Inca Traditions Today

Much of the Inca traditions still survive among many parts of South America, especially Peru. Quechua is still spoken today by about 13 million people in isolated villages in Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Northern Chile, Argentina, and South Colombia. Today a majority of Peruvians would fall in the Mestizo category. The Mestizo race was created during the year the Incas have been conquered by the Spanish. Mestizo is a person of part- American Indian and part- European heritage. About 45 percent of the people in Peru are Native American, 37 percent are Mestizo, and 15 percent are European descendants. The social organization in the Andeans region is still based on the ayllu where work, marriage, and land-ownership are centered in a complex extended family organization. Curing ceremonies that were used by the Incas to cure the sick are used today in Peru. The clothing styles that are currently worn by the Andean were worn by their Incan ancestors. Much of the jewelry in Peru is made with gold, silver, and spandylus shell. Ancient figures are commonly used to make jewelry designs, for example the tumi. The tumi is a ceremonial knife that was used in Inca sacrifices and also today one of the most popular designs in Peruvian jewelry.

"Inca History & Culture and its Effect on Peruvians Today." Colored-stone.com. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. .

"Inca (Quechua)." MNSU. Web. 4 Dec. 2009. .

Conquest

The first time the Incas encounter a white man was the year 1525 when the Incas where attacked by the the Chiriguano, a Native American Tribe from Paraguay. Aleixo Garcia, a Portuguese explorer, fought with the Chiriguano and was later murdered by his Indian allies. In 1832, Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro and 180 of his men arrived in Peru. At first, the Incas believed that Pizzaro was their creator god Viracocha. Pizarro launched a surprise attack on the Incas. Since the Inca Empire was already weakened before the Spanish explorers arrived by a series of civil wars, it was easy for the Spanish to conquer the Incas. Pizzaro later gain control of the Inca capitol, Cuzco, and took advantage of the wealth in the land to expand his Spanish rule even further. The leader of the Incas, Monco Capac II, escaped Cuzco to create a new Inca state and rebel against the Spanish rule. Small Inca kingdom that built in the difficult terrains at Vilcacabamba survived another 36 years. The Spanish were so determined to destroy the Inca Kingdom. In 1572, the Spanish finally captured the last Emperor of the Incas and beheaded him which ended the Inca dynasty.


"The Christian conquerors." World History Collection. Christianity Today International, 1 Feb. 1990. Web. 1 Dec. 2009. .

"Francisco Pizarro." Historic World Leaders. Gale Research, 1994. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/
"Aleixo García." Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. 5 vols. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1996. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/History/

Culture

The Incas had a “hierarchical structure of Incan society” (Maier). The Inca people lived in a society called the ayllu which was where families lived together and shared land, animals, and crops. Everyone in the Inca Empire was born into an ayllu and died in it. Mates were chosen based on the on the ayllu. If a man did not marry by the time they turn 20 years old, the leader of the ayllu picked his mate. Most of the Incas were farmers that worked on the land, but the Emperor owned all the land in the empire. The emperor divided the land among his people, the size of the land depended on the size of the ayllu. The living conditions of the Inca depended on their social class. An emperor lived a life fit for a king. The emperor lived in a golden temple surrounded with his golden belongings. Traditionally, the emperor married his sister to have sons that where considered to be direct descendants of their sun god, Inti. Royalty and nobility did not need to pay taxes and where given land, llamas, and fine clothing. For Incan girls that were born in the low social class, it was an honor to be “chosen women” in the temple to receive education. Only the most beautiful young girls were chosen from each ayllu. Sometimes, “chosen women” were scarified to the god and buried on the peak of the Andeans mountains. “Their religion was pantheistic- they worshipped many gods” (Nelson).

Maier, Pauline. Inventing America. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2006. Print. p26, 29
Nelson, Rebecca. The Handy History Answer Book. Canton: Visible Ink, 1999. Print. P7-9

Origins

Legend says that the Incas originated from a small group of hostile people that lived near Lake Titicaca in the southeastern part of Peru before the 13th century. It was said that Manco Capac was the first Inca emperor. Manco’s brothers and sisters came from caves in the earth. In the year 1200, Manco led ten clans from Lake Titicaca to Cuzco. The Incas conquered the land and people that resided there. Manco and his sister Mama Ocllo married each other to produce the royal Inca bloodline. The Inca Empire extended 25 miles around Cuzco during the time when Viracocha Inca, who was the eighth emperor of the Incas, was in control. When Viracocha Inca’s son, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, became emperor, the Incas expanded significantly after the takeover of the Chanca tribe. Pachacuti was an important leader of the Incas for the reason that he reorganized the Inca social and political system. Pachacuti and his son, Topa Inca Yupanque, together extended the empire from northern Ecuador to central Chile. At this point, the Inca Empire reached 3,000 miles.

Colonial Latin America Review; Jun2008, Vol. 17 Issue 1, p125-141, 17p

History & Anthropology; Sep2004, Vol.15 Issue 3, p233-250, 18p

The origins of the Inca Empire and their overall history are an unfamiliar concept for many people. Students are taught about the brief history of other Native Americans like the Aztecs and the Mayas, but for some reason the history of the Inca’s are left out. I hope by writing about this topic would help others like me that are eager to learn about our ancestor history understand how their ancestor lived and why they disappeared. I also want to teach other about the Peruvian culture because it is one of the cultures that not a lot of people are familiar with. The Incan Empire had a complex civilization, their unique way engineering was unlike any other in America. They conquered as much as 350,000 square miles of the land. The Empire consisted of an Emperor, a royal family down to peasants. The Empire even had a labor tax system known as mit’a. Their life style was also very unique; the society was based on the ayllu. The Inca’s worshipped many Gods from the Creator God to the Sun God and many more nature Gods. Many of their skills included textile, pottery, and metalwork. They also knew how to do surgeries like amputation and bone transplant.