inti, in which there were a huge number of tons of gold alone. Golden windows, doors, walls, roofs, floors, ceilings, and religious objects amazed people. The center of the temple was a multi-meter disk made of pure gold, symbolizing the Sun God. Near the temple there was a courtyard called Intipampa (golden field), on which there were trees, plants and herbs made of gold, deer, butterflies, shepherds, etc. Moreover, all this was made in life-size and everything moved (!) with the help of the most skillful mechanisms . It truly was a miracle unparalleled in the world. No less proud of the empire were its roads, which were no inferior to modern highways. One of these roads was 5,250 kilometers long - the longest highway in the world until the beginning of the 20th century. The roads were up to 7.5 meters wide, and in some places were located at an altitude of 5160 meters above sea level. Inns with warehouses were built on the roads at a certain distance from each other.

Stone statues of Easter Island. Chile

The Incas also had a state post office, which, you see, looks almost fantastic. Despite these magnificent achievements, the Incas did not know either the wheel or writing. However, they had writing, but in the form of a “knot letter”: the threads in this knot indicated either gold - a yellow rope, or a soldier - red, etc. Numbers were indicated by knitting a certain number of knots. However, this did not interfere with the development of science and poetry. The life of the Incas was unthinkable without religious rituals, which, like the Aztecs, were characterized by incredible cruelty. A “caste” of professional priests, headed by a high priest, was responsible for performing the rituals. The gods of the Incas were Inti - God of the sun, Mama Kilya - Goddess of the moon, Mama Pacha - Goddess of the earth, Mama Kochi - Goddess of the sea, etc. Each of these gods was dedicated to a special holiday, of which there were a year (for the Incas the year was also equal to 365 days) exorbitant amount.

Relief on the Gate of the Sun in Tiahuanaco.

The Incas. Reconstruction

During each of them, thousands of people were thrown onto the altar, whose blood flowed in rivers from the altars of the insatiable gods. Moral values ​​were also trampled upon, ultimately reduced to zero. Religious fanaticism and cruelty, combined with depravity, corroded the outwardly brilliant empire from within, like rust. On November 15, 1532, a detachment of Spanish conquistadors led by Pizarro, crossing the Andes, entered the land of the Incas. The history of the collapse of the Aztec state completely repeated itself. Taking advantage of the strife that began among the Incas in the struggle for the throne, Pizarro with a small handful of people defeated the greatest empire, which soon turned into a Spanish colony.

Inca rulers:

1. Manco Capac (1150)

2. Sinchi Roka

3. Lloque Yupanqui

5. Capac Yupanqui

21. General characteristics of the Inca culture.

Inca Rock

7. Yaruar Huacac

8. Viracocha Inca

9. Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (1438-1471)

10. Tupac Inca Yupanqui (1471-1493)

11. Huayna Capac (1493-1527)

12. Huascar (1527-1530)

13. Atahualpa (1530-1532)

Like the idol with clay feet from the book of the prophet Daniel, the Inca Empire looked menacing and majestic, but if we take a closer look, we will see that its base, like the idol’s, was made of clay. Built on false religion, cruelty and debauchery, the Inca Empire collapsed, leaving behind pitiful, degraded tribes of unfortunate people who did not know how to sew clothes, shoot archery, or build on their own.

Truly, without God there is no future, no life itself!

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The Inca Empire existed for a relatively short time from the beginning of the 15th century. until 1532ᴦ., when the country was captured by the Spanish conquerors. The Incan writing system has not been fully deciphered. The capital was the city of Cusco, famous for its Golden Garden (perhaps the craftsmen who created it were from the Chimu people).

The architecture is simple and unadorned. Temples, dwellings, and fortresses are made of huge blocks of stone (up to 350 tons in weight) very precisely fitted to each other, but not held together with binding mortars (Sacsahuaman fortress).

The houses had strong stone walls and cramped interior spaces. Most houses have no windows and are lit through doors. According to travelers' descriptions, the buildings were originally decorated with wide belts of thick gold plates. The use of precious metals not as money, but as a decorative material, was characteristic of the Incas. For example, in the Temple of the Sun in the city of Cusco, several rooms are decorated with images of the Sun, Moon, rainbow and stars made of gold, silver and precious stones. Unlike Central America, the Incas built pyramids up to 40m high. not for temples, but for burials. Trapezoidal entrances and niches are characteristic features of Incan architecture.

Stone sculpture received almost no development among the Incas.

The art of making and painting ceramics has been developed. It is conventionally divided into several periods. In the first period, the vessels depict scenes of battle, fishing, and mythological subjects. In the second period, the paintings practically disappear, but the vessels themselves turn into real sculpture. Most often, the vessels were made in the shape of a person’s head, sometimes conveying individual features.

Later, vessels appear in the form of animals, fruits and plants.

The main food of the Incas was potatoes (including canned ones), corn, and pumpkins. The Incas grew coca, a narcotic plant. In the empire there was a clear division of the population into the elite and the bulk of the inhabitants. According to the law, the Inca (ruler of the empire) married his sister, who became his legal wife and, as a rule, the mother of the heir. In addition to his main wife, he had a harem and could live with any of the nuns of the monasteries, since he was the incarnation of the Sun God on Earth. The heir was appointed during the life of the ruler by the ritual of public hair cutting. The future heir helped his father and learned management. There were 10 age groups of the population, each of which had certain rights and responsibilities. Group 1: infants. Group 2: children under 2 years old. Group 3: children playing. Group 4: children 9-12 years old. Group 5: teenagers 12-18 years old. Group 6: 18-25 years old - serving in the army. Group 7: 25-50 years old – married and running a household.

Group 8: 50-80 years old – old people. Group 9: 80 years and older - deaf old people. Group 10: patients.

There were no uprisings in the state. This social system provided security for old age. In this regard, it is sometimes called “Indian socialism”. There was no money in the empire, only natural exchange on the market. Gold is used as decoration. The army is well trained and equipped (clubs with stone or metal ends). There were excellent roads and a post office. The messengers ran from parking lot to parking lot for about two kilometers; as a result of the relay race, 2000 km were covered in 3 days. The Incas composed poems that were later written down by the Jesuits.

Inca culture

The knotted quipu script is widespread, in which one can count up to 1,000,000. The nobility studied at universities for 4 years, where they studied the Quechua language, solar religion, knotted quipu script, history and military affairs. The Incas wove dense fabrics with a density of 80´45 threads/cm (modern parachute fabric has a density of 60´30 threads/cm). Οʜᴎ performed operations, incl. and craniotomy.

The last Inca was called Tupacu Omaru.

Additional information.

The oldest cultures of Peru date back to the 3rd millennium BC.

Close to ᴦ. Lima There was a culture at that time whose representatives did not know about the existence of metals, but erected clay and stone temples on artificial platforms.

The Temple of the Crossed Hands is famous. Later, this gesture-sign is found in Colombia.

Culture Chavin, associated with the cult of the Jaguar, was widespread at the end of the 2nd - middle of the 1st millennium. BC.

Culture Nazca(mid-2nd century BC) correlates with the valleys of the Ica, Pisco and Nazca rivers. Here the “wooden Stonehenge of Peru” was found – the Escuquería sanctuary. It consists of hundreds of dried mesquite tree trunks. The center of the composition is a square formed by 12 rows of 12 columns each. Giant images found in the Nazca Desert. Gallery of Pampa de Nazca - platforms, lines, spirals, human and animal ʼʼfigurasʼʼ (geoglyphs). The head of a giant bird (120m long) is directed towards the point of sunrise on the winter solstice. According to M. Stingle, the Indians buried the deceased using a triangular-shaped balloon. At sunset, the deceased was placed in a wicker basket, the balloon rose above the sea and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Culture Mochika(I-VII centuries BC) left behind the pyramids of the Sun and Moon. In Pampa Grande. The Pyramid of the Sun has a base of 342´159 m. Gold products are unique. We have reached the legend of the existence of a golden garden and eyewitness accounts of a room with five thousand golden butterflies, each of which weighed less than a gram and hovered in the air with slight fluctuations in the air. The butterflies were melted by the conquerors. As a result, they received 4 kg 700 ᴦ. pure gold. Around Lake Titicaca, many chulpas have been found - funeral towers of rectangular and cylindrical shape, extended upward.

According to legend, the founder of the Chimu culture sailed to Peru from the north with his detachment on rafts. His name was Naimlan. ʼʼNaiʼʼ means ʼʼbirdʼʼ or ʼʼflightʼʼ. Chimu built the city of Chan-Chan with an area of ​​18 square meters. km. The city is surrounded by two rows of defensive walls and divided into 10 quarters 450´300 m. In many respects, the customs that reigned in the Chimu state differed little from the customs of the 25th century. Inc. In the 1460s. Two cultures collided - the coastal Chimu culture, which worshiped the Moon, and the mountainous Inca culture, which worshiped the Sun. The victory remained for the second. Clay reliefs depicting birds, fish, lizards, foxes, and ornaments have been preserved from the Chimu culture. Since ancient times, the supreme deity in Peru has been depicted framed by a snake arch, surrounded by predators. The arch symbolized the rainbow, the Milky Way, thunder, and the firmament.

Culture Olmec- one of the cultures of ancient Mexico. San Lorenzo, the capital of the Olmecs, was abandoned for unknown reasons in 900ᴦ. The second capital of the “jaguar” Indians was La Venta. Huge stone heads have been found at La Venta.

Tribes Chol and Tzeltal They left in Palenque (Mexico) a famous ensemble in which the palace tower, a 4-story building, was also an observatory.

The Toltec culture is interesting. The Pyramid of the Morning Star in Tula (Tollan) has been preserved.

The peoples conquered by the Incas for the most part belong to the same civilization, the geographical contours of which can be defined quite clearly. The region that archaeologists call the "central Andes" includes the coast, mountains and Amazonian foothills of modern Peru, the highlands of Bolivia and the far north of Chile. On the west it is bounded by the Pacific Ocean, on the east by the Amazon forest. Its northern boundary coincides with the Tumbes River (near the modern border between Peru and Ecuador), a line of changes in the rain regime (equatorial in the north, tropical in the south) and a depression in the mountain range. This ecological boundary is duplicated by a geographic barrier: 400 kilometers of forested tropical mountains and rugged terrain separate Cajamarca, in northern Peru, from Ecuadorian Loja. On the coast, 200 kilometers of desert separate the Lambayeque Valley from the Piura Valley (northern Peru). At the southern borders of the central Andes, the upper plateaus, which continue the Lake Titicaca basin to the south, smoothly transform into huge salty expanses, almost uninhabited, which on the Pacific coast end up with the vast Atacama Desert. The Bolivian Cochabamba Valley, already separated from the upper plateau by three hundred kilometers of mountains, is also isolated from the regions located just to the east by the extremely inhospitable Bolivian mountain range.

These borders did not become an obstacle to cultural, economic and even political relations. Trade between the Andes and, for example, the Amazon has always been intense, and in some places the Incas extended their dominance to the upper Amazon. These boundaries rather define territories with quite different geographical conditions, where it is possible to develop different ways of organizing life. The Spaniards very quickly grasped these geographical and cultural coincidences. They gave the area we identified just above the name “Peru” - after the name of the southern Colombian or Ecuadorian section of the coast, which one of the expeditions first became acquainted with in the 1520s - clearly contrasting it with the “provinces of Quito”, corresponding to modern Ecuador ( which is part of the northern Andes), and "Chile", the territory of the Mapuche Indians (which is part of the southern Andes). It is in this sense that the word “Peru” will be used here; only the two Amazonian thirds of the modern Republic of Peru are excluded from it and, conversely, the highlands of the modern Republic of Bolivia and northern Chile are added to it. With the exception of the upper southern plateaus, the central Andes are a fragmented, heterogeneous area. Coastal valleys alternate with deserts several tens of kilometers long. Andean valleys are often very narrow, even tiny, and, again, isolated from one another by steep slopes or almost insurmountable mountain chains.

Regions of production

In the central Andes, a traveler moving from the ocean to the Amazon forest can discover a huge variety of ecosystems living in a space of 200 km. Such diversity and proximity of different dwellings and settlements is not found anywhere else in the world and is determined by extremely original forms of economic and social organization. The Peruvians distinguished (and continue to distinguish) three main types of spheres and regions of production, which are distributed along the vertical axis. In the Quechua language, the term yunkan refers to the hot, humid lands that stretch from one part of the Andes to the other between 1500 and 2800 m (depending on the location) above sea level. Temperate mountain valleys, which in some regions rise to 3500 m - the upper limit of maize cultivation - received the name Quechua. High mountain treeless savannas located at an altitude of 3000 or 3500 m to 4800 or 5200 m are called navel. Frosts here make all irrigation useless. At an altitude of about 5000 m, the puna gives way to rocky formations, above which rise snow-capped peaks and glaciers, and all vegetation of which is limited to lichens and moss. The height of several dozen mountain peaks exceeds 6000 m.

Between the sands of Atacama and Piura, the coast of South America is a desert strip where, with the exception of light winter drizzle, it never rains. Rivers descending from the Andes form oasis valleys there, separated by distances of 20-60 km. Very narrow in the south, wider but shorter in the center, these valleys are wide and deep in the north, where they harbored some of the most complex and brilliant societies of ancient Peru. Over many millennia, the inhabitants of the coast developed a gigantic network of irrigation canals, which allowed them to grow maize, cotton, gourd and bottle gourd. Above 300 m, where it is hottest, coca (which is an aphrodisiac and dulls the feeling of hunger), capsicums and fruit trees: annona, avocado, guava and paca were grown. Extremely rich in plankton, the cold waters washing the coast amaze with the diversity of marine fauna, thanks to which these places are home to huge flocks of fishing birds, whose droppings (guano) have been used as fertilizer since ancient times. The eastern foothills of the Andes were not as densely populated as the coast and highlands, but were of great economic interest to the highlanders, who established settlements there, growing coca, cotton, pumpkins, peppers, peanuts and avocados. From these plants they extracted resin and incense, and also used them as medicines.

The greatest concentration of mountain populations was observed in the temperate zone, Quechua, between 2500 and 3500 m, where the natives cultivated maize, beans, quinoa, as well as root vegetables and tarui (the legume family). Thanks to irrigation, these farmers long ago learned to lengthen the agricultural season and smooth out the inconvenience caused by weather variability. Under the Incas, thousands of kilometers of canals were built, adding to those built by previous states. They have increased the number of irrigated terraces everywhere, since the temperate zone is located mainly on slopes and cannot be properly exploited without significant landscaping work.

The navels are steppes covered with all kinds of grasses and cacti that occupy most of the territory of the central Andes. It is home to representatives of the deer family (luichu and taruca), rodents, the chinchilla family (viscacha), wild camels (vicuna) and predators (for example, foxes or pumas). A wide variety of birds can be found on numerous lakes. For people, the navel is a priority area for extensive breeding of llamas and alpacas. In the lower part of the puna, in depressions protected from night frosts, between 3500 and 4000 m, root crops are grown: potatoes (470 varieties are known), oku, olyuko, mashua, anyu, maca, as well as grains - canyiva and quinoa. From Cajamarca to Cusco the puna is one big undulating steppe. In the south, it forms wide plateaus around lake basins, which extend all the way to the Bolivian province of Lipes. These upper plateaus define a specific space in the depths of the central Andes, the center of which they are - the Spaniards called it “Charcas”, then “Upper Peru”. In the heart of this space is Lake Titicaca (the highest navigable body of water in the world), along the shores of which are the most fertile lands of the upper plateau - the temperate climate of these places is favorable for agriculture. The "pre-Hispanic" inhabitants of the upper plateaus expanded agricultural areas using "flood field" technology, which creates thermal protection around the furrows. This technology, which contributed to the development of Tiahuanaco, sank into oblivion shortly after the Spanish conquest. In that part of Peru that is located northwest of the watershed line between the Lake Titicaca basin and the Cusco region, Puna is more of a peripheral space, much less significant in terms of demography and politics. But the relatively weak population of this undulating puna in no way diminishes its economic importance for the population living in its lower regions: these steppes are home to many animals, which in the Andes are one of the main sources of wealth.

The weather in the central Andes is almost constant, and the seasons are determined not by “warm” and “cold” months, but by precipitation. There is a rainy season, from October to April, and a dry season, from May to September. On the eastern slope, rain is not uncommon, while on the western slope it occurs infrequently.

The northern Andes (“provinces of Quito”) are geographically quite different from the central Andes. The coast there is covered with mangrove and tropical forests, which the Incas found inhospitable and, in fact, did not even try to integrate into their empire. The wet prairies, which extend above 3,500 m, although favorable for the breeding of llamas and alpacas, were only exploited when the Incas brought their herds there. Mountain valleys (the landscape of which is in many ways similar to the landscape of the Peruvian Quechua) have been densely populated by farmers since ancient times, which, apparently, explains the great interest that the Incas showed in them. No other region, however, offered such fierce resistance, probably because the northern Andean communities, which developed in a somewhat different environment from their Peruvian neighbors, were very different from the latter from a socio-economic and cultural point of view, to easily agree to join the political and ideological structures that the Incas wanted to impose on them.

Empire of the Four Directions of the World

At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Inca Empire numbered between 10 and 12 million inhabitants and represented the most populous mountain range in the world. The Incas called their state Tauapshipsuyu, which in Quechua literally means “four united stripes” and which is sometimes translated as “four cardinal directions.” Tauantpinsuyu was indeed divided into four parts, each of which extended from one to another of the four main roads that departed from the capital. Due to the lack of two-dimensional maps, the Incas imagined the territories they controlled as the space between the roads, along which were the administrative centers and inns they built. Each of the quarters of the empire thus seemed to the Incas to be a “stripe” defined by one of these roads. There were textile “maps” in the shape of a quipu, where each road was marked with a string on which provinces, cities or inns were marked with knots. The name Tauantpinsuyu also indicates that, through their dominance, the Incas intended to ensure the commonality of the territory, which they saw as an ethnic and linguistic mosaic placed in a certain geographically fragmented space. Incas rituals and legends indicate that that in Cuzco they saw precisely the sacred center of this reunited world.

Each of the four parts that made up the Empire was known by the name of one of the ethnic groups that lived in it and which metonymically designated other groups. To the northwest of Cuzco stretched Chinchasuyu, or “Chincha Strip,” after the name of the rich coastal state with which the Incas had centuries-old ties. To the southwest ran the Kuntisuyu, or “band of the Kopti,” an important group who settled in this part of the coastal mountainside. To the south went the Collasuyu, or “stripe of stakes,” the people who occupied the northern part of the Lake Titicaca basin and for a long time were the main rival of the Incas. To the east lay Aptisuyu, where, among others, lived the Antis, whom the Spaniards also called “Andes.” They occupied a mountain range covered with tropical vegetation, located northeast of Cusco and called by the Spaniards the “Andean mountain system.” The term “Andes” itself began to be used in relation to this mountain system much later.

Cusco

Situated at an altitude of 3,450 meters, in the valley of the Huatanay River, Cusco did not look like a clearly structured city. The capital was a relatively small center located at the foot of a hill, a settlement in which elite buildings were concentrated and the surrounding area stretched along the spurs of the valley.

Indeed, in order to maximize the area of ​​cultivable land, the Incas built only terraces, roads and canals in the depths of the valley. The buildings of Cusco were “sandwiched” between two canal rivers, Huatanayi Tulumayu.

It is generally accepted that between 15,000 and 20,000 people lived in Cusco, mostly members of the elite and their servants. The palaces of the deceased Incas were also located here. They contained mummies of rulers and their descendants, as well as, as in temples, many gold and silver objects in the form of dishes, statues and plates that decorated the walls and roofs. For the Incas, these metals had no monetary value, and their use was reserved only for the nobility. The extreme degree of their accumulation in the capital was probably meant to emphasize the sacred nature of this place. Cusco, therefore, was primarily a religious city and a kind of museum in memory of the Inca rulers. The gods and the dead almost constantly and in huge quantities received offerings there, consuming quite a significant part of the rent of the ruling Inca. Juan Polo de Ondegardo, a Spanish official who carefully studied the Incas in the 1550s, described the capital this way: “Cuzco was the home and abode of the gods, and in the city it was impossible to find a single fountain, passage or wall, about which they wouldn’t say that they have their own secret.” As soon as the travelers discovered this city by crossing the pass, they no longer spared prayers and offerings for it.

"Kancha" in Ollantaytambo

The basic element of Incan town planning was a set of rectangular, one-room and one-level buildings located around a courtyard. Such a building was called kancha (“fenced place”), since it was usually surrounded by a high wall with one or two entrance doors, which guaranteed the isolation of the life that passed behind this “fence.”

Presumable perspective of the squares of Aucaypata (1) and Cusipata (2) in Cusco.

A - The current location of the Church of St. Francis; B - Modern location of Garcilaso de la Vega's house

This structure was typical both for ordinary dwellings and for palaces and temples in which the gods “lived.” The streets of Cusco were narrow passages between high walls that contained these residential or religious complexes. On one side of the city there was a huge square, 190x165 m. It was known as Aukaipata (“rest area”), as it served for large ritual feasts. Bounded on one side by the Huatanay River, it stretched along this river, smoothly passing into another, almost as vast square, which was called Kusipasha (“pleasure square”), where military parades took place.

Cusco looked relatively monotonous: most of the houses, temples and palaces were one-story, and all, without exception, had thatched roofs; no structure, like the Mexican pyramids, stood out among these homogeneous structures. The urban design was largely dictated by topography: the buildings of the center were located on a high spur that separated the Tulumaiu and Huatanay rivers, while other buildings were piled on top of each other on the hillside.

Above all this cluster of buildings rose the huge fortress and temple of Sacsayhuaman, built on a hill in the northern part of the city. Today, only the largest stones remain from it, those that the Spaniards were unable to move during the construction of the colonial city.

The city of Cusco as described by Pedro Sancho (1534)

This city is the greatest and most beautiful that has ever been seen in this country or anywhere in the West Indies. It is so beautiful and its buildings so beautiful that it would be magnificent even in Spain.

It consists entirely of dwellings belonging to lords, since ordinary people do not live in it. [...] Most of the buildings are built of stone, while the rest have half of the façade made of stone. There are also many adobe brick houses, very skillfully built. They are located along straight streets in a cruciform plan. All streets are paved, and in the middle of each street there is a stone-lined canal for water. The only drawback of these streets is that they are narrow: only one person can ride on each side of the canal. [...] The area, square in shape, is located in the most flat part and is completely covered with fine gravel. Around there are four manor houses, made of cut stone and painted. The most beautiful of the four is the home of Guaynacaba [=Huayna Capac], the old cacique. It has an entrance made of red, white and multi-colored marble, and is decorated with other dihedral structures, magnificent in appearance [...] On the top of a round and very steep hill overlooking the city, stands an incredibly beautiful fortress made of stone and adobe. Its large windows overlook the city, which makes it even more beautiful. Behind the fortress wall there are numerous buildings, and in the middle of them is the main tower of a cylindrical shape, four or five floors. [...] The stones [of the tower] are so smooth that they could pass for polished boards. [...] There are so many rooms and towers in the fortress that it is impossible for one person to explore them in a day. Many Spaniards who have been to Lombardy and other foreign kingdoms claim, having visited it, that they have never seen either a similar building or an equally well-fortified castle. [...] The most beautiful thing you can see in this city is its fortress wall. It is made of stones so huge that you would never believe that they were put in place by ordinary people. They are so large that they look like pieces of rocky mountains.

Walls of Sacsayhuaman (according to George Squier, 1877)

The valley of the Huatanay River was distinguished by very dense buildings. Nearby, in the foothills, the Incas built terraces, irrigation canals, complexes of grain barns and new villages, where they housed peasants arriving from various provinces of the empire. There were also country houses of representatives of the local aristocracy, as well as temples. The total number of residents of the capital and its suburbs could reach 100,000 people.

"Cuzco" (Kusku) is an Aymara term meaning "owl". According to the Incan myth about the founding of this city, Manco Capac, having arrived in the vicinity of the future Cuzco, ordered one of his brothers, Ayar Aukeu, to fly up to a stone pillar located not far from the place where the Golden Temple (Qoricancha) would one day arise and gain a foothold. there in order to indicate their ownership of this territory. Ayar Auka did just that, turning into stone at the indicated place. This monolith has since been known under the name Kusku Huanka, “Owl Rock,” probably because Ayar Auca turned into this particular bird in order to reach this boundary stone. It was he who gave his name to this settlement, which gradually grew around him and began to be called simply Cusco.

Metropolitan area

Above the valley of the Huatanay River, within a radius of about 70 km, stretched the actual territory of the Incas, the one on which they founded the proto-state several centuries before the formation of Tauaptipsuyu. Protected by the Apurimac River canyon, crossed only by suspension bridges, and bordered by the Amazon forest, this territory was almost impregnable, with the exception of the Vilcanota River valley - the possessions of the Capa and Canchi tribes, allies of the Incas.

All rulers, starting with Viracocha and ending with Huascar, built their country residences in this region and lived with their Court during the dry and cold season. The favorite area for the construction of these country palaces was the valley of the Vilcanota River, between Pisac and Machu Picchu, which was located not far from the capital, but had a much milder climate. All residences were equipped with advanced hydraulic structures: carved fountains poured out water in cascades through canals, as well as artificial lakes in which the buildings were reflected to the sound of gurgling water. Forests, parks and hunting reserves stretched all around. There were at least 18 such properties in the Cusco region. One of the most sophisticated was the Quispiguanca Palace, built by Huay Na Capac near the modern town of Urubamba, at an altitude of 2800 meters. From the point of view of geographical location, one of the most impressive is the palace of Caquia Shakshaguana (modern Uchuy Cuscu), which belonged to Inca Viracocha - located on a ledge at an altitude of 3650 meters, it rises 600 m above the Vilcanota valley. But the most famous residence of the rulers is, of course, Machu Picchu, located three to four days’ journey from Cusco. Built by Pachacuti, the Machu Picchu Palace, with its 200 buildings, could serve as a comfortable shelter for 750 people at a time. Food and drinks were delivered to it from the capital, since Machu Picchu has almost no agricultural terraces and there is not a single peasant yard in the neighborhood, as well as storage facilities. No agricultural tools were found in it either. Warriors and administrators were probably camped around the settlement. The Inca residence has baths and a garden, as do other places such as Cajamarca. But the main activity of the Court takes place inside, in an area that occupies approximately a third of the entire area of ​​the settlement (not counting the terrace). Machu Picchu was probably primarily intended to strengthen social bonds among the Incas through feasts and religious ceremonies during the dry season. Pachakushi knew that rivalries and conflicts were not uncommon among the elite, and apparently wanted to create a pleasant and harmonious environment in which to worship the gods and enjoy life in the company of representatives of the most powerful families of Cuzco.

Provincial centers

The Incas created about 80 administrative and ceremonial centers in new places, designed to serve as provincial centers. Most are located within four or five days' travel of each other.

In these centers there is always a very large area, rectangular or trapezoidal, where the population of the province periodically feasted at the expense of the Incas, in gratitude for their work for the benefit of the ruler. In such cases, religious ceremonies made it possible to renew the agreement concluded between the Inca and his subjects. Rituals of offerings to the gods were carried out on an elevated platform (usnu), so that all the people gathered in the square could participate in them.

Thus, the Inca settlements were not just real cities, or even administrative centers, but “centers of wealth.” There was no market in them, and for most of the year only a few of their buildings were inhabited. Moreover, after the Spanish conquest, these “artificial” cities were hastily abandoned. Thus, the permanent population of Atun-Shaushi, one of the largest centers, was only about 7,000 people.

But when the city was filled with people to perform rites that exalted imperial unanimity, its numbers increased manifold. Conquistador Miguel de Estete, who saw this settlement in similar circumstances in 1532, even decided that he was in one of the largest cities on the entire continent. Hernando Pizarro, who visited there in 1533, claims, probably somewhat exaggerating, that he saw 100,000 “servant Indians” there feasting and dancing. In these cities there was, as a rule, the residence of the ruler, where the Inca stopped while passing through, as well as the temple of the Sun and the “house of chosen women” (aklyahuasi), in which women who devoted themselves to the cult of the Sun and the preparation of maize beer and ceremonial clothes.

Of all these provincial centers, the city of Huanuco is probably the best preserved. In the center of this settlement, located at an altitude of 3700 m, on the road that connects Cusco and Quito, there was a huge area (520 x 360 m), capable of accommodating a very large number of people. In the middle of it stood a platform that served as a stage for offering rituals, so grandiose that everyone could see it. In case of rain, revelers took refuge in the large oblong-shaped buildings surrounding the square and continued to feast there.

Several streets emanated from the square, dividing the city into segments that extended over 2 square kilometers and included approximately 4,000 buildings in a typically Incan architectural style.

On the nearest hill there were about 700 grain barns, which served to supply armies and temporary residents.

Such centers are most often found in the highlands and in the middle part of Tawantinsuyu. The Incas built only two settlements on the coast: Incahuasi, in the Cañete Valley, and Tambo Colorado, in the Pisco Valley. Not a single Inca city existed on the territory of the ancient Chimu Empire, with the exception of Tumbes, of which nothing remains. In Collasuyu the Incas built much fewer administrative centers than in the highlands of Chinchasuyu, preferring to occupy ancient settlements such as Atun Colla or Chucuito. In the extreme south of the Empire, in the regions that belong to today Argentina and Chile, where population density was somewhat lower and the only minerals were minerals - in particular, Chilean obsidian - the Incas ordered the construction of only inns.

Roads, inns, postal services

The most impressive material achievement of the Incas is probably their road network. In 1532, Miguel de Estete, who participated in Pizarro's expedition, remarked regarding its main section, the one that connected Cuzco with Tomebamba: “This is one of the greatest structures that the world has seen.” In less than a hundred years, the Incas built 40,000 km of roads, most of them paved with crushed stone. This is the most significant road network that existed before the industrial era. Due to the absence of draft animals, and therefore carts, only pedestrians and caravans of llamas moved along these paths, and only roads paved with crushed stone equipped with a drainage system could ensure smooth and constant movement along steep mountain slopes, destroyed annually by torrential rains. In addition, in the Central Andes, populated areas are separated from each other by practically uninhabited zones that present significant obstacles to movement: deserts, mountain ranges, steep slopes, forested areas.

The squire was one of the last to see this Incan bridge (45 m long), maintained until that time in order by the surrounding communities

In general, the state could not function without an infrastructure that would make possible the relatively easy and rapid movement of armies, government officials, labor and goods. In this regard, Inca roads not only serve public purposes, but also help the state keep its territories under control, freely transferring troops and its representatives to any place. This road network, called the capac pian, "Great Road", was the most tangible and widespread expression of Inca power. Its main section was the main artery of the empire and in some places reached more than sixteen meters in width. Basically, the width of the Inca road routes ranged from one to four meters, despite the fact that, depending on the terrain, they could be transformed into a string of steps. Two other sections were also of particular importance: the one that connected Cuzco with the southern provinces, and the one that ran along the coast. Transverse roads connected these longitudinal axes or already went to the eastern foothills. In the coastal desert, where every possible path was covered with sand, roads were marked with sticks driven into the ground at regular intervals.

Crossing rivers and canyons was carried out over bridges of various types. The empire consisted of more than a hundred bridges made of interwoven fibers, the production technology of which was very complex. Made from vines and planks, mounted on stone ledges, they provided relatively easy passage for livestock and armies.

Where traffic was less intense, people crossed the river in a lift suspended from a rope. In the gorges, crossings were carried out on stone or wooden bridges.

Along the Inca roads, every 15-25 km (which was equal to a day's travel for a caravan of lamas) there were tampus, a kind of inns. Travelers found shelter and food there, as well as pens and fodder for livestock. Throughout the empire, there were, according to various estimates, from 1000 to 2000 such tampus. Their size, plan and architecture varied greatly depending on their importance and the additional functions they could perform. Some served as administrative centers in regions where there were no provincial centers, as often happened along the southern borders of the empire, for example, in Catarpa, in the oasis of San Pedro de Atacama (in the north of modern Chile).

Along most roads, every 1-8 km - depending on the terrain - a special messenger lived with the family, a chaski, “transmitting from hand to hand.” His task was to deliver messages or small items to their destination (usually at a run), which were brought to him by the cha-ski, located at the previous postal station. Thus, one or another message reached from Lima to Cusco in just three days, although these cities are separated by 750 km. The addressee and destination were indicated verbally, but the message itself was contained in a pile.

Lake Titicaca is located in the Central Andes at an altitude of 3810 meters above sea level. This is the largest lake in South America. Its area is 8,300 square kilometers, and it ranks 18th in size among the largest lakes in the world. The depth of the waters is more than a hundred meters, and in some places reaches 300 meters.

It was here, on the shores of a huge and deep reservoir, that during fabulous antiquity there was one of the centers of highly developed civilizations of mankind.

Around it, habitable lands were limited to the east by the impenetrable jungle of the Amazon River basin, and to the west by the boundless waters of the Pacific Ocean. Ancient people densely populated the narrow western strip of the continent, which began at the borders of modern Ecuador and ended in the central regions of Chile.

In the first millennium BC, civilizations such as Chavin, San Augustin and Paracas existed here. The latter chose the coastal region of the Andes (the southern coast of modern Peru) and the Paracas Peninsula (sand rain).

The main attraction of this people, which has survived to our times, are the necropolises. They consist of spacious burial chambers; they contain many mummies. The dead, wrapped in several layers of fabric decorated with rich ornaments, are in a sitting position. Knees rest on chins, arms crossed over chest.

What is of particular interest is that some mummies have skulls that are deformed, ovoid in shape, and show signs of trepanation. It’s hard to believe, but the facts are stubborn: once upon a time, more than two thousand years ago, the ancient Aesculapians successfully performed brain surgery. This is confirmed by the partial replacement of the bones of the skulls with gold plates.

Paracas Civilization disappeared into the darkness of centuries in the second century BC. Her traces were lost in the endless stream of time, but there is a number of evidence that casts a faint light on the fate of this mysterious people. This evidence indicates that the descendants of those ancient Aesculapians did not disappear from the earth, but continue to live, skillfully applying invaluable medical knowledge in practice.

But before considering this interesting question, you need to get acquainted with the historical events that took place during the period from the 13th to the 16th centuries in the western lands of South America.

History of the Inca Empire

Nine hundred years ago, the Sun God Inti, who oversaw the above-mentioned territory, became concerned about the poor living conditions of the people. To cheer up mere mortals, instill confidence in them and make them feel the joy of life, he sent to them his son Manco Capac and his beloved daughter Mama Oaklew.

The ruler's instructions were brief and clear. He gave the children a staff made of pure gold and ordered them to settle in those lands where this expensive product would enter the soil.

The divine offspring carried out their father's will exactly. They wandered for a long time through the mountainous terrain, testing its strength. The rocky ground did not want to accept the precious metal, and the children already began to despair. But then they found themselves in the Cusco valley, near the village of Pacara Tambo, at the foot of the Huanakauri hill. And here a miracle happened: the staff easily entered the soil, as hard as granite. The son and daughter looked at each other joyfully and founded a settlement on this site, which they named Cusco.

The Inca people who lived in the nearby territory praised Manco Capac and Mama Oklew, recognized them as their rulers and began to call their country Tawantinsuyu (land of four parts).

Years passed. Cusco gradually turned into a large and beautiful city. It was located at an altitude of 3416 meters above sea level and was surrounded by two mountain ranges.

Inca Wars

In parallel with the construction of their capital, the people, who received the support of the gods, waged wars of conquest. At first, he fought for a long time with the Sora and Rucana tribes, who lived in the western lands adjacent to the Cuzco Valley. Having conquered these tribes, the conquerors significantly expanded their borders and began to prepare for further military expansions.

The very strong and brave Chanka people turned out to be a serious opponent. The war with him was long, difficult and cruel. Only by the middle of the 15th century did the Incas manage to defeat their main enemy. At this time, their ruler was Pachacutec, the son of the legendary Manco Capac.

At the beginning of the second half of the 15th century, the descendants of the divine offspring subjugated all the tribes living in the Lake Titicaca basin. The conquests are not limited to this. Military expansion continues, and by the end of the 15th century the conquered territory expands to enormous proportions. This is already an empire, whose possessions extend from the southern border of modern Colombia to the central regions of Chile and Argentina.

Government of the Inca Empire

A large state needs competent administrative management. The conquerors divided all the conquered lands into four provinces: Kuntisuyu, Kolyasuyu, Antisuyu and Chinchasuyu. In the center of Cusco was Huacapata Square. From it, in different directions, four roads diverged, leading to these administrative formations of the empire.

The Incas loved and knew how to build roads. They made them wide with an even coating. The longest stretched for 5250 kilometers and had a width of 7.5 meters. True, the Indians did not know the wheel, so they moved along such highways on foot; the load was carried on oneself or transported on llamas.

The great conquerors did not know any written language, but despite this, the state postal service worked perfectly. Numerous messengers constantly hurried to different parts of the empire and conveyed decrees and regulations through “knot letters” or orally.

The Incas had well-developed agriculture, animal husbandry, and handicrafts. There was no single monetary standard. The process of buying and selling took place between seller and buyer at numerous fairs through the exchange of goods. Such fairs, as a rule, were held in cities at least once every ten days.

There was no obvious division of society into rich and poor. Everyone's standard of living was approximately the same. The bulk of the population lived in tribal communities - ailyu. A separate family had a land plot - topu. Each member of society carried out labor duties - mita. Important issues of public life were resolved at general meetings - kamachiko.

The Incas came up with the idea of ​​enlisting in the army at the age of 18

When a man reached the age of 18, he was drafted into military or courier service. Her sentence lasted 7 years. Every resident of the country had to go through this. Then, after the end of the seven-year period, the man became purekhi. This was the name given to people who worked for public needs and paid taxes. After 50 years, a person moved to another age category and began raising children.

In a great empire, any resident could achieve a high position in society. The main thing was not origin, but services to the empire. An experienced warrior or talented speaker enjoyed universal respect and veneration, regardless of who his parents were.

The supreme power in the country was inherited. The one who ascended the throne received the prefix “Inca” to his name. In a narrow sense, it meant the title of a ruler, like a king or emperor in Europe. Also called Incas were full members of the Cusco community, who were descendants of an ancient tribe that recognized the power of the children of the Sun God Inti. They were, as it were, considered “Inca by blood.”

Representatives of other tribes inhabiting the empire could also receive the corresponding title for special services to the state. In this case, he was inherited by the whole family, and its members were considered “Inca by privilege.”

Last years of the empire

In 1525, the supreme leader of the empire, Huayna Capacu, died. He divides the state into two parts between his sons. One will be inherited by Atahualpa, the other by Huascar.

The capital of Cusco goes to Huascar, and he rightfully acquires the supreme title of the Incas. But the second brother does not agree with his father's will. An internecine war begins.

It ends only in 1531 with the defeat of Huascar. He is captured and sent to a high mountain village, where he must live as a prisoner until his death. All power passes to Atahualpa. The situation in the empire is stabilizing.

But the new year of 1532 makes its own adjustments to a more or less settled life after the great strife. Spanish conquistadors appear on the lands of the empire. 110 foot soldiers and 67 horsemen disembark from a sailing ship to conquer a land that contains as much gold as sand in the desert.

The History of Francisco Pizarro

The Spanish military detachment is commanded by Francisco Pizarro (1475-1541) - a powerful, cruel, merciless man. An adventurer to the core, without principles or ideals. He has one goal - gold.

He was born in Spain, becoming the sad consequence of a sinful relationship between a loving Castilian nobleman, captain Gonzalo Pizarro, and a frivolous peasant woman. The parents cursed their daughter, but raised the child. Having become a mature young man, he entered the royal military service. But in the lands of the Old World he did not show himself in any way on the battlefield, and already at an advanced age (by the standards of the 16th century) he left for Panama.

The future merciless conqueror of the Indians began his life as a colonist in 1519. From the general mass of fortune hunters, he did not stand out in any way. He lived quietly and inconspicuously. Few people paid attention to him: an elderly man with limited funds, without serious connections and opportunities.

One autumn day he goes hunting and suddenly disappears. His disappearance did not excite anyone, and his appearance alive and well three months later did not cause either joy or surprise among those around him.

But after a few days everyone notices that it is unclear where the person who has been absent for a long time has changed dramatically. He becomes energetic and eloquent, easy to communicate and charming, and shows brilliant abilities in learning foreign languages. Endearing himself to everyone, he makes many friends, and literally a few months later he is elected mayor of the city in which he lives.

Very soon Francisco Pizarro establishes friendly relations with the governor of Panama and his entourage. He charms ladies and evokes sympathy among men. The doors of the richest houses in the colony open wide before him. But our hero understands: he is no longer young and it is too late to make a brilliant career.

Soon he meets the hardened adventurer Diego de Almagro and the priest Hernando de Luca, greedy to the core. These two are raving about gold, which lies in incredible quantities in the temples and palaces of Indian cities located far to the south.

Using his gift of persuasion and charm, skillfully playing on base feelings, our hero persuades the governor to equip a military expedition to the lands of modern Colombia. Here, he said, there are many rich cities of red men, filled with gold.

In 1524, the governor gives the go-ahead, and Pizarro becomes the head of his first military expedition. It ends in complete failure after 12 months.

But failure does not discourage the Spaniard. On the contrary, she inspires him to make new attempts to quickly get rich and take an appropriate place in high society.

In 1526, a second military expedition sets off to the lands of modern Ecuador. It lasts for more than two years and does not bring in a single peso. But instead of despicable metal, the cunning and dexterous adventurer receives very important information, which is worth no less in value than a chest of gold.

Local residents tell him about a fabulously rich country. It lies far to the south in the mountains. There is a lot of gold in those lands, it’s just lying around under your feet. Our hero understands that this is his last chance. At the same time, he does not want to share fame and fortune with the governor of Panama.

In 1530, Francisco Pizarro left the New World. A fast sailing ship takes him to the lands of Spain. Here he achieves an audience with King Charles V with amazing ease.

It is unknown what the adventurer talked about with the crowned person, but he returns back as captain general, adelantad, and his cloak is decorated with the family coat of arms of the marquis. In his hand he triumphantly clutches a letter signed by His Majesty. It talks about the right to governorship given to him over all lands lying 1000 miles south of Panama.

The newly appointed governor did not waste time and equipped the third military expedition in 1531. Within a few months he lands on the lands of Tawantinsuyu. The Inca Empire lies before him in all its glory.

The Incas got scared of the horses?!

The Supreme Leader Atahualpa very quickly learns about the pale-faced strangers. He tells his scouts to find out everything about these strange aliens, but the thing is that the Indians have never seen horses. Hence, the reports of the latter differ, causing bewilderment and confusion at court.

Thus, some scouts claim that the aliens are being led by creatures with four legs and two heads. They sleep standing up, see at night as during the day, and instead of words they make strange loud sounds.

Others say that unknown creatures on four legs have two parts that can separate from each other and walk on their own. The main part is the lower part. The upper one serves only to collect fruits that grow on trees.

The detachment led by Francisco Pizarro does not meet resistance from local residents. Horror and fear flee before the Spanish conquistadors. Cities and villages on the path of fortune hunters are emptying. The population hastily leaves them, abandoning their homes and acquired goods to the mercy of fate.

The detachment is located in the city center. The soldiers are tired after a long march and need rest. But the ambitious commander is impatient. He insists on a further march to the Indian capital of Cuzco.

A military council is assembled, which continues until late at night. Without making a clear decision, the conquistadors disperse, deciding to continue the debate with a fresh mind. But the morning dawn makes its own adjustments to the strategic plans of the conquerors.

A small detachment of Spaniards finds themselves surrounded. A huge forty thousand-strong Inca army filled all the surrounding streets, cutting off the conquistadors from the outside world.

Long negotiations begin. Pizarro uses all his intelligence, eloquence, insight and, in the end, arranges a meeting with the supreme leader of the land of Tawantinsuyu.

On November 16, 1532, Atahualpa, surrounded by a large retinue, appears in the square of the city of Cajamarco. Under the terms of the treaty, the Indians were unarmed.

The Incas were deceived

Our hero approaches the high leader, and they talk face to face for some time. From the outside it seems that the conversation is very friendly and warm. The people accompanying Atahualpa relax and lose their vigilance.

Suddenly the conquistadors rush at the unarmed Indians. A terrible massacre begins. The entire retinue dies, leaving no one alive. The ruler of the empire himself is declared a prisoner of the Spanish king.

For his release, the Spaniards demand piles of gold and silver. The subjects of the supreme leader collect the required amount of precious metals and bring them by conquistador. But Atahualpa is not released. On August 29, 1533, he was treacherously killed, and on November 15, the invaders entered the city of Cusco.

The Spaniards seize power, but are not able to govern a huge state. They do not know the customs of this land and understand that they will not be able to keep the people in obedience.

Pizarro appoints Huascar Capaka, the brother of the murdered man, as supreme leader. The adventurer hopes that he has found a worthy assistant, but here his intuition fails him.

Huascar Capacu rebels and besieges Cuzco in 1536. The siege lasts six months, but the Incas, unaccustomed to such a war, begin to scatter. The rebel leader is forced to retreat into the mountains.

Here, in an area inaccessible to the conquistadors, he creates the Novoinsky kingdom. It becomes the center of the struggle for independence, which continues for many years. Only after the murder of Huascar Capac in 1572 did the rebels stop resistance and recognize the authority of the Spanish crown.

The further fate of our hero develops as follows. He becomes the royal governor, concentrating enormous power and wealth in his hands. In 1535, by his decree, the city of Lima was founded. It seems that the ambitious Spaniard has achieved everything he dreamed of.

But in 1540 a strange metamorphosis occurs to him. From a tough, strong-willed and domineering leader, he turns into a timid, insecure and conscientious person. Those around him instantly sense this.

The results are immediate. Diego de Almagro's closest friend and assistant accuses the governor of unauthorized appropriation of a large amount of gold. Enraged conquistadors kill their recently adored commander and comrade-in-arms.

This happens in 1541, but shortly before his death, the great adventurer talks with a priest and tells him a strange story.

The amazing story of Francisco Pizarro

Twenty years ago, he went hunting, fell off a cliff, hit his head on a stone and lost consciousness. I woke up in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by strange people with elongated heads.

These people explained that he had a fatal traumatic brain injury, but they managed to save the unlucky hunter by performing a craniotomy on him and replacing the crushed bones with gold plates.

The brain was also damaged, so the mysterious doctors had no choice but to manipulate the gray matter. During the operation, they activated some of the suppressed centers of his hemispheres.

Now our hero has changed internally: he has become more courageous and decisive. His intuition awoke, oratorical talent appeared, his memory became perfect, his concentration increased, and his intellect improved significantly. True, the Aesculapians could not make him a kind and selfless person, since they were very limited in time.

When our hero asked why they needed all this, the mysterious people replied that they could not do it any other way. For thousands of years they have been improving human nature by interfering with the functioning of the brain. Operations are carried out in cycles of 15 years. After each, the shape of the skull changes slightly, eventually the head elongates, becoming like a large egg.

History has not preserved the name of the priest who talked with the great adventurer shortly before his death. But interestingly, at the end of the 19th century, a burial dating back to the 16th century was found in Peru. Several bodies were found in it that had elongated skulls. Their frontal and occipital bones were professionally surgically removed and replaced with gold plates.

Later, pundits considered this a skillful falsification. They may be right, but in any case, the earth holds amazing secrets. The amazing fate of Francisco Pizarro is further confirmation of this.