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Some nice trivia about the Tawantinsuyo or 4 regions (also known as Inca empire):
- It sustained a population of 10,000,000 people. They did not use currency.
- The Spanish estimated that Inca warehouses (Qollqa) contained a surplus of food capable of maintaining the empire fed for 10 years.
- Their society was structured as a system of self-sufficient family clans (Ayllus).
- The Inca road system (Qhapaq Ñan) was possibly the most efficient form of communications infrastructure of its time.
- Their aqueducts (Puquios) used wind to pump water.
- "Ama sua, ama llulla, ama quella" ("Do not be lazy, do not lie, do not steal") was the Inca moral code.
- They used 2 languages, the commoners language (Runa simi) and the noble language (Qhapaq simi). The family of languages known today as Quechua are the Runa simi language. The Qhapaq simi language is extinct.
- They had an accounting system based on knotted strings called Quipus. It is unclear if quipus contained anything other than accounting information.
- Most modern potatoes descend from the ones cultivated by the Inca and their predecessors. Potatoes are one of the most efficient crops in terms of land use and nutrition. European population grew substantially after the introduction of the potato, prior to that, the staple crop was wheat.
- After Sapa Inca Huayna Capac died, his 2 sons waged a war of succession. The prevailing son, Atahuallpa, initiated a purge the Inca nobility, effectively decapitating the Inca empire. The fall of the Inca empire took place when Pizarro forces encountered Atahuallpa at Cajamarca during a Spiritual retreat that took place after the purge. The event is known as the "Battle" of Cajamarca, although it was more like an ambush since the Inca side was not expecting a battle and were not in fighting gear. The "battle" ended when Atahuallpa was took hostage, an idea that Pizarro took from Hernan Cortes.
> Most modern potatoes descend from the ones cultivated by the Inca and their predecessors.
While the first potatoes introduced in Europe were high Andean in origin, the modern potato stems mostly from lowland varieties cultivated in southern Chile[1].
[1]: https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.3732/ajb...
The final bit is chilling when you read the contemporary account. They were able to defeat a much larger force, and kill at least 2000 incans. It’s actually one of the most cruel, and horrifying acts of the Spanish conquest.
The Inca also practiced ritualized child sacrifice, which might partially explain why the Spanish reacted the way they did upon encountering them.
Let's deconstruct the concept of human sacrifice a little bit:
1) A religious motivation.
2) A religious ritual.
3) Someone is killed in order to gain the favor of a deity.
The executions during the inquisition also fit this description. And while there are differences, my point is that it is straightforward to talk trash about other cultures without taking an honest look at our own.
And that is not all. There are historical accounts from the Spanish themselves describing children being killed in brutal ways, such as grabbing infants by their legs and smashing them against rocks. Compared to that Qhapaq hucha is a trip to Disneyland.
Pizarro himself as well as his men took children as prisoners and abused them sexually, including the direct family of the Sapa Inca. The king sent him a letter saying he should not have done that because the Sapa Inca was a monarch.
Today, some people claim those historical accounts belong to what is known as "The Black Legend", a smear campaign against the Spanish empire. That is a very convenient thing to believe if your country benefited from brutally-executed exploitation colonialism.
The "human sacrifice" card is often played by people trying to present colonization as something legitimate and moral. It was not.
Other poor excuses for colonialism often used include: they were supersticious, they did not effectively use their land, they did not have the concept of property, they were oppressed by their monarchs, etc. All of them excuses.
The purpose of the Spanish colonization of the Americas was not only to grow their economy, and expand their religion and territory. It was to suppress every culture, language, religion in the Americas, and some conquistadors took it even further: extermination.
Another considertion is that after Hernan Cortes succeeded in Yucatan, every Conquistador aspired to do the same thing. Pizarro had that plan in mind before becoming aware of the existence of the Inca.
In Cajamarca, when Pizarro read the "requerimiento" to Atahuallpa, it was done merely as a legal formality. They had cannons already in place to use them regardless of his reaction. They did not care to use an interpreter, or tried in any way to persuade them.
Interesting, because what happened to Clovis in N.A. is a big question. Heading south because of a much colder climate (13ka-12ka) would explain a lot.
"Ancient DNA reveals two unknown migrations from North to South America"
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181108142421.h...
Is there any actual evidence that Machu Picchu was built by Incas? There are very different qualities of the old, megalithic construction from what we actually know the Incas built.
I don't doubt that many of the structures on Machu Picchu are Inca, but I wonder if they didn't inherit most of it.