Inca :: essays research papers

The IncaThe Incas were a limpid people with a distinct language living in a highland center, Cuzco. They were an ancient people, but had been subject to the regional powers during the entire invoice of to the south American urban cultures. They began to expand their influence in the 12th century and in the early sixteenth century, they exercised control over more(prenominal) rule than any other people had done in South American history. The empire consisted of over one million individuals, spanning a territory stretching from Ecuador to northern Chile.Unlike the military empires in Central America, the Incas command by proxy. After conquering a people, they would incorporate local rulers into their majestic system, generously reward anyone who fought for them, and treated well both those conquered people who cooperated. So, in reality, the incaInca "empire," as the invading Spanish called it, was not really an empire. It was more of a confederation of folkss with a exclusive people, the Incas, more or less in control. each(prenominal) of these tribes was ruled independently by a council of elders the tribe as a whole gave its allegiance to the ruler, or "Inca." The "Inca" was divine he was the descendent of the sun-god.The social structure of the Incas was extremely inflexible. At the top was the Inca who exercised, theoretically, absolute power. on a lower floor the Inca was the royal family which consisted of the Incas immediate family, concubines, and all his children. This royal family was a command aristocracy. Each tribe had tribal heads each clan in each tribe had clan heads. At the very bottom were the common people who were all grouped in squads of ten people each with a single "boss." The social unit, then, was primarily based on cooperation and communality. This guaranteed that there would always be enough for everyone but the centralization of authority meant that there was no chance of individual advanc ement (which was not valued). It also meant that the system depended too oft on the centralized authority once the invading Spanish seized the Inca and the ruling family, they were able to conquer the Inca territories with lightening speed. Conquered people were required to pay a labor tax (mita ) to the state with this labor tax, the Incas built an astonishing entanglement of roads and terraced farmlands throughout the Andes. Agriculture was tough business in the Andes. The Incas actively set about carving up mountains into terraced farmlandsso successful were they in turning steep mountainsides into terraced farms, that in 1500 there was more land in cultivation in the Andean highlands then there is today.