Beginnings of Inca Society

Inca society began as a small tribe in the Cuzco area of Peru, in the 12th century AD. The small city-state of Cuzco was founded by Manqo Qhapaq Inca, who organized the emergent society into a kingdom. Early histories relate a gradual expansion from Cuzco leading to many victories, with a handful of defeats to neighboring tribes, with accounts varying regarding the extent of influence the Inca had over the region. Archeological evidence however does not support the idea that the Incas had an extensive polity until 1400 AD.

The historical records are very sketchy for several reasons. Firstly, the tendency of early Inca rulers was to deify themselves in order to secure holy authority: the legend of Manqo Qhapaq's family origin is that they emerged from a central cave called the "Rich Window", Qhapaq T'oqo, and were summoned by Viracocha, the Creator God, before leaving to found the settlement of Cuzco. Along the way, further supernatural events took place such as Ayar Uchu being transformed into a stone, and Ayar Awka flying around on his wings.

Secondly, if the Inca kept written records, they are not around today. This prevents anything but oral histories and Spanish observations around the time of the conquest from revealing the history of the Inca people. Also, during the time of imperial expansion, extensive reformation and rebuilding took place at Cuzco, with the first Incan settlement being stripped of its population so it could be rebuilt from scratch as the new imperial capital. Finally, Inca efforts to retake the city from the Spaniards in 1536 and a devastating earthquake in 1650 also took their toll. This means much of the archeological evidence which could otherwise be obtained has been lost, and the surveys and excavations that have been conducted are mostly located many kilometers from the capital.

Despite the lack of crucial evidence, it is still possible to piece together a rough outline of pre-imperial Inca society as a chiefdom based, often warring people who sealed important alliances with marriages including exchanges of gifts or fine textiles. Successful warlords, sometimes the ruler but just as often the ruler's kin, were important in securing plunder earlier in the society's development, though gradually military objectives evolved towards more permanent goals such as occupying the land of defeated neighbours, eventually resulting in the imperial strategy of annexing vast territories into the Inca empire.

An evolving elite ideology also contribued to the early successes of Inca leaders. Claims to leadership based on genealogy or military prowess were also legitimized by religious sanction in the royal narratives, as demonstrated by the earliest rulers who claimed to be deities themselves. Indeed most of the early kings were imbued with magical powers, granted to them by the Sun or Creator God. Mayta Qhapaq, for example, was so filled with wondrous feats and magical powers that the Spaniards used classical examples such as Hercules and Merlin to describe the Incan to their European contemporaries.

All in all, although there is a large degree of conjecture in any attempt to describe early Incan civilization, the exisiting information does appear to be consistent with a chiefdom based society evolving into a powerful polity with religiously sanctioned rulers leading their populace to victory over neighboring tribes. The archeological evidence suggests a powerful Incan polity emerging by the middle of the fourteenth century, with architectural and artifactual elements of the early imperial styles starting to take form.

Next - Expansion into empire