By Hannah Cragg (Edited by Sonia Hussain)
When considering the sullen, and often barren Andes and its surrounding scenery, an observer might be hesitant to describe the homeland of the illustrious Inca Empire as a place of ‘excess’. Wildlife, at least in the more elevated regions, is sparse, many types of crop refuse to grow, and even today, the people of Peru live simple, agrarian lives. However, in a 15th Century context, we can easily see that through the mastery of socialist distribution systems, as well as an acute record-keeping and stock list network, the Incas of Peru truly managed to build an ‘empire of excess’- at least in terms of crucial production, food, and population.
Let us first establish the fundamentals of the Incan agrarian system. Inherently, the system was one that benefitted the entire population, which economic historian Louis Baudin asserts to be one of ‘agrarian collectivism’- each member of the community was given an allotment of land, from which they would grow an assortment of maize, potatoes, and other Andean essentials, which would then be collected and distributed fairly by the state.[i] It was a reciprocal exchange. The effectiveness of this communal cultivation cannot be understated- chroniclers and modern professors alike comment on the remarkable ability of the Incas to feed their people in even the most insubordinate environments.[ii] Equally, due to the use of terrace farming and intricate irrigation canals, the Inca engineers were able to create microclimates on each layer of their vertical farms.[iii] The variation in temperature in different levels of the Incan farms meant that different types of crop could be grown in a small amount of space, granting access to an array of Andean foodstuff, renowned for how filling even small amounts can be. Even a couple of potatoes would feed a humble family for a day, and they provide more food per unit than any other crop, which meant more land could be freed up for the cultivation of other vegetation.[iv] Individually, nobody could accumulate wealth under the Inca, at least not in the Western sense, because the socialist system of the empire meant everyone was given what they needed and nothing more.
In the same vein, each family was granted a pair of llamas by the state, to be used as a carrier of cargo (llamas are not strong enough to bear the weight of a person, and so are not used as transport) as well as, more importantly, a source of wool.[i] This household llama’s wool would be vital in the bitter peaks of the Andes. It is because of this system, along with the taxation of citizens through yearly compulsory work and military service instead of through monetary means, known as mit’a, that the empire was able to accumulate a vast stockpile of resources.[ii] A single male citizen could at once be a farmer, a soldier, and a construction worker involved in the empire’s constant public works campaigns. Thus, with a seemingly endless supply of workers, extensive highway projects could be completed, astonishing conquistadors who claimed, in spite of their scorn towards the natives of Peru, that the Inca roads exceeded ‘all the works of the Romans’.[iii]
Now that an overview of the agrarian system has been established, we can begin to understand how the Inca Empire grew to hold such power. It was not simply that the system of cultivation was efficient- everything was meticulously planned to allow no room for error. In some parts of the Empire, too much maize would be produced, too many potatoes grown, and too much wool sheared; excess would be collected by the state and stored in one of the numerous warehouses, called qullqa, to be kept and distributed when needed.[i] The immaculate storage of goods meant the empire’s security was ensured. In the event of drought or floods in one area of the empire, food would simply be transported and shared out to those that needed it through the nearest qullqa, and the stock would be replenished as swiftly as it was removed. Subsequently, a team of conscripted workers would be sent to repair the damage- the Empire’s land was carefully micromanaged, and as such nothing was allowed to fall into disrepair.[ii] Stocks were regularly assessed- every three years- to evaluate demand, discard unwanted, rotten, or damaged goods, and to keep tallies updated, which were notoriously accurate.[iii] Keeping knotted records, known as quipu, was essential to the survival of the Inca state, because it allowed for complete control of supply and demand.[iv]
Certainly, the Incan Empire’s monopoly over the Andean food supply was the principal source of their power. In a realm without a monetary system, the population was instead controlled by means of restrictions on essential goods. Theoretically, people stayed loyal to the Empire because it provided them with security- as long as they played their part, they were fed, clothed, and sheltered in an environment that to an outsider would seem impossible. In the words of Baudin, one of the first historians to argue the definitively socialist nature of the Incas, the Andean native not under the protection of the Incas was ‘continually on the defensive in the struggle for existence’[i] In summary, the Inca Empire was seen as enticing. Even if individual freedoms were severely restricted under the strict administrative laws, we can assume that the comfort of having every basic human need accommodated and provided for outweighed that. It was, then, the fact of the empire’s ability to cultivate and retain an excess of food that solidified their rule. Accounts by Spaniards at the time reveal astonishment at the sheer quantity of goods stored and serve as testaments to the Inca’s excess; Francisco de Jerez, Pizarro’s secretary, records that his compatriots ‘took everything they wanted’ and still seemingly had not reduced the stockpile at all.[ii] By having an excess amount of every item essential to Andean life consistently stockpiled, the Inca dynasty effectively ensured its own continuity- excess became the very foundation by which the Empire stood.
Ultimately, the Inca Empire had mastered their terrain and agricultural technique to the extent that it was truly an empire without hunger. Peruvian socialist, Alberto Flores Galindo, convincingly asserts the egalitarian nature of the Inca socio-economic system and how, on achieving a society without starvation, citizens in the Inca realm could devote more time to serving the state through other means- through the aforementioned mit’a system.[i] The wise Inca administrators knew that the number of revolts would be fewer if their people were looked after- if hunger was eliminated, if people were provided with the clothing they needed- there was no cause for dissent. Thus, excess in one aspect of Inca life- food- fed directly into the excesses of other areas in Andean life.
Nowhere do we find a more tangible display of the Incas as an ‘empire of excess’ than in the realm of foreign policy. Diplomatic tactics would, more often than not, involve showering local chieftains with gifts- mainly of garments, alpacas, and pottery, but sometimes these gifts also included wives and food- in order to demonstrate the wealth of the Empire. This strategy was employed in order to cause as little bloodshed as possible, as generally Inca Emperors preferred to annex new territories through peaceful means, not least because it meant less rebuilding afterwards. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this diplomatic endeavour was often quite successful, especially in the poorer areas surrounding the Empire where arable land was infrequent. Stockpiling thus became a vital part of territorial expansion to the Inca, and given the extensive warehouse system, it was not any great burden to the state to source the diplomatic gifts.
In the same vein, to resolve the innate bitterness between conqueror and conquered, material gifts and plots of land were bestowed to ‘former enemies’ in order to ‘bind’ them to the state.[i] With an estimated population of over 11 million, the Sapa Inca had no qualms in using his subjects as gifts in the form of wives or workers, and loyal populations were often migrated to newly-conquered lands in order to lead an example and impose an Inca way of life onto potentially dissident territories in a process known as mitimaes.[ii] Here, we observe another form of excess in the Inca Empire- that of population. Due to the extent of Inca territory (which, at its height, spanned from modern-day Ecuador to Chile, including parts of Bolivia and of course, Peru) the population was naturally large, and because large families were encouraged, there were plenty of men and women to spare. Consequently, the population of the Empire in itself became a pillar on which the power of the Inca rested.
Despite all these notions of excess, we should be cautious in thinking the ordinary Peruvian lived a life of luxury. The Andean lifestyle at the time of conquest was extraordinarily bare. Under the Incas, no monetary system existed, art was brutally standardised, food was bland, and daily life changed little. The Empire as a whole may have been built on its ability to retain consumable goods, but individuals gained little in terms of wealth. In essence, then, we can assert that the Inca Empire was, in many aspects, an ‘empire of excess’. The dominance it had over pre-Columbian South America was owed largely to the remarkable stockpiles of goods accumulated in its abundant warehouses. Against all odds, the Incas crafted a system of supply, demand, and distribution that set them up to be the largest empire in the Western Hemisphere until the conquests- truly, an empire built on abundance.
Notes
[i] Baudin, pp. 40.
[ii] Rowe, John Howland, Inca Culture at the Time of Spanish Conquest, (Texas: US. Government Printing Office, 1946) pp. 269. [i] Galindo, A. F., In Search of an Inca: Identity and Utopia in the Andes, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 6. [i] Galindo, A. F., In Search of an Inca: Identity and Utopia in the Andes, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 6. [i]Baudin, pp. 32. [ii] Jerez, de Francisco, A True Account of the Province of Cuzco Vol XXVI, (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1853), pp. 334. [i] Baudin, pp. 144.
[ii] Burland, C. A., Peoples of the Sun: The Civilizations of Pre-Columbian America, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976), pp. 218. [iii] Las Casas, B., Apologetic History of the Indies, Vol XIII, (Madrid: Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1909), pp. 48. [iv] Adams, Mark, The Inca Paradox, Slate, https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/07/inca-paradox-maybe-the-pre-columbian-civilization-did-have-writing.html [accessed 3 September 2020]. [i] Baudin, pp. 31. [ii] La Lone, Mary B., and Darrell E., ‘The Inka State in the Southern Highlands: State Administrative and Production Enclaves’, Ethnohistory, 34:1 (1987) pp. 47-62. [iii] Santa Clara, Gutierrez, Historia de la guerras civiles del Perú y otros sucesos de las Indias Vol III (Madrid: Collection of documents, 1904-10), pp. 539. [i] Baudin, Louis, A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru (New York: Van Nostrand, 1961), pp. 75. [ii] Bernand, Carmen, The Incas: Empire of Blood and Gold (London: Thames & Hudson, 1994), pp. 61. [iii] Niles, Susan A., ‘Style and Function in Inca Agricultural Works Near Cusco’, Journal of Andean Archaeology, 20:1 (1982) pp. 163-182. [iv] Crosby, Alfred W., The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1972), pp. 171.
Bibliography
Adams, Mark, The Inca Paradox, Slate, https://slate.com/human-interest/2011/07/inca-paradox-maybe-the-pre-columbian-civilization-did-have-writing.html [accessed 3 September 2020].
Baudin, Louis, A Socialist Empire: The Incas of Peru (New York: Van Nostrand, 1961), pp. 31.
Bernand, Carmen, The Incas: Empire of Blood and Gold (London: Thames & Hudson, 1994), pp. 61.
Burland, C. A., Peoples of the Sun: The Civilizations of Pre-Columbian America, (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976), pp. 218.
Crosby, Alfred W., The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492, (Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1972), pp. 171.
Galindo, A. F., In Search of an Inca: Identity and Utopia in the Andes, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), pp. 6.
Jerez, de Francisco, A True Account of the Province of Cuzco Vol XXVI, (Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1853), pp. 334.
La Lone, Mary B., and Darrell E., ‘The Inka State in the Southern Highlands: State Administrative and Production Enclaves’, Ethnohistory, 34:1 (1987) pp. 47-62.
Las Casas, B., Apologetic History of the Indies, Vol XIII, (Madrid: Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, 1909), pp. 48.
Niles, Susan A., ‘Style and Function in Inca Agricultural Works Near Cusco’, Journal of Andean Archaeology, 20:1 (1982) pp. 163-182.
Rowe, John Howland, Inca Culture at the Time of Spanish Conquest, (Texas: US. Government Printing Office, 1946) pp. 269.
Santa Clara, Gutierrez, Historia de la guerras civiles del Perú y otros sucesos de las Indias Vol III (Madrid: Collection of documents, 1904-10), pp. 539.
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