INCA ECONOMY: ORGANIZATION, BASES AND ACTIVITIES OF THE EMPIRE - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Inca economy refers to the production and trade systems developed by the Quechua civilization during the existence of the Inca Empire. This economy began its development from the year 1200 a. C, when the first towns and villages emerged in the area of ​​the north coast of present-day Peru.

Over the years, the religious centers of the Quechuas were transformed into populous urban centers that housed residences, markets, and administrative, political and religious bodies.

The Inca economy was based on a framework of kinship relationships, which bind members of an extended family through ritually established obligations. Source: pixabay.com

The economy of these centers was based primarily on the development and control of large areas of land dedicated to the agricultural economy and livestock. This process had its apogee during the reign of the Inca Pachacútec (1433-1471).

In this way, during the reign of Pachacútec, the Inca State was organized and the empire spread, which covered the current territories of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and part of Colombia, Chile and Argentina.

Economic organization of the Empire

It is important to indicate that the Inca economy should not be analyzed and understood according to the economic concepts that are used today.

Therefore, to understand it, it is necessary to start from a framework of kinship relationships, which linked the members of an extended family through ritually established obligations.

The bases and activities of the economy of the Inca Empire were:

The reciprocity system

When the expansion of the Inca settlements began, authority was not exercised directly, but was executed through reciprocity and the minka (which translates as "begging someone to help me by promising them something").

Reciprocity allowed an exchange based on work benefits, which was organized through kinship relationships. Therefore, wealth depended on the labor available to a community and not on the amount of goods a particular individual accumulated.

In this regard, historians describe two levels of reciprocity: the communities united by kinship ties and the Inca State surrounded by a military and administrative apparatus favored by the services of its subjects, whose surpluses were redistributed.

How reciprocity was achieved

The Inca reciprocity system was fulfilled by following the following steps:

First, the Inca Pachacútec, in meetings with the lords of the neighboring towns, offered abundant food, drinks and music, in addition to an exchange of women to establish kinship.

Second, the Inca formulated the "request" that consisted of the request for the construction of warehouses. A second "plea" allowed other arrangements to fill the food depots.

Thirdly and finally, the lords of the neighboring towns when verifying the “generosity” of Pachacútec, agreed to the Inca's requests.

As new conquests were made, the number of towns and noble lords joined the empire by reciprocal ties increased, resulting in a large workforce.

The construction of administrative centers

As the growth of the Inca Empire increased, the sovereigns encountered certain difficulties in reciprocity, which resulted in a delay in their economic plans.

To reduce the problem, administrative centers were built throughout the entire Empire, where the lords of the region met with important government figures; in this way, the rites and requirements of reciprocity could be fulfilled.

The most important of these centers - due to its large number of deposits - was Huánuco Pampa. In numerous preserved documents, notable references have been found to the amount of crops and supplies directed to Huánuco Pampa.

Work systems: the minca, the ayni and the mita

Minca

It was a work provision designed to satisfy a communal need that implied relationships of reciprocity, commitment and complementarity. An example of the minca was to raise the harvest of a family group with an immediate return, which could be an abundant meal or a commitment to reciprocity in the future.

Ayni

The aynis were the benefits that each member of the group could request from the others and that later had to be returned. They were usually associated with the cultivation of the land and the care of livestock.

Mita

Half is shift work that was done for periods. The workers left their communities of origin and were transferred to other areas to fulfill the requested commitments, which were related to the production of redistributable goods.

The three headlines: the Inca, the Sun and the People

The Incas had a very different concept of property than today, which implied a different way of dividing the land. The chronicles speak of the lands of the Inca, the Sun and the people.

The lands of the Inca existed throughout the Empire. The work was carried out by the local people and the profit of these lands was remitted to the state deposits. While, what was destined for the Sun was used to maintain the entire religious structure of the state, as well as the cults, priests and temples.

Finally, what was produced by the town was divided proportionally among all the inhabitants. The distribution of the product of the land was carried out according to the unit of measurement called mole. This was a set amount of products. A mole supplied an adult male and when a couple formed, the female received half.

Inca agriculture

Agriculture was the main Inca economic activity, far surpassing other pre-Columbian civilizations in this task. Its impressive developments of stepped terraces for cultivation are famous, which could be tens of meters wide and up to 1500 meters long.

These terraces were built in sometimes inaccessible places -such as steep mountain slopes- to later be filled with earth, thus gaining new land for cultivation.

The terraces for cultivation were built in sometimes inaccessible places, such as steep mountain slopes. Source: pixabay.com

Livestock

Camelids played a very important role in the development of Andean cultures, especially in the highlands, where food resources were limited. There was no animal as useful as the llama in the Andean territory, since its uses were multiple.

The two domesticated species were the llama (Lama glama) and the alpaca (Lama paco). Two other wild species were the vicuña (Lama vicugna) and the guanaco (Lama guanicoe).

Along with the cotton planted on the coast, the llama wool constituted the fibers for weaving the cloth (abasca), which was used by the common people. On the other hand, vicuña and alpaca wool were used to make finer and more luxurious textiles (cumbi).

Furthermore, dehydrated, sun-dried llama meat had the advantage of being easily preserved and stored in warehouses.

State deposits

Obtaining a significant surplus in agricultural production served redistribution at the state level and covered the requirements of reciprocity. These profits were kept in a large number of government warehouses.

The deposits were located in the headwaters of each province and in the city of Cusco. These conferred on the Inca government an accumulation of profitable goods that symbolized its power.

The following of the same rules established for crops and crops was decisive in the success of these warehouses, that is, there were managers who kept themselves from the warehouses they watched.

In this way, everything was kept in the warehouses and, despite the Spanish conquest, the natives continued to fill the warehouses as if the Inca government existed, because they assumed that once peace had been restored they would take into account the goods produced up to then.

Storage in warehouses

In the warehouses, everything was stored in an orderly manner and the durability of the products was taken into account.

These warehouses were generally built on the slopes of the hills, specifically in high, cool and ventilated places. They had the appearance of turrets built in rows and separated in order to prevent the spread of fire in case of fire.

How they stored the products

The products were kept very carefully, which made it possible to register the accounts in the quipu in charge of the quipucamayoc.

The corn was preserved shelled in large ceramic jars, with small covered bowls; potatoes, like coca leaves, were kept in reed baskets, taking care that the amounts stored were equivalent.

As for the articles of clothing, a certain number of them were tied in bundles. The dehydrated fruits and dried shrimp were arranged in small reed pouches.

Arithmetic annotation system

The Inca state, despite not having writing, stood out for its high degree of efficiency in managing the economy. This was achieved thanks to the development of the quipu, which is a system of arithmetic annotations.

The quipu consists of a main rope and other secondary ones that hung from it. In the latter, a series of knots were made that indicated quantities, while the colors represented certain products or items.

The official who kept the accounts through the quipu was called q uipucamayoc. Few knew the handling of this system since its teaching was reserved for selected state officials and members of the nobility.

All the information generated by the quipus was kept in special warehouses that were in the city of Cuzco. These deposits functioned as a gigantic ministry of economy.

References

1. Murra J. (1975). economic and political formations of the Andean world. Retrieved on November 4, 2019 from: academia.edu/33580573/John-Murra-1975
2. Alberti, G., Mayer, E. (1974). Reciprocity and exchange in the Peruvian Andes. Retrieved on November 4, 2019 from: repositorio.iep.org.pe/bitstream/IEP/667/2/peruproblema12.pdf
3. Clear, Edwin. (2011). Land distribution by the Inca Huayna Capac (1556). Retrieved on November 5, 2019 from: scielo.org.bo
4. Ramírez S. (2008). Negotiating the empire: the Inca State as a cult. Retrieved on November 6, 2019 from: redalyc.org
5. Darrell La Lone. (1982). The Inca as a nonmarket economy: Supply on command versus supply and demand contexts for prehistoric exchange. Retrieved on November 6, 2019 from: academia.edu
6. Newitz, A. (2012). The greatest mystery of the Inca Empire was its strange economy. Retrieved on November 6, 2019 from: gizmodo.com