Inca Integration Strategies

At the high point of their empire, the ethnic Incas were outnumbered by their conquered peoples by 100 to 1 (D'Altroy 231). With a varied population divided into more than 80 provinces, the Incas were forced to employ different strategies to integrate different areas of the empire (D'Altroy 232). To illustrate these strategies, it is useful to look at the structure of their capital city of Cuzco, the census and taxation procedures for the provinces, and the infrastructure that connected the heartland and outlying areas.

Cuzco was completely rebuilt during the reign of Pachakuti. The core of the city was planned out carefully to represent the Incas' place in the world and their cosmology, and surrounding lands were set aside for nobles, the families of deceased rulers, and artisans who provided important goods for the Inca rituals (D'Altroy 109). The city was designed in such a way as to give visitors a sense of awe at how powerful the Incas were (D'Altroy 113). The residents of the city were arranged to show their relation to the ruler and their status in general. The elites were arranged into ten royal groups, called panaqs, and ten non-royal ayllus (D'Altroy 99). The royal groups lived within the core of the city, while the non-royal groups lived on the perimeter (D'Altroy 119). Upper Cuzco residents were separated from Lower Cuzco residents by status, and the higher elevation of the living areas of the former group reflected this difference (D'Altroy 114). In addition to this, the mummies of past rulers were kept to participate in matters of state and various ceremonies and rituals (D'Altroy 96). Part of the reason for this was to rationalize the royal groups' ownership of excess resources (D'Altroy 127). Every aspect of the structure of Cuzco and the activities that took place there were meant to reflect and naturalize status differences of different groups within the empire.

While the Inca elite spent their time in Cuzco, the majority of the empire was made up of conquered peoples of various statuses. In order to keep track of and control populations, censuses were taken regularly and taxpayers were grouped into decimal-based hierarchies (D'Altroy 231). The ruler would appoint a governor to head each province, and the governor would in turn appoint local elites as lords to rule smaller segments of the population (D'Altroy 232). While there were some laws in place to identify taxpayers and control their movements (D'Altroy 231), most of the supervision of the populace was based on ritual exchange (D'Altroy 236). The lords procured rarer items for the commoners (D'Altroy 200) and used the hierarchy system to calculate labor duties for the civil and military needs of the state (D'Altroy 232). Groups rich in resources important to the government could avoid military service completely (D'Altroy 221), but for the remainder of the groups military service was conscripted on a rotating basis (D'Altroy 217). A similar decimal system was used as a means of troop organization, with officers ranging from royal kin to ethnic leaders (D'Altroy 214).

A sophisticated infrastructure was needed to support the military and other workings of the state. Provincial affairs were managed through a network of regional centers and storage facilities (D'Altroy 237), along with garrisons, forts, and an advanced road system between them (D'Altroy 205). Regional centers were strategically placed to aid long-distance movement of the military (D'Altroy 238). Sustaining large forces far from home necessitated the use of storage depots positioned at regular distances along the roads (D'Altroy 208). While forts were not necessary for Inca rule in secure lands, garrisons of loyal colonists were installed to avoid uprisings among threatening societies (D'Altroy 209). The roads served many purposes within the empire. They were much larger and more elaborate than needed for simple travel; they reinforced the Inca image of power and unified the empire physically and psychologically (D'Altroy 242).

The Incas used an impressive assortment of strategies to integrate their empire, but when Pizarro and his troops arrived in Cajamarca, the empire was wavering on the brink of catastrophe. While rulers were absolute, they depended on the aristocracy to carry out their plans for the state (D'Altroy 91). A civil war between two brothers fighting for the throne had uprooted the traditional kin-based hierarchy of the elites in Cuzco (D'Altroy 77). Successions gave the commoners a chance to rise up against the Inca authorities and assert their independence and reassertion of control sometimes took years to complete (D'Altroy 71). Had the Spanish not arrived when they did, Atawallpa would have had his hands full bringing the conquered people back under control. However, without the solid support of the aristocracy in Cuzco, the task would have been nearly impossible and the empire would have fallen into decline.

Works Cited

D'Altroy, Terence N. The Incas. Blackwell Publishing: Malden, MA 2003.