Inca Culture at the Time of the Spanish Conquest

INCA CULTURE AT THE TIME OF THE SPANISH CONQUEST By JOHN HOWLAND ROWE INTRODUCTION This section of the Handbook deals with the culture of the Andean region between Ecuador and the northern border of Aymara territory as it was observed by the Spanish conquerors in the 16th century and recorded in surviving documents. This area includes the whole of the desert Coast of Perti and the broken valleys of the Peruvian Highlands, a region which was the home of many different tribes, nations, languages, and cultures before it was superficially unified by its incor- poration into the Inca l Empire (map 1, No. 4). It would be obviously impossible to include a complete account of each tribe in the Hand- book, even if the necessary information existed. With minor excep- tions, however, the whole of the literature now available which deals with this part of the Andean area refers to Inca culture in .the region around Cuzco, so that it is only for the Inca that a complete cultural description is possible. The account that follows, therefore, is specifically an ethnographical description of the Inca culture, although differences in other parts of the area are indicated when the limita- tions of the source material permit. The area covered by this section lies only a small distance from the Equator, but cold ocean currents make the dry coast almost temperate, and most of the mountain valleys are at an elevation of 7,000 to 12,000 feet (2,000 to 4,000 m.) above sea level, where the elevation counter- acts the effects of the low latitude. Throughout the area, the climate varies more with elevation than with distance from the Equator, so that hot low valleys are only a short journey from, cold plateau country where little can be grown except potatoes. As a result, it costs the inhabitants relatively little effort to vary their diet and dress with the products of another climate, and this incentive is as much of an en- couragement to local travel as the broken mountain and desert barriers are a hindrance. Rainfall is light in the mountains and almost absent 1 Inca is used to denote the Ouechua-speaking peoples around Cuzco, and, more generally, the Empire which they Nled. It seems better to avoid the “so of “Inca” as B title for the Emperor or to refer specifically to the royal family, although such a practice is common and historically correct. 183 184 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B.A.E. DULL. 143 on the Coast, so that irrigation is generally necessary for successful cultivation. Before the introduction of the eucalyptus in the 19th century, trees were very scarce, and usually so gnarled and stunted as to be of little use except for firewood. Salt, copper, gold, and silver are common, and pottery clay and building stone are abundant. POPULATION The modern population of the whole Andean area, from the north of Ecuador to northern Argentina and Chile, is about 14 million. It is not dense in relation to the total area covered, but extremely so if only the sections useful for agriculture and grazing are considered, for much of it is too rocky, too steep, or too dry to be of much use to its inhabitants. The ancient population was almost certainly smaller than the modern, for there has been considerable urban growth and local in- dustrialization in recent years, but it is very difficult to make an accurate estimate of the difference. The Inca kept accurate population statistics (Cieza, 1880, 2, ch. 19), but the figures were nearly all lost at the time of the Spanish Conquest, and the first Spanish figures available are derived from the census taken by Viceroy Toledo about 1571, when a total of 311,257 taxpayers, or ljh million persons, was regis- tered (Morales, 1866). The total of Toledo’s census is, however, of little use in an attempt to estimate Inca population at about 1525, for in the 40 intervening years the Indian population was nearly destroyed by civil wars, epidemics, lawlessness, extortion, and cultural shock. These factors affected the provinces differently, and the amount of population loss varied correspondingly. The following sample figures will illustrate the variation: TABLE 1.-Estimated Inca population loss in the provinces of the Andean area from 1686 to 1671’ Province 1525 1571 Ratio -- Rim80________________________________________--- _ _________ _ ________ 160,006 9,ooo l&l OhiUOhfl._____________ _ _________________________ _______ _____________ 2,070 26:l Y8UyOs ___-________ _ _______________________________ _ ________-_-_---- 3:: 3:2 soya”--- - _ -_ -_ _ _ - - - _ _ _ _ _ _ - _ - _ _ _ - - _ _ - - - - - - - _ _-_ _ _ - - - - - - - - - - - -. - - - - 136 ooil %E ________________________________________----------~---------.-- 1s: 159 :;: Total________________________________________------ _ __________ 4fgE 97,229 4:l 1 Rimso: Cobo, 1890-96, 1: 7; Morales, 1866, p. 42. Chincha: Castro and Ortega Morejbn, 1936, p. 240; Morales, 1886, p. 43. Yauyos: RGI, 1881-97,1:62. Huancas: RGI, 18E1-97,1:81-82: Morales, 1866. Sores: RGI, 1881-97, 1:170; Morales, 1866, 44. The figures for Rimac,.Chinchs, and Yauyos are based on the stated number of honokoraks, or oh efsP of 10,000 taxpayers, maintamed in each province by the$zca government. Totals of taxpayers ere converted into total population st the rate of 1:6, by analogy with the 1571 figures for Sores and Ruoenss (RGI, 1881-97. 1:170, 181, 199). Figures in round numbers and ratios are approximate. (See also Seriores, 1904, p. 204.) This table includes all the reliable estimates of Inca population that have been preserved for our area, and, as the tribes listed were selected by the historical accident of this preservation, the group can be fairly called a random sample. It is also a representative group, for it includes two of the provinces known to have suffered worst between VOL.21 INCA CULTURE--ROWE 185 1525 and 1571 (Chincha and Rimac) and two that escaped relatively unharmed (Yauyos and Some). Consequently, it is not unreasonable to apply the ratio of totals (4 :l) to the population reported in 1571, and estimate the total population of the Andean area in 1525 at about 6 million. ‘TRIBES AND PROVINCES At the time of the Inca conquest, the whole Andean area was divi- ded into an almost unbelievable number of small political units, for many of which we do not have even the names. The linguistic diver- sity was nearly as bad, and the Inca....fomid it necessary to impose their own language, usually called &echu$; as a common medium for --- government and inter-communicatr%i-in the whole extent of their dominions. The Spaniards found Quechua such a convenient tool in their dealings with the natives that they never bothered to learn most of the local languages, dozens of which have perished without leaving a trace. This political and linguistic situation makes the , composition of any list of tribes or their representation on a map extremely difficult. The Inca simplified the map of the Andean area rather arbitrarily, however, by dividing their Empire into provinces based on the old tribal and linguistic units, but with small tribes combined or added to neighboring large ones. Although our knowl- edge of the Inca provincial divisions is also incomplete, the provinces are still the most convenient units by which to describe the area, and the named areas on the accompanying map (map 3) corre- spond as nearly as possible to the Inca provinces. All additional information available on synonymy, small groups included with the provincial boundaries, and bibliographical references of some ethnological or historical importance is presented in the following list of tribes. The list deals first with the Highlands, from north to south, and then with the Coast valleys in the same order. The divisions of the Coast used in the list and on the map are individual valleys. In most known cases, each valley was administered by the Inca as a separate province, but some of the small ones may have been combined. In spelling, 16th-century Spanish followed no fixed rules, and even - the simple conventions usually preferred by the printers of the day were seldom followed by scribes in America. Between this and the shortcomings of the 16th-century Spanish soldier as a phonetician, it is often extremely diflicult to recognize native names of known pronunciation, and impossible to restore exactly those of doubtful pronunciation. The Spaniards frequently wrote voiced stops for unvoiced stops: b for p and g for k, as in “bamba” (from Quechua PAMPA) and Ynga (from Quechua “IRKA"). Y was usually written instead of i at the beginning of a word. X and E, both sibilant sounds which Spanish has since lost, were written for Quechua ‘(s”; 186 SOUTH AMERICAN INDIANS [B.A. %BuLL.~~~ the flrst has become Spanish j, the second, Spanish z in modern spellings. L was often written for Quechua “r”; gu and hu before vowels usually stand for Quechua “w.” Hence forms like Caxamalca and Cajamarca from Q’ASA-MARKA, Guamanga from WAMARQA. The worst confusion is in the spelling of Spanish u and hu and Quechua “o” and “wa” B and 2, were used almost interchangeably for u; so, in Spanish words, the forms “vuo (hubo!)” and “cibdad (ciudad)” are not uncommon. Quechua WIL’KA-PAMPA becomes Vilcabamba, or even Bilcabamba. Initial h is added, or omitted capriciously (“horden” for “orden”). Quechua names are written phonemicelly in large and small capital letters in the following list and through the text where it is possible to reconstruct the pronunciation from the Hispanicized form used in the chronicles.

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