INGA CULTURE: HISTORY, CHARACTERISTICS, ECONOMY AND CUSTOMS - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Inga or Ingano culture is an ethnic group that comes from Quechua and whose origins date back to the pre-Hispanic era of America. According to archaeologists and researchers, the Inga culture has its beginnings in Quito, Ecuador. However, its largest settlement took place in the department of Putumayo, Colombia.

Their language is “Quichua Inga” which is part of Northern Quechua and is also spoken by most of the indigenous groups of Argentina, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia and Chile.

The Inga culture had its greatest center of life and development in Ecuador, within the Tumbaco parish and on the slopes of the extinct volcano “Ilaló”. In that territory its agricultural and artisan development was prefigured.

At present, the magnificence of Inga is concentrated in the "Inga Archaeological Center", one of the oldest in Ecuador. In the same place of the Archaeological Center there was an Inga workshop in the Paleo-Indian period. A good part of the exhibition of handicrafts and work tools were already in the territory.

The Ingas developed one of the most advanced agricultural systems of the Paleo-Indian period. In addition to agricultural activities, they were also characterized by being ranchers and poultry farmers, especially turkey breeding.

The Inga culture is known for its itinerant medicine practices, in Ecuador they are known as shamans and witches. In their economic system they included the harvest and sale of herbs that they considered medicinal.

This culture took root in Ecuador and has been one of the ones that left the most evidence. This has made possible anthropological and archaeological studies.

Inga culture history

Historians and researchers have proposed that the origins of the Inga lie in the great Inca Empire, in pre-Hispanic times. According to this approach, the Inga were the ones who guarded the borders to protect the territory and prevent the insurrection of the tribes subjected by the Incas.

At the end of the 15th century, they were sent to the Valle del Sibundo to prevent the rebellion of the Kwaikers of Nariño, Colombia. There they were isolated from the other Quechua groups. His stay gave rise to a mixture of his culture with those existing in the area.

The warrior tradition of the Inga has been one of the determining elements for their constant migration, in fact, about a thousand Ingas from Alto de Putumayo moved to Venezuela.

The largest enclosure of Inga preservation is in the Inga Archaeological Center, in Ecuador. The center is visited every year by thousands of tourists and those interested in Inga anthropology. Items made of wood, leather, clay, horn and stone items stand out in the exhibition of articles.

The evidence suggests that the place was used to search for means of subsistence and to manufacture, in a rudimentary way, weapons and utensils.

characteristics

Location

The Inga people were characterized by constantly crossing the borders of the countries, but they never left South America like other cultures.

Economic activities

The Inga economy was based on the agriculture of corn, beans, squash and chili. They were also dedicated to raising birds and selling healing remedies.

Warrior culture

The Inga are known to be one of the strongest and most warrior cultures of the pre-Hispanic period, in fact many think that they were the main caretakers of the Inca Empire.

Healers

They were the doctors of the time. There is evidence of accounts of people who were cured by them and currently, an essential part of their economy as a group consists of the sale of these products.

Family life

For the Inga, family life is fed day by day. Their natural gathering space is the fire pit where they congregate to talk about their traditions and preservation of culture.

The Inga culture has been marked by the tradition of constant migration and exchange of cultural life. Proof of this are the new generations of Ingas born in cities and urban populations.

Economy

The Inga economy was characterized by the cultivation of corn, chili peppers, Sikhs, peanuts and squash. They also developed important hunting and fishing techniques to supplement their diet. They were also pioneers in the belief of turkeys and other poultry species.

The Inga culture suffered modifications in its traditions and economy due to migratory activity. In Colombia there are Ingas councils with legal recognition and authority.

Today's Inga economy is based on magical-religious products that promise to cure some ailments. Another part of the Ingas are dedicated to the commercialization of handicrafts and musical instruments.

Currently there are ingas in almost all the cities of Colombia. They have achieved a significant degree of internal and external social cohesion, the Inga have developed in the midst of the informal economy as healers and street vendors of medicinal herbs.

Customs and beliefs

The Ingas are polytheists, that is, they have several gods. In their worship, they exalt nature, especially the plants that they consider were bequeathed by their gods to calm their pain.

Inga knowledge about the medicinal properties of plants is very large. For them the "yagé" is a sacred plant, used to reveal the earthly and spiritual world of people, as well as to unite them in marriage.

For the Inga, the family has an essential character in life, its conservation space is around the hearth. Their houses are rectangular with two or three rooms.

Shamanism

The Inga were the doctors of the pre-Hispanic period. His itinerant medicine practice included the cultivation, exchange and sale of medicinal plants that only function after the magical rituals that continued after the harvest.

The wise shamans were called “sinchi” or “curacas”, their main plant was the “banisteriopsis caapi” or “yagé”. That we now know has psychotropic effects.

For the Inga culture, this plant was the source of the cure to diseases and the means of contact with their gods and ancestors.

The preparation of the "sinchi" or wise healers begins in childhood, when they are chosen by other wise men to be educated in the properties of nature's plants and thus preserve Inga magic and medicine.

References

1. Blogtravel (2015) Characteristics and History of the Inga Culture of Ecuador. Recovered from: blogitravel.com.
2. Wikipedia contributors (2017) Inga. Recovered from: es.wikipedia.org.
3. Quito (2013) The Inga Pichincha. Recovered from: quitoadventure.com.
4. Eugene, R. (1965) Archaeological investigations at the site of El Inga. Editorial House of Ecuadorian Culture. Ecuador.
5. Ortega de la Torre, F. (1995) De Inga or Mandinga.. Editorial House of Ecuadorian Culture. Ecuador.
6. Gutiérrez, A. (2002) Gods, symbols and food in the Andes: man-fauna interrelation in Ecuador. Editorial Abya Yala. Quito, Ecuador.
7. Vázquez, M. (2014) Inga Culture. Recovered from: es.scribd.com.