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 arose South America. 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 extended 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. appeared in Tiahuanaco new culture, 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 took over a significant part cultural heritage Tiahuanaco, in particular, has 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 almost the entire animal world Andes and 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.

Stopping in the Cuzco 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 sunk into it. greater depth. 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 main city empire, and in its very center a temple of the Sun was erected.

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 new ruler 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 single requirement: it was necessary to know official language Quechua, 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.

When the Inca Empire reached its height and power, the population of its main city of Cusco numbered about 20,000 people. sacred place 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 Inca architecture and visual arts the temple of the sun appeared. 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 amazing. 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.

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. 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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. However, they also participated in community service to the best of your 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.

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 on main square near the Coraxang Temple in Cuzco and were universally respected.

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 was 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 the 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.

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 it is Dominican Republic) and 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 Inca 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.

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.

There are very few sources of information regarding the history of the Incas, an ancient Indian civilization. Most of the information comes from Spanish conquistadors and missionaries. Filippo Huaman Poma De Ayaalo, an Inca artist of the 16th century, left one original and priceless document - these are drawings and chronicles that give detailed description Inca society. Realizing that his world could disappear, Huaman Poma described all its splendor. This was his life's work. He intended to give it to King Philip II, in the hope that the monarch would see his colony in a different light and change his attitude towards it.

In his work, he also described the way of life of the Andean peoples before the arrival of the Incas - the Indians led a harsh and difficult lifestyle, they were practically savages. But everything changed with the appearance of a creature who was half-man, half-god - the son of Inti, the son of God. His name is Manco Capac. He called himself “Inca” and brought civilization to his world.

He taught people to build cities and cultivate the land. Under his leadership, the Inca world began to flourish. His wife Manco Capacá Ocllo taught the women how to weave.

This was the world of the Incas, where one name belonged to both the ruler and his people.

100 years after the formation of the Inca Empire, in the 15th century, this state, located on the territory of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, ceased to exist. However, more on this a little later... The article will talk about who the Incas were.

The Birth of Civilization

According to legend, the sun god Inti created the ancestors of the Inca rulers. These were 4 brothers and 4 sisters who came out of the Tampa Tokko cave. Their leader was Aiyar Manko, who carried a golden staff in his hands. He had to find a place where the staff would enter the ground, which would be a sign of fertile soil.

After long wanderings, Aiyar Manco and his brothers and sisters came to the valley of Cuzco, where the staff finally entered the ground.

After defeating the warlike locals, the brothers and sisters founded the capital of the Inca Empire. Ayar Manco began to call himself Manco Capac, which means “ruler of the Incas.” He became the first Sappa Inka (paramount chief).

Was everything exactly like that?

Ethnologists at the National Center for Scientific Research are not entirely sure of the historical existence of the first eight Incas. Rather, they were mythical characters. Due to the fact that all currently available information about the Incas is closely related to their epic.

Each family of Inca rulers had its own traditions, similar to African ones. Each generation of rulers told history in their own way.

A significant period in the history of the Incas is associated with the ruler Pachacuti. Among other things, he was the greatest religious reformer. During his reign, the Inca people became much less dependent on the high priests of the solar religion.

Pachacuti time

In the 12th century, the Andes were inhabited by a huge number of different nations and tribes constantly warring among themselves. Pachacuti wanted to create an empire that would unite all the Andean peoples. His name, which means “world changer,” perfectly describes his aspirations.

He united the tribes around the city of Cusco and his goals became a reality.

At the beginning of the 15th century, the Inca Empire was subjected to an armed attack by the Chanca tribe. The city of Cusco is under threat. Pachacuti took command of the army and managed to repel the attack and, inspired by the victory, began military expansion.

Pachacuti captured territory in the area of ​​Lake Titicaca and expanded the possessions of the Inca Empire of Tahuantinsuyu in the North up to the Cojamarca region.

A few words about the way of life

Briefly, the culture of the Incas reflects their life. When the Incas enslaved peoples, they presented local rulers with special gifts - women and various wonders. Thus, they made him somewhat grateful, left him in debt. In exchange for these gifts, the leaders had to pay tribute to the Incas or perform various types of work for them. From that moment on, they entered into a relationship that is historically called vassalage. This could be forced labor, called "mita", or unequal exchange, called "aine".

This system of relationships with the captured tribes became one of the main aspects of the power of the Incas.

Creating an orderly system on such a large scale in one of the largest mountain ranges on the planet was no easy task. The Incas needed to create collective labor, trade, a management system and ensure security. All this would have been impossible without the construction of roads.

There is no doubt that the Incas already knew what a wheel was. However, mountainous landscapes were not suitable for the use of wheeled vehicles. Even today, most travel in the Andes is done on foot. But the Incas conquered Mountain peaks, creating a developed network of communication routes. They built bridges in a world that literally hung between heaven and earth.

A few words about the reign of Sappa Inca

The power of the Incas, like any other power, required influence on the consciousness of people. And the majestic city of Machu Picchu, according to ethnologists, is only part of the image of power. For example, the ruler could not be looked at in the face. His image has always been associated with sacred rituals. He was revered as the son of the Sun and was a real shrine for the people.

The power of the ruler was perpetuated after his death, when he joined all the gods and himself became a God. The Huamana Poma Chronicles describe the Incas' understanding of life after death. They believed that human life force does not disappear after death. In their minds, the ancestors could protect those living on earth.

Capital of the Empire

In the heart of the Andes, at an altitude of more than 3 thousand meters, was the city of Cusco - the capital of the Inca Empire. In 1534 it was practically wiped off the face of the earth by Spanish invaders. The city of Cusco is the political and spiritual center of the Inca Empire.

In addition to Cusco, there were several administrative centers, there weren't many cities in the Inca Empire. Most of the territory is small villages where the Incas lived and worked on plantations. Agriculture was the centerpiece of their economy.

Rituals

To understand who the Incas were, it is worth turning to their epic.

In the chronicles of Mana Poma, one of the chapters is devoted to a rather strange ritual - capacocha. During certain events, such as solar eclipses, volcanic eruptions, or epidemics, children were sacrificed to earn the favor of the spirits. It also happened that these were the children of tribal leaders.

The capacocha was an important part of the political and religious cult in Cusco.

Counting system

Although the Incas did not have a written language, they used a system of knots and cords called a quipu to record numbers and possibly other information. Thanks to the decimal system, taxation of subjects was orderly and efficient.

Taxes in the form of food were collected throughout the empire and collected in kolpos. This system provided the population with acceptable living conditions and was an important aspect in controlling the economy of the empire.

They lived at high altitudes, where every 5-6 years there might not be a harvest, so they simply needed to stock up.

In return, the empire provided security, maintained infrastructure, and provided residents with a means of subsistence. For this purpose, large warehouses with essential goods were built everywhere. Such kolpos existed in every region.

Now let's get back to the division of land

Pochacuti's son, Tupac Inca, continued to conquer new territories and became ruler in 1471. By the end of his reign, the empire extended throughout Western South America. He showed the inhabitants of neighboring tribes who the Incas were.

In 1493, the ruler was replaced by his son Huayna Capac. The wars of the new ruler on distant frontiers increased the level of discontent in the empire.

In 1502, having won a victory in civil war, Atahualpa's army faced invaders from Europe. And although the Incas outnumbered the Europeans, Francisco Pizarro, with a small contingent of conquistadors, completely defeated their huge army. With the help of guns and horses, which the Incas had never seen before, the Spaniards were victorious. Atahualpa was captured and killed a year later.

However, according to historians, this is not the only reason for the fall of the empire. At that time, it was in the process of fragmentation and war, which was the main reason for the collapse.

The great rise of the Inca Empire was almost as fleeting as its fall. And now, unfortunately, we can find out who the Incas were from the few sources that have survived to this day.

The Incas(Inca) - a tribe from the Cuzco Valley, whose powerful civilization existed in the “pre-Columbian” era on the South American continent. The Incas managed to create a powerful empire that changed its appearance and conquered many peoples.

The Incas themselves called their empire Tawantinsuyu(Four cardinal directions) because there were 4 roads leading out of Cusco in different directions.

The Indians called their ruler Inka, which means “lord”, “king”. Then “Inca” began to be called all representatives of the ruling class, and with the invasion of the conquerors - the entire Indian population of the Tawantinsuyu empire.

Creation of the Great Inca Empire

Thanks to archaeological finds, it is obvious that the Inca civilization arose in 1200-1300. At the end of the 11th century, due to the drought that had been raging in the Andes for more than 100 years, neighboring, stronger tribes lost their power in fights for water and food.

Inspired by success, the Inca rulers turned their gaze to the abundant land - a spacious plateau with. And Pachacutec-Inca-Yupanqui, one of the great rulers of the Incas, undertook a military campaign to the south in the 15th century.

The population of the lakeside states was about 400 thousand people. The mountain slopes are riddled with gold and silver veins, and fat herds of llamas and alpacas grazed in the flowering meadows. Llamas and alpacas are meat, wool and leather, that is, military rations and uniforms.

Pachacutec conquered the southern rulers one after another, expanding the boundaries of his possessions, which became one of the largest empires on the planet. The number of subjects of the empire reached about 10 million people.

Victories in the military field were only the first stage on the path to power; after the warriors, officials, builders and artisans got down to business.

Incas: Wise Rule

If an uprising broke out in some Inca province, the rulers undertook the resettlement of people: they resettled residents of remote villages to new cities located near the built roads. They were ordered to build warehouses along the roads for regular troops, which were filled by their subjects with the necessary provisions. The Inca rulers were brilliant organizers.

The Inca civilization reached an unprecedented peak. Stonemasons erected architectural masterpieces, engineers turned isolated roads into a single system connecting all parts of the empire. Irrigation canals were created, agricultural terraces were laid out on the mountain slopes, about 70 types of crops were grown there and significant reserves of provisions were stored in storage facilities. The governors were excellent at taking inventory: they were aware of the contents of each repository of the vast empire, keeping records using a kippah - an analogue of the Incas' computer code - bundles of multi-colored threads with special combinations of knots.

The Inca rulers were quite harsh, but fair: they allowed the conquered peoples to preserve their traditions. The main social unit was the family. Each group of 20 families had a leader who was subordinate to a superior, who already headed 50 families, and so on - until the Inca Ruler.

Social structure of civilization

The Inca Empire had such a social structure: everyone worked here, with the exception of the youngest and very old people. Each family had its own cultivated plot of land. People weaved, sewed clothes, shoes or sandals, made dishes and jewelry from gold and silver.

The inhabitants of the empire had no personal freedom; the rulers decided everything for them: what to eat, what clothes to wear and where to work. The Incas were remarkable farmers; they built grandiose aqueducts to irrigate fields with water from mountain rivers, growing many valuable crops.

Many buildings erected by the Incas still stand today. The Incas created many original bridges from willow twigs and vines twisted into thick ropes. The Incas were natural potters and weavers:
They wove the finest fabrics from cotton, such that the Spaniards considered them silk. The Incas also knew how to spin wool, making beautiful and warm woolen clothes.

Mummy - ruler of the Incas

In the middle of the 15th century, Huayna Capac, the new ruler of the Incas, ascended the throne. Then it seemed that the Inca dynasty was all-powerful. People could even change nature in incredible ways: during the construction of Huayna Capac's residence, workers leveled hills, drained swamps, and moved the riverbed (Spanish: Rio Urubamba) to the southern part of the valley to plant cotton, corn, chili peppers and peanuts, and In the center of the “new” territory, a palace - Quispiguanca - will be built from brick and stone.

Around 1527, Huayna Capac died of an unknown illness. Those close to him, mummifying the body, transported it to Cuzco, and members of the royal family visited the deceased, asking for advice and listening to the answers spoken by the oracle sitting next to him. Even after his death, Huayna Capac remained the owner of the Quispiguanca estate. The entire harvest from the fields was used to maintain the mummy of the ruler, his wives, descendants and servants in luxury.

The traditions of inheritance among the Incas were such that even after the death of the rulers, all the palaces remained their property. Therefore, each Inca, as soon as he ascended the throne, began the construction of a new city palace and country residence. Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of up to a dozen royal residences, built for at least six rulers.

Inca - Spanish Conquest

In 1532, a detachment of 200 foreign conquerors under the leadership landed on the coast of what is now Peru. They were wearing steel armor and armed with firearms. Along the way, those dissatisfied with the dominance of the Incas joined the army. The Incas stubbornly resisted the conquerors, but the empire was weakened by internecine war and the fact that a large number of Incas warriors died from smallpox and measles brought by the Spaniards.

The Spaniards reached northern city Cajamarca executed the ruler, installing his puppet on the throne.

Cusco, the capital of the Incas, was conquered by the Spanish in 1536. The invaders appropriated palaces, flourishing country estates, women and girls from the royal family. When the last Inca ruler was beheaded in 1572, it marked the end of the Tahuantinsuyu Empire. The Inca culture was destroyed, the state was plundered. The extensive network of roads, temples and palaces gradually fell into disrepair.

The Inca Empire is the largest of all the states that existed in ancient South America, which existed from the 11th to the 16th centuries AD. Its territory was very vast - it occupied lands from the modern Colombian city of Pasto to the Maule River in Chile. In general, it included the entire territory of the modern states of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, except for its eastern regions, overgrown with insurmountable jungle. It also included parts of modern Chile, Argentina and Colombia. Europeans first came here after the destruction of the Aztec Tenochtitlan in Central America - the Portuguese Alejo Garcia arrived here in 1525. The Inca Empire managed to hold out under the blows of the conquistadors, who were interested in new lands, until 1572, but already in 1533 the Inca Empire lost most of its territory. Today there is a hypothesis according to which the ancient Incas managed to hide in the undiscovered city of Paititi until the mid-18th century.

According to archaeological research, the Incas did not independently become one of the most developed (relatively) peoples in the Americas. The ancient Incas adopted most of their achievements from previous peoples, as well as from those peoples that they subjugated. Before the Incas established their control over much of South America, there were other civilizations on the continent. In particular, the Moche culture, which developed irrigation systems, the Huari, which was most similar to the resulting Incan power, the Chimu culture with unique architecture, and many others.

Near the Andean mountain range and on the coast adjacent to it in the period from the first millennium BC. before the first millennium AD Relatively advanced civilizations appeared, the economic basis of which was agriculture. The history of the Inca state began in the 12th century AD. On the coast of Lake Titicaca, a people declared itself, whose ruler was the Inca, who gave the name to his people. The Incas lived in the old place briefly, not for long. The supreme ruler decided to move his people to the city of Cusco, which is where the history of the Incas and their expansion into the surrounding lands began. Already by the 15-16th century, the Inca civilization had spread to a significant part of the territory of the current states of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, and even reached modern Colombia.

The Inca leader Manco Capacu, thanks to whom the history of the Inca state began, built the city of Cusco at an altitude of more than 3.4 thousand meters above sea level. The city lies in a deep valley between two mountain ranges. Under his rule, the territory of the state gradually increased. Subsequent leaders began to bear the title Inca as meaning king. Inca Yahuar Huacac organized in the empire something like a regular army, which, however, became the largest force in all of South America. However, the greatest conquests occurred during the reign of the Inca Pachacuti, thanks to which the history of the Incas moved into the period of empire.

However, in the 15th century, the Incas, in short, were not friendly with each other. After the reign of the eleventh Inca, Huayna Capac, two sons remained, who started a war among themselves, dividing the empire into two opposing camps. The war ended with Atahualpa's victory over Huascar, shortly before the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors.

In carrying out their conquests, the Incas used both their army and their politics equally effectively - they persuaded the elite in those places that were being conquered to cooperate. Moreover, before the attack, the Incas several times sent proposals to the rulers of certain lands to join the empire. The Inca civilization, spreading further and further across the continent, forced all conquered peoples to study their language. Laws and customs were also imposed on the occupied territories. However, they did not prohibit local beliefs, provided that the conquered peoples would worship the supreme Inca deity - Inti. In addition, folk crafts were actively supported, each conquered people wore their own outfits. This was done so that the status and origin of any resident of the Inca Empire could be determined by clothing.

The Inca country was distinguished by a clear division of society into warriors and those who were not warriors. The Inca armies could only be led directly by representatives of the reigning elite of the empire, or by their proteges, who must necessarily belong to the Inca ethnic group. It is interesting that the Inca country was not completely monarchical - power in it belonged not only to the ruler Inca, but also to the governor of the capital city of Cusco. According to the historian Juan de Betanzos, he was involved in economic affairs in the empire and provided the army with everything necessary.

Section 2 - Inca Temple

This short article will talk about the most ancient temple Inca civilization

Section 3 - Inca City

Although the center of the Inca Empire was in the city of Cusco, another Inca city, Machu Picchu, has become widespread in popular culture.

Several civilizations are known to have existed in South America, but the most significant is the Inca civilization. In the fifteenth century, its population was at least six million people living over a vast territory. At the head of the Empire was the son of the Sun, Inca, the divine ruler. The economy was based on agriculture. All subjects were required to work for a month of the year on public works, building government facilities: fortresses, canals, bridges, roads. The state regulated all aspects of citizens' lives, including personal life. The Incas created legends, myths, religious hymns, epic poems and even dramatic works. This civilization did not have real writing, so little has been preserved from its cultural heritage. The Inca Empire fell with the arrival of conquerors from Europe in the mid-sixteenth century.

The Inca Empire (Quechua Tawantin Suyu, Tawantinsuyu, Tawantinsuyu, Tawantinsuyu, Tawantinsuyu) is the largest Indian early class state in terms of area and population in South America in the 11th-16th centuries. It occupied the territory from what is now Pasto in Colombia to the Maule River in Chile. The empire included the entire territory of present-day Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador (with the exception of part of the flat eastern regions covered with impenetrable jungle), partially Chile, Argentina and Colombia. The first European to penetrate the Inca Empire was the Portuguese Alejo Garcia in 1525. In 1533, the Spanish conquistadors established control over most of the empire, and in 1572 the Inca state ceased to exist. There is a hypothesis that the last independent refuge of the Incas is the undiscovered city (country) of Paititi (until the middle or end of the 18th century).

Archaeological research shows that a large number of achievements were inherited by the Incas from previous civilizations, as well as from the neighboring peoples they subjugated. By the time the Incas appeared on the historical scene in South America, there were a number of civilizations: Moche (the Mochica culture, famous for colored ceramics and irrigation systems), Huari (this state was the prototype of the Inca Empire, although the population apparently spoke a different language - Aymara) , Chimu (center - the city of Chan-Chan, characteristic ceramics and architecture), Nazca (known for creating the so-called Nazca Lines, as well as for their underground water supply systems, ceramics), Puquina (civilization of the city of Tiahuanaco with a population of about 40 thousand people, located east of Lake Titicaca), Chachapoyas (“Warriors of the Clouds”, famous for their formidable fortress Kuelap, which is also called the “Machu Picchu of the North”).

The Quechua name of the country, Tawantinsuyu, can be translated as the four united provinces (Tawantin - "group of four" (tawa "four" with the suffix -ntin meaning "aggregate"); suyu - "country", "region" or "province" "). As Quechuan linguist Demetrio Tupac Yupanqui points out: “-ntin - “all integrated,” “all that make up one whole.” The previous parts disappear to give way to one distinct integration - one whole. It creates what we whimsically call a “legal entity,” the subject and the responsible being distinguished by their constituent parts. As if there was one enterprise in which entity takes responsibility, thereby freeing the constituent parts.”

This name is due to the fact that the country was divided into four provinces: Kuntinsuyu (Kunti Suyu), Qulla Suyu, Anti Suyu and Chinchay suyu. In addition, four roads left Cuzco (Quechua Qusqu) in four directions, and each of them was named after the part of the empire to which it led.

In the Andean region and the adjacent coast in the 1st millennium BC. e. - 1st thousand AD e. developed agricultural civilizations of Chavin, Paracas, Nazca, Mochica, Tiahuanaco, etc. arose. In the 12th century, a people appeared on the shores of Lake Titicaca, led by the Inca, the supreme ruler. He moves to the new capital, Cusco, and spreads his influence over a vast territory, covering by the 15th-16th centuries. most of modern Ecuador, Peru, a significant part of Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, as well as a small area of ​​Colombia.

The creation of the state is attributed to the legendary Inca Manco Capac, who also founded the capital - the city of Cusco, at an altitude of 3416 meters above sea level, in a deep valley between two mountain ranges.

After its creation, the country's territory constantly expanded. Especially after the Inca Yahuar Huacac created a regular army in the empire. Great conquests were carried out by Inca Pachacuti. He created a real empire, because before this the Incas were just one of the many Indian tribes, and Cusco was an ordinary town. Most of the Inca-controlled lands were conquered by Pachacuti and his son Tupac Inca Yupanqui. A small part of the territory was annexed by the eleventh Inca, Huayna Capac. The rulers Huascar and Atahualpa were sons of Huayna Capac. After his death, they began a grueling internecine war. When the Spaniards arrived, Atahualpa became the winner of the war.

When conquering neighboring tribes, the Incas, on the one hand, used their strong and numerous army, and on the other hand, attracted the elite of the conquered regions. Before taking military action, the Incas three times invited the rulers of the conquered region to voluntarily join the empire. They forced the conquered tribes to learn the Quechua language, imposed their customs and introduced their own laws. The local nobility and the priesthood of the conquered peoples retained their position, and the practice of local religions was not prohibited, subject to the obligatory worship of the imperial sun god Inti. The Incas attached great importance to the preservation of local folk crafts and costume, so that by the dress of any resident of Tawantinsuyu it would be easy to determine his origin and social status.

The Incas were characterized by the division of power and society into: warriors and non-warriors. The main generals and military leaders were either the rulers of the Empire or people appointed by them from the ruling ethnic group - the Incas. At the same time, it seems that there was still a kind of dual power - a full-fledged duumvirate: when the ruler (governor) of the city of Cusco was in charge of the economic activities of the Empire, supplying and supporting the troops, which is repeatedly mentioned by the historian Juan de Betanzos.

At the peak of its existence, the Inca Empire was one of the largest states on Earth. The number of subjects of the empire reached, according to various sources, from 5-6 to 12 million people.

In 1521, Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztecs. This conquest inspired Francisco Pizarro. According to the report of Juan de Samano, secretary of Charles V, Peru first became known reliably in 1525 in connection with the completion of the first Southern Expedition of Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. The expedition left Panama on November 14, 1524, but was forced to return in 1525. After this, two more trips were carried out. In 1532, Pizarro arrived on the coast of modern Peru with 200 foot soldiers and only 27 horses. However, on the way, his army is replenished by those dissatisfied with the rule of the Incas. The Incas fiercely fight the conquerors, but the empire is weakened by internal turmoil and internecine war, in addition, a large number of Inca warriors die from smallpox and measles brought by the Spaniards.

By deception, Pizarro was able to capture and execute the Great Inca Atahualpa, after which the resistance was led by the military leader Rumiñavi for 2 years. The Inca capital, Cusco, was conquered by the Spaniards in 1536. Inca Manco Inca Yupanqui with a small number of followers hides in the mountainous region of Vilcabamba, where the Inca rule continues for about 30 years. In 1572, the last Inca ruler, Tupac Amaru, was beheaded. This marked the end of the Tawantinsuyu empire. The state was plundered, the Inca culture was destroyed.

In the book “Chronicle of Peru,” Cieza de Leon was the first European to ask the question of the reason for such an easy conquest of the Inca Empire:

Thus, although I have depicted Peru as three deserted and inhabited Cordilleras, out of them, as I related, by the will of God, there emerge valleys and rivers, beyond which people could in no way survive: this is the reason why local residents were so easily conquered and why do they serve without rebelling, because if they did that, they would all die from hunger and cold. Because (as I said), with the exception of the land they inhabited, most of it is uninhabited, these are continuous snow-capped mountains and amazingly high peaks.
- Cieza de Leon, Pedro. Chronicle of Peru. Part one. Chapter XXXVI.

The conquered Incas became part of the Quechua people. The result of the Spanish conquest was clearly noted by the same chronicler Cieza de Leon:

I do not approve of the overthrow of power in any way, but I still mourn the extortion and ill-treatment inflicted by the Spaniards on the Indians, enslaved by cruelty, regardless of their nobility and the high dignity of their people. Because of this, all these valleys are now almost deserted, but in the past they were densely populated, as many people know.
- Cieza de Leon, Pedro. Chronicle of Peru. Part one. Chapter LXI.

The empire was divided into 4 parts: Chinchaisuyu - red color, Kolyasuyu - blue color, Antisuyu - green color, and Kuntisuyu - yellow color, in turn, each such part consisted of provinces:

north of Cusco were: Vilcas, Xauxa, Bombon, Cajamarca, Guancabamba, Tomebamba, Latacunga, Quito, Carangue ;

on the other side of Cusco, to the South: Atuncana, Atuncolla, Ayavire, Chuquiabo, Chucuito, Paria and others, stretching to Chile.

Each province had its own capital, where taxes were collected, where there was a temple of the Sun, foundries and jewelry workshops, a garrison, large inns, warehouses, as well as a representative of the Court - the governor.

Separately in administrative division, as the capital, the city of Cusco stood out. It was indicated in yellow. Each village, which was the capital of the province, had its own number. For example, to indicate that “Manco Capac, the first Inca ruler, conquered the first capital of the province, one large knot was introduced into the thread, two large knots were introduced into the second, and so on with all the others. It is known that Cuzco, the capital of the Empire, had three or four nodes, one above the other." It is also known that the distance of a province from the capital of the empire, Cuzco, was often made dependent on ordinal numbers: for example, the closer the province, the closer it or its curaca representative was to the Inca ruler in services, campaigns, rituals, and ceremonies.

To identify the provinces of the Tawantinsuyu Empire in the quipu writing, each province had its own mixture of colored threads. On the thread, in turn, a red thread could be placed (inserted) to indicate those killed in one’s army “from/in such and such a province.” Also, the use of thread color for the provinces of the Empire was found in kipus related to the statistics and taxation of such provinces. The same system applied to reports on the geographical and economic description of the Empire.

Pedro de Cieza de Leon, in his Chronicle of Peru, reported on the unprecedented accuracy of accounting using quipus: “In each capital of the province there were accountants called quipucamayocs, and with the help of these nodes they calculated and recorded the necessary taxes paid by the inhabitants of that area, starting from silver, gold, clothing and livestock, and ending with firewood and other much more insignificant things; and with the help of these same quipus, after one year, or ten, or twenty, they notified the one who was entrusted with collecting the reports; and it was done so well that even a couple of alpargata could not be hidden.”

Cieza de Leon provided information about the number of positions of Quipucamayoc in a single territorial unit: “and in every valley this accounting is still available today, and always in the inns there are as many accountants as there are managers in it [the valley], and every four months they submit their reports in the above-mentioned manner." For the provinces, the deadline for submitting reports was set at 1 year, since “at the end of the year, each province ordered that all people, both those who died there that year and, accordingly, those who were born, be included in the pile according to the number of its nodes. And at the beginning of the year they were entering, they came to Cusco with piles, from which it became clear how many were born that year and how many died.”

In the vicinity of the village of Cotapachi in Cochabamba, there were 2076 collcas (rounded storage facilities), which is 22.09% of warehouse buildings out of the currently known 9395 units in the Inca Empire, that is, it was one of the strategic areas of the empire where the procurement and storage of provisions took place. The average diameter of the storage facilities in Cotapachi was 3.5 m, and the approximate height was 2 m, therefore, the volume of round storage facilities in the Cochabambe Valley could be 45,000 m3 (almost the entire volume was filled with provisions), which was a very significant figure even in relation to other provincial centers Inca Empire. In modern terms, this is comparable to 1,360 TEU (20-foot containers) that could fit on a Handymax Class container ship (1,000-1,700 TEU). In general, the scale of the Incas' warehouse economy was so large that it is quite comparable with our modern ones.

The absence of a distinguished layer of free artisans and the associated weak development of private exchange, the absence of trade and any kind of commercial intermediaries is a feature of Inca society, in contrast to the Aztecs. It is explained by the fact that in Peru the early despotic state appropriated the labor of the community members, leaving them with little surplus for exchange.

Coins
In general, coins were not used in domestic trade, but in foreign trade they circulated mulu shells, coca leaves, clothing, and copper hatchets. The Indians of the Chonos culture (Ecuador) back in the 15th-16th centuries smelted copper with a content of 99.5% and used it as a coin in the form of hatchets 2 cm on the sides and 0.5 cm thick. This coin was circulated throughout west coast South America, including in the Inca state in the province of Chincha, where 6,000 traders lived.