The Incas held the highest government positions. State system of the Incas

The Inca state retained many remnants of the primitive communal system.

The Inca tribe consisted of 10 divisions - hatunaylyu, which in turn were divided into 10 aylyu. Initially, the aylyu was a patriarchal clan, a tribal community.

Ilyu had her own village and owned the surrounding fields; members of the Aylyu were considered relatives among themselves and were called by family names, which were passed down through the paternal line.

Ailyo there was exogamy, within the clan it was impossible to marry. Members of the Aylyu believed that they were under the protection of ancestral shrines - huaka. Ailyu was designated in the same way as pachaka, that is, a hundred. Khatun-aylyu (“big clan”) represented a phratry and was identified with a thousand.

In the Inca state, the aylew turned into a rural community. This becomes obvious when considering land use regulations. All land in the state was considered to belong to the Supreme Inca. In fact, she was at the disposal of the Ilyu. The very territory that belonged to the community was called a mark (a coincidence with the name of the community among the Germans). The land that belonged to the entire community was called marka pacha, i.e. community land.

The cultivated land was called chakra (field). It was divided into three parts: the “fields of the Sun” (actually the priests), the fields of the Incas and, finally, the fields of the community. The land was cultivated jointly by the entire village, although each family had its own share, the harvest from which went to this family.

Community members worked together under the leadership of one of the elders and, having cultivated one section of the field (field of the Sun), moved on to the fields of the Incas, then to the fields of the village residents, and finally to the fields, the harvest from which went to the general fund of the village. This reserve was spent to support needy fellow villagers and various general village needs.

In addition to fields, each village also had fallow lands and “wild lands” that served as pastures.

Field plots were periodically distributed among fellow villagers. A separate section of the field remained fallow after three or four harvests had been harvested from it. The field allotment, tupu, was given to the man; For each male child, the father received another such allotment, for a daughter - another half of the tupa. Tupu was considered temporary possession, as it was subject to redistribution. But, in addition to the tupu, on the territory of each community there were also plots of land called muya.

Spanish officials refer to these areas in their reports as “hereditary land”, “own land”, “vegetable garden”. The muya plot consisted of a yard, a house, a barn or shed and a vegetable garden and was passed down from father to son. There is no doubt that the muya plots have actually become private property.

It was on these plots that community members could obtain surplus vegetables or fruits on their farm, could dry meat, tan leather, spin and weave wool, make pottery vessels, bronze tools - everything that they exchanged as their private property.

The combination of communal ownership of fields with private ownership of personal plots characterizes aylya as a rural community in which consanguinity has given way to territorial ties.

The land was cultivated only by communities of tribes conquered by the Incas. In these communities, a clan nobility also emerged - the kuraka. Its representatives supervised the work of the community members and ensured that the community members paid taxes; their plots were cultivated by community members.

In addition to their share in the community herd, the Kuraka had privately owned livestock, up to several hundred heads. On their farms, dozens of concubine slaves spun and wove wool or cotton. The products of animal husbandry or agriculture of the Kuraka were exchanged for jewelry made of precious metals, etc. But the Kuraka, as belonging to the conquered tribes, were still in a subordinate position; the Incas stood above them as the ruling layer, the highest caste.

The Incas did not work; they constituted a military-service nobility. The rulers provided them with land plots and workers from the conquered tribes, the Yanakuns, who were resettled to the Incan farms. The lands that the nobility received from the supreme Inca were their private property.

The nobility was very different from ordinary subjects in its appearance, special haircut, clothing and jewelry. The Spaniards called the noble Incas orechons (from the Spanish word “nut” - ear) for their huge gold earrings and rings that stretched their earlobes.

Priests also occupied a privileged position, for whose benefit a portion of the harvest was collected. They were not subject to local rulers, but to a composite corporation governed by the high priesthood in Cuzco.

The Incas had a number of Yanakuns, whom the Spanish chroniclers called slaves. Judging by the fact that they were fully owned by the Incas and did all the menial work, they were indeed slaves.

Particularly important is the message of the chroniclers that the position of the Yanakuns was hereditary. It is known that in 1570, i.e. 35 years after the fall of the Incan power, there were another 47 thousand Yanakuns in Peru.

Most of the productive labor was performed by community members: they cultivated fields, built canals, roads, fortresses and temples.

But the appearance of a large group of hereditarily enslaved workers, exploited by the rulers and the military elite, suggests that the society of Peru was an early slave-owning society, with significant remnants of the tribal system retained.

The Inca state was called Tawantinsuyu, which literally means “four regions connected together.” Each region was ruled by a governor; in the regions, power was in the hands of local officials.

At the head of the state was a ruler who bore the title “Sapa Inca” - “solely ruling Inca.” He commanded the army and headed the civil administration.

The Incas created a centralized control system. The Supreme Inca and senior officials from Cuzco watched over the governors and were always ready to repel the rebellious tribe.

There was a constant postal connection with fortresses and residences of local rulers. Messages were transmitted by the relay race of messengers and runners. Postal stations were located on the roads not far from each other, where messengers were always on duty.

The rulers of ancient Peru created laws that protected the dominance of the peaks, aimed at securing the subordination of the conquered tribes and preventing uprisings. The peaks crushed the tribes, settling them piecemeal in foreign areas. The Incas introduced a language compulsory for all - Quechua.

3. Social system of the Incas

The Inca tribe consisted of 10 divisions - khatun-aylyu, which in turn were divided into 10 aylyu. Initially, the ailyu was a patriarchal clan, a tribal community: it had its own village and owned the adjacent fields. Names in the clan community were passed down through the paternal line. The Aylews were exogamous. It was forbidden to marry within the clan. Its members believed that they were under the protection of ancestral shrines - huaka. Aylyu were also designated as pachaka, i.e. a hundred. Khatun-aylyu (large clan) represented a phratry and was identified with a thousand. Illu becomes a rural community in the Inca state. This is reflected in the consideration of land use regulations.

All the land in the state belonged to the Supreme Inca, but in fact it was at the disposal of the Aylew. The territory that belonged to the community was called a mark; the land that belonged to the community was called marka pacha, i.e. community land.

The cultivated land (chakra) was divided into three parts: the “land of the Sun” - the priests, the fields of the Incas and the fields of the community. Each family had its share of the land, although all of it was cultivated jointly by the entire village, and community members worked together under the direction of elders. Having cultivated one section of the field, they moved on to the fields of the Incas, then to the fields of the villagers, and then to the fields, the harvest from which went to the general fund of the village.

Each village had fallow lands as well as “wild lands” - pastures. Field plots were periodically distributed among fellow villagers. A field allotment, called tupu, was given to a man. For each male child, the father received another tupa, and for each daughter, half. It was a temporary possession and was subject to redistribution.

In addition to the tupu, on the territory of each community there were lands that were called “garden, own land” (muya). This plot consisted of a yard, a house, a barn, a barn, and a vegetable garden. This plot was inherited from father to son. From these plots, community members could receive surplus vegetables or fruits. They could dry meat, spin and weave, make pottery vessels - everything that they had as private property.

In the communities that developed among the tribes conquered by the Incas, the clan nobility also stood out - the curaca. Representatives of the kurak were obliged to monitor the work of the community members and control the payment of taxes. Community members of the conquered tribes cultivated the lands of the Incas. In addition, they processed areas of kurak. In the kurak household, concubines spun and wove wool or cotton. In the community herd, the Kuraka had up to several hundred heads of cattle. But still the Kuraka were in a subordinate position, and the Incas stood above them as the highest caste.

The Incas themselves did not work. They constituted the military service nobility, and were allocated land plots and workers from the conquered tribes. The lands received from the supreme Inca were considered the private property of the serving nobility. The noble Incas were called orejons (from the Spanish word "oreh" - ear) for their huge gold earrings that stretched their earlobes.

Priests occupied a privileged position in society. A portion of the harvest was collected for the benefit of the priests. They were not subordinate to local rulers, but formed a separate corporation. These corporations were controlled by the high priesthood located in Cuzco.

The Incas had a number of workers - yanakuns - whom the Spanish chroniclers called slaves. This category was completely owned by the Incas and performed all the menial work. The position of these Yanakuns was hereditary.

Community workers performed most of the productive labor. But the appearance of a large group of hereditarily enslaved workers indicates that the society in Peru was an early slave society with significant remnants of the tribal system retained.

The Inca state had a unique structure. It was called Tawantinsuyu - “four regions connected together.” Each region was ruled by a governor, who was usually a direct relative of the ruling Inca. They were called "apo". Together with several other dignitaries, they formed the state council of the country, which could express their proposals and ideas to the Inca. In the regions, power was in the hands of local officials.

At the head of the state was the ruler - “Sapa Inca” - the sole ruling Inca. Sapa Inca commanded the army and headed the civil administration. He and the senior officials watched over the governors. To control regions and districts, there was a constant postal service. Messages were transmitted by relay race by messengers-runners. On the roads, not far from each other, there were postal stations where messengers were always on duty.

The Incas introduced a language compulsory for all - Quechua. They split up the tribes and settled them piecemeal in different regions. This policy was carried out in order to consolidate the subordination of the conquered tribes and prevent discontent and uprisings. Laws were created to protect the dominance of the Incas.

4. Religion and culture of the Incas

In accordance with the religious views of the Incas, the Sun occupied a dominant position among the gods and ruled the entire unearthly world.

The official religious system of the Incas was the “heliocentric” system. It is based on subordination to the Sun – Inti. Inti was usually depicted as a golden disk from which rays emanated in all directions. The disk itself depicts the face of a man. The disk was made of pure gold, that is, a metal that belonged to the Sun.

The wife of Inti and at the same time the mother of the Incas - in accordance with the beliefs of the Indians - was the moon goddess Quilla.

The third “inhabitant of the firmament,” also revered in the Inca Empire, was the god Ilyapa - both thunder and lightning.

The temples owned enormous wealth, a large number of ministers and craftsmen, architects, jewelers and sculptors. The main content of the Inca cult was sacrificial ritual. Sacrifices were carried out mainly by animals and only in extreme cases by people. An emergency could be festivities at the moment of accession to the throne of a new supreme Inca, during an earthquake, drought, or war. Prisoners of war or children who were taken as tribute from conquered tribes were sacrificed.

Along with the official religion of sun worship, there were also more ancient religious views. Their essence was reduced to the deification not of great, powerful gods, but of sacred places and objects, the so-called huac.

In the Inca religion, totemistic views occupied a large place. The communities were named after animals: Pumamarca (puma community), Condormarca (condor community), Huamanmarca (hawk community), etc. Close to totemism was the worship of plants, primarily potatoes, since this plant had a primary role in the life of the Peruvians. Images of this plant have been preserved in sculpture - vessels in the form of tubers. There was also a cult of the forces of nature. The cult of Mother Earth, called Pacha Mama, was especially developed.

The cult of ancestors was of great importance. Ancestors were revered as patron spirits and guardians of the land of a given community and the area in general. There was a custom of mummifying the dead. Mummies in elegant clothes with jewelry and household utensils were preserved in tombs. The cult of the mummies of rulers reached particular development. They were credited with supernatural power. Mummies of rulers were taken on campaigns and carried to the battlefield.

To measure space, the Incas had measures based on the size of parts of the human body. The smallest of these measures was considered to be the length of the finger, then the measure equal to the distance from the bent thumb to the index finger. To measure land, a measure of 162 cm was most often used. For counting, a counting board was used, which was divided into strips, compartments in which counting units and round pebbles were moved. Time was measured by the time it took for the potatoes to cook, which meant approximately one hour. The time of day was determined by the sun.

The Incas had an idea of ​​the solar and lunar years. To observe the sun, as well as to accurately determine the time of the equinox and solstice, astronomers of the Inca Empire built special “observatories” in many places in Peru. The largest solar observation point was in Cusco. The position of the sun was observed from specially built four towers in the east and west of Cusco. This was necessary to determine the timing of the agricultural cycle.

Astronomy was one of the two most important scientific concepts in the Inca Empire. Science was supposed to serve the interests of the state. The activities of astronomer scientists, who, thanks to their observations, could establish the most appropriate dates for the start or simply execution of certain agricultural work, brought considerable benefit to both the state and all its citizens.

The Inca calendar was primarily oriented towards the sun. The year was considered to consist of 365 days, divided into twelve 30-day months, after which the calendar still included five (and in a leap year - six) final days, which were called “days without work.”

There were schools for boys. Boys from among the noble Incas, as well as the nobility of conquered tribes, were accepted there. Thus, the task of educational institutions was to prepare the next generation of the empire's elite. They studied at school for four years. Each year gave certain knowledge: in the first year they studied the Quechua language, in the second - the religious complex and the calendar, and the third and fourth years were spent studying the so-called quipus, signs that served as “knot writing”.

The kippah consisted of a rope, to which cords were tied at right angles in rows, hanging down in the form of a fringe. Sometimes there were up to a hundred such cords. Knots were tied on them at different distances from the main rope. The shape of the nodes and their number indicated numbers. This record was based on the Inca decimal system. The position of the knot on the lace corresponded to the value of the digital indicators. It could be one, ten, a hundred, a thousand or even ten thousand. In this case, a simple knot denoted the number “1”, a double knot – “2”, and a triple knot – “3”. The color of the cords designated certain objects, for example, potatoes were symbolized by brown, silver by white, gold by yellow.

This form of writing was used mainly to convey messages about taxes. But sometimes the quipu was used to record calendar and historical dates and facts. Thus, quipus were a conventional system for transmitting information, but still it was not writing.

The question of whether the Incas had writing remains unresolved until recently. The fact is that the Incas did not leave written monuments, but still beans with special signs are depicted on many vessels. Some scientists consider these signs to be ideograms, i.e. the signs on the beans have a symbolic, conditional meaning.

There is also an opinion that the Incas had writing in the form of picture writing and pictography, but due to the fact that the boards on which these signs were written were framed in gold frames, looted and dismantled by Europeans, the written monuments have not survived to this day .

Literary creativity in the Quechua language was very rich. However, since these works were not recorded in writing and were preserved in the memory of reciters, only fragments preserved for posterity by the first Spanish chroniclers have reached us.

From the poetic creativity of the Incas, hymns (the hymn of Viracocha), mythical tales, and poems of historical content have been preserved in fragments. The most famous poem is “Ollantay,” which glorifies the exploits of the leader of one of the tribes who rebelled against the supreme Inca.

One of the most developed areas of science in the Inca Empire was medicine. The state of health of the inhabitants was not a private matter of citizens; on the contrary, the empire was interested in ensuring that the inhabitants of the country served the state as best as possible.

The Incas used some scientific techniques to treat diseases. Many medicinal plants have been used; Surgical interventions, such as craniotomy, were also known. Along with scientific techniques, the practice of magical healing was widespread.

5. The end of the Inca state. Portuguese conquests

Pizarro's troops captured Cuzco in 1532. The Inca chief Atahualpa died. But the Inca state did not immediately cease to exist. The inhabitants of the ancient state continued to fight for their independence. In 1535, an uprising breaks out. It was suppressed in 1537, but its participants continued the struggle for independence for more than 35 years.

The rebellion against the Spaniards was led by the Inca prince Manco, who used cunning methods in the fight against the conquerors. He first went over to the side of the Spaniards and approached Pizarro, but only with the goal of studying the enemy. Having begun to gather forces at the end of 1535, Manco in April 1536 with a large army approached Cuzco and besieged it. He forced captive Spaniards to serve him as gunsmiths, artillerymen and gunpowder makers. Spanish firearms and captured horses were used. Manco himself was dressed and armed in Spanish, rode on horseback and fought with Spanish weapons. The rebels often achieved great success by combining the techniques of original Indian warfare with European ones. But bribery and betrayal forced Manco to leave this city after 10 months of the siege of Cuzco. The rebels continued to fight in the mountainous region of Ville Capampe, where they fortified themselves. After Manco's death, Tupac Amaru becomes the rebel leader.

Organs, as well as surgeons performing complex operations such as craniotomy, the purpose of which eludes us. Chapter 2. Law of ancient American civilization §1. Civil law The most important source of law among the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas were legal customs. The formation of monarchical power was accompanied by the gradual development of the legislative powers of the supreme ruler, as well as...

Inc. However, the Indians continued to fight, so the “death agony” lasted for forty years. When reinforcements arrived, Pizarro and his soldiers rushed to Cuzco, the city of untold treasures of the Incas. Driven by a thirst for gold, the Spaniards brutally tortured the Indians in order to find out from them the secrets of hidden treasures, and everyone who tried to resist them was intimidated into silence. Accompanied...

The fact that in old age an ordinary person will not be left to the mercy of fate. The powerful control apparatus of the ruler ensured that everything was fair. 7. In the Inca Empire, the unconditional supremacy of laws was established. A criminal offense committed by a member of the elite was punished much more severely than an offense committed by an ordinary person. For example, if a noble person...

"Inca State"

1. Formation of the Inca state

The Incas dominated the territory now called Peru for a long time. During the period when the empire's territory reached its greatest size, it included part of South America and extended over almost a million square kilometers. In addition to present-day Peru, the empire included most of present-day Colombia and Ecuador, almost all of Bolivia, the northern regions of the Republic of Chile and the northwestern part of Argentina.

Term the Incas, or rather Inca, has a variety of meanings. Firstly, this is the name of the entire ruling class in the state of Peru. Secondly, this is the title of a ruler. Thirdly, the name of the people as a whole. Original name Inca worn by one of the tribes that lived in the Cuzco Valley before the formation of the state. Many facts indicate that this tribe belonged to the Quechua language group, since the Incas during the heyday of the state spoke this language. The close relationship of the Incas with the Quechua tribes is evidenced by the fact that representatives of these tribes received a privileged position compared to other tribes and were called “Incas by privilege.” “Inca by privilege” did not pay tribute, and they were not enslaved.

There are 12 known rulers who headed the state. The first royal couple, who were at the same time brother and sister, were the first Inca, Mango Capac and his wife Mama Oklo. Historical legends tell of wars between the Inca and neighboring tribes. The first decade of the 13th century was the beginning of the strengthening of the Inca tribe and, possibly, the time of the formation of a union of tribes led by the Inca. The reliable history of the Incas begins with the activities of the ninth ruler, Pachacuti (1438–1463). From this time on, the rise of the Incas began. The state is rapidly growing stronger. In subsequent years, the Incas conquered and subjugated the tribes of the entire Andean region from Southern Colombia to Central Chile. The population of the state is 6 million people.

2. Inca economy

The Incas achieved great success in many economic sectors, and above all in metallurgy. The mining of copper and tin was of greatest practical importance. Silver deposits were developed. The Quechua language has a word for iron, but most likely it was not an alloy, and the meaning of the word was given by meteoric iron, or hematite. There is no evidence of iron mining or iron ore smelting.

Tools and jewelry were created from the mined metals. Axes, sickles, knives, crowbars, tips for military clubs and many other items needed in the household were cast from bronze. Jewelry and religious objects were made of gold and silver.

Weaving was highly developed. The Indians of Peru already knew looms, and there were three types of looms. The Indians sometimes dyed the fabrics woven on them, using for this purpose the seeds of the avocado tree (blue color) or various metals, in particular copper and tin. Fabrics made in the distant centuries of the Inca civilization have survived to this day and are distinguished by their richness and fineness of finish. The raw materials were cotton and wool. Fleecy fabrics for clothing and carpets were also produced. For the Inca, as well as members of the royal clan, special fabrics were made - from colored bird feathers.

Agriculture received significant development in the Inca state, although the area where the Inca tribes were located was not particularly conducive to the development of agriculture. This is due to the fact that streams of water flow down the steep slopes of the Andes during the rainy season, washing away the soil layer, and in dry times there is no moisture left on them. Under such conditions, the Incas had to irrigate the land to retain moisture in the fields. For this purpose, special structures were created and regularly updated. The fields were located in stepped terraces, the lower edge of which was reinforced with stonework that retained the soil. A dam was built at the edge of the terrace to divert water from mountain rivers to the fields. The channels were lined with stone slabs. The state appointed special officials whose duties included monitoring the serviceability of structures.

On the fertile, or rather, became fertile, land in all regions of the empire, a wide variety of plants were grown, the queen among which was corn, in the Quechua language - sara. The Indians knew up to 20 different varieties of corn. Apparently, corn in ancient Peru was introduced from the Mesoamerican region. The most valuable gift of Peruvian agriculture is the potato, native to the Andes. The Incas knew up to 250 varieties of it. They grew it in a variety of colors: almost white, yellow, pink, brown and even black. Peasants also grew sweet potatoes. The legumes grown primarily were beans. The pre-Columbian Indians also knew pineapples, cocoa trees, various varieties of pumpkins, nuts, cucumbers, and peanuts. They used four types of spices, including red pepper. A special place was occupied by the cultivation of the coca bush.

The main tools of labor in agriculture were the spade and hoe. The lands were cultivated by hand; the Incas did not use draft animals.

The Inca Empire was a country that created many wonders. One of the most remarkable are the ancient Peruvian “highways of the Sun” - a whole village of highways. The longest of the roads exceeded 5 thousand kilometers. There were two main roads across the country. Canals were built along the roads, on the banks of which fruit trees grew. Where the road ran through the sandy desert, it was paved. Where the road intersected with rivers and gorges, bridges were built. The bridges were constructed as follows: they were supported by stone pillars, around which five thick ropes woven from flexible branches or vines were fastened; the three lower ropes, which formed the bridge itself, were intertwined with branches and lined with wooden crossbars. Those ropes that served as railings intertwined with the lower ones and protected the bridge from the sides. These suspension bridges represent one of the greatest achievements of Inca technology.

As you know, the peoples of ancient America did not invent the wheel. Cargo was transported in packs on llamas, and ferries were also used for transportation. The ferries were improved rafts made of beams or beams of very light wood. The rafts were rowed and could lift up to 50 people and a large load.

Most of the production tools, textiles, and pottery were made in the community, but there was also a separation of crafts from agriculture and cattle breeding. The Incas selected the best craftsmen and moved them to Cuzco, where they lived in a special quarter and worked for the Supreme Inca, receiving food from the court. These masters, cut off from the community, actually found themselves enslaved. In a similar way, girls were selected who had to study spinning, weaving and other handicrafts for 4 years. The work of craftsmen and spinners was an embryonic form of craft.

Gold was not a means of payment. The Incas had no money. The Peruvian Indians simply exchanged their goods. There was no system of measures, except for the most primitive - a handful. There were scales with a yoke, from the ends of which bags with the load to be weighed were suspended. Exchange and trade were little developed. There were no bazaars inside the villages. The exchange was accidental. After the harvest, the inhabitants of the highlands and coastal areas met in certain places. Wool, meat, furs, leather, silver, and gold were brought from the highlands. Grain, vegetables and fruits, and cotton were brought from the coast. The role of universal equivalent was played by salt, pepper, furs, wool, ore and metal products.

3. Social system of the Incas

The Inca tribe consisted of 10 divisions - khatun-aylyu, which in turn were divided each into 10 aylya. Initially, the ailyu was a patriarchal clan, a tribal community: it had its own village and owned the adjacent fields. Names in the clan community were passed down through the paternal line. The Aylews were exogamous. It was forbidden to marry within the clan. Its members believed that they were under the protection of ancestral shrines - Huaca. Aylyu were also designated as pachaka, i.e. a hundred. Khatun-aylyu (large clan) represented a phratry and was identified with a thousand. Illu becomes a rural community in the Inca state. This is reflected in the consideration of land use regulations.

All the land in the state belonged to the Supreme Inca, but in fact it was at the disposal of the Aylew. The territory belonging to the community was called brand; the land owned by the community was called pacha brand, those. community land.

Cultivable land ( chakra) was divided into three parts: the “land of the Sun” - the priests, the fields of the Incas and the fields of the community. Each family had its share of the land, although all of it was cultivated jointly by the entire village, and community members worked together under the direction of elders. Having cultivated one section of the field, they moved on to the fields of the Incas, then to the fields of the villagers, and then to the fields from which the harvest went to general village fund.

Each village had fallow lands as well as “wild lands” - pastures. Field plots were periodically distributed among fellow villagers. The field plot, which bore the name stupid, given to a man. For each male child, the father received another tupa, and for each daughter, half. It was a temporary possession and was subject to redistribution.

In addition to the tupu, on the territory of each community there were lands that were called “gardens, their own land” (muya). This plot consisted of a yard, a house, a barn, a barn, and a vegetable garden. This plot was inherited from father to son. From these plots, community members could receive surplus vegetables or fruits. They could dry meat, spin and weave, make pottery vessels - everything that they had as private property.

In the communities that developed among the tribes conquered by the Incas, the clan nobility also stood out - kuraka. Representatives of the kurak were obliged to monitor the work of the community members and control the payment of taxes. Community members of the conquered tribes cultivated the lands of the Incas. In addition, they processed areas of kurak. In the kurak household, concubines spun and wove wool or cotton. In the community herd, the Kuraka had up to several hundred heads of cattle. But still the Kuraka were in a subordinate position, and the Incas stood above them as the highest caste.

The Incas themselves did not work. They constituted the military service nobility, and were allocated land plots and workers from the conquered tribes. The lands received from the supreme Inca were considered the private property of the serving nobility. The noble Incas were called orejons (from the Spanish word "oreh" - ear) for their huge gold earrings that stretched their earlobes.

Priests occupied a privileged position in society. A portion of the harvest was collected for the benefit of the priests. They were not subordinate to local rulers, but formed a separate corporation. These corporations were controlled by the high priesthood located in Cuzco.

The Incas had a number of workers - yanakuns - whom the Spanish chroniclers called slaves. This category was completely owned by the Incas and performed all the menial work. The position of these Yanakuns was hereditary.

Community workers performed most of the productive labor. But the appearance of a large group of hereditarily enslaved workers indicates that the society in Peru was an early slave society with significant remnants of the tribal system retained.

The Inca state had a unique structure. It was called Tawantinsuyu - “four regions connected together.” Each region was ruled by a governor, who was usually a direct relative of the ruling Inca. They were called "apo". Together with several other dignitaries, they formed the state council of the country, which could express their proposals and ideas to the Inca. In the regions, power was in the hands of local officials.

At the head of the state was the ruler - “Sapa Inca” - the sole ruling Inca. Sapa Inca commanded the army and headed the civil administration. He and the senior officials watched over the governors. To control regions and districts, there was a constant postal service. Messages were transmitted by relay race by messengers-runners. On the roads, not far from each other, there were postal stations where messengers were always on duty.

The Incas introduced a language compulsory for all - Quechua. They split up the tribes and settled them piecemeal in different regions. This policy was carried out in order to consolidate the subordination of the conquered tribes and prevent discontent and uprisings. Laws were created to protect the dominance of the Incas.

4. Religion and culture of the Incas

In accordance with the religious views of the Incas, the Sun occupied a dominant position among the gods and ruled the entire unearthly world.

The official religious system of the Incas was the “heliocentric” system. It is based on subordination to the Sun – Inti. Inti was usually depicted as a golden disk from which rays emanated in all directions. The disk itself depicts the face of a man. The disk was made of pure gold, that is, a metal that belonged to the Sun.

The wife of Inti and at the same time the mother of the Incas - in accordance with the beliefs of the Indians - was the moon goddess Quilla.

The third “inhabitant of the firmament,” also revered in the Inca Empire, was the god Ilyapa - both thunder and lightning.

The temples owned enormous wealth, a large number of ministers and craftsmen, architects, jewelers and sculptors. The main content of the Inca cult was sacrificial ritual. Sacrifices were carried out mainly by animals and only in extreme cases by people. An emergency could be festivities at the moment of accession to the throne of a new supreme Inca, during an earthquake, drought, or war. Prisoners of war or children who were taken as tribute from conquered tribes were sacrificed.

Along with the official religion of sun worship, there were also more ancient religious views. Their essence was reduced to the deification not of great, powerful gods, but of sacred places and objects, the so-called uak.

In the Inca religion, totemistic views occupied a large place. The communities were named after animals: Pumamarca (puma community), Condormarca (condor community), Huamanmarca (hawk community), etc. Close to totemism was the worship of plants, primarily potatoes, since this plant had a primary role in the life of the Peruvians. Images of this plant have been preserved in sculpture - vessels in the form of tubers. There was also a cult of the forces of nature. The cult of Mother Earth, called Pacha Mama, was especially developed.

The cult of ancestors was of great importance. Ancestors were revered as patron spirits and guardians of the land of a given community and the area in general. There was a custom of mummifying the dead. Mummies in elegant clothes with jewelry and household utensils were preserved in tombs. The cult of the mummies of rulers reached particular development. They were credited with supernatural power. Mummies of rulers were taken on campaigns and carried to the battlefield.

To measure space, the Incas had measures based on the size of parts of the human body. The smallest of these measures was considered to be the length of the finger, then the measure equal to the distance from the bent thumb to the index finger. To measure land, a measure of 162 cm was most often used. For counting, a counting board was used, which was divided into strips, compartments in which counting units and round pebbles were moved. Time was measured by the time it took for the potatoes to cook, which meant approximately one hour. The time of day was determined by the sun.

The Incas had an idea of ​​the solar and lunar years. To observe the sun, as well as to accurately determine the time of the equinox and solstice, astronomers of the Inca Empire built special “observatories” in many places in Peru. The largest solar observation point was in Cusco. The position of the sun was observed from specially built four towers in the east and west of Cusco. This was necessary to determine the timing of the agricultural cycle.

Astronomy was one of the two most important scientific concepts in the Inca Empire. Science was supposed to serve the interests of the state. The activities of astronomer scientists, who, thanks to their observations, could establish the most appropriate dates for the start or simply execution of certain agricultural work, brought considerable benefit to both the state and all its citizens.

The Inca calendar was primarily oriented towards the sun. The year was considered to consist of 365 days, divided into twelve 30-day months, after which the calendar still included five (and in a leap year - six) final days, which were called “days without work.”

There were schools for boys. Boys from among the noble Incas, as well as the nobility of conquered tribes, were accepted there. Thus, the task of educational institutions was to prepare the next generation of the empire's elite. They studied at school for four years. Each year gave certain knowledge: in the first year they studied the Quechua language, in the second - the religious complex and the calendar, and the third and fourth years were spent studying the so-called quipus, signs that served as “knot writing”.

The kippah consisted of a rope, to which cords were tied at right angles in rows, hanging down in the form of a fringe. Sometimes there were up to a hundred such cords. Knots were tied on them at different distances from the main rope. The shape of the nodes and their number indicated numbers. This record was based on the Inca decimal system. The position of the knot on the lace corresponded to the value of the digital indicators. It could be one, ten, a hundred, a thousand or even ten thousand. In this case, a simple knot denoted the number “1”, a double knot – “2”, and a triple knot – “3”. The color of the cords designated certain objects, for example, potatoes were symbolized by brown, silver by white, gold by yellow.

This form of writing was used mainly to convey messages about taxes. But sometimes the quipu was used to record calendar and historical dates and facts. Thus, quipus were a conventional system for transmitting information, but still it was not writing.

The question of whether the Incas had writing remains unresolved until recently. The fact is that the Incas did not leave written monuments, but still beans with special signs are depicted on many vessels. Some scientists consider these signs to be ideograms, i.e. the signs on the beans have a symbolic, conditional meaning.

There is also an opinion that the Incas had writing in the form of picture writing and pictography, but due to the fact that the boards on which these signs were written were framed in gold frames, looted and dismantled by Europeans, the written monuments have not survived to this day .

Literary creativity in the Quechua language was very rich. However, since these works were not recorded in writing and were preserved in the memory of reciters, only fragments preserved for posterity by the first Spanish chroniclers have reached us.

From the poetic creativity of the Incas, hymns (the hymn of Viracocha), mythical tales, and poems of historical content have been preserved in fragments. The most famous poem is “Ollantay,” which glorifies the exploits of the leader of one of the tribes who rebelled against the supreme Inca.

One of the most developed areas of science in the Inca Empire was medicine. The state of health of the inhabitants was not a private matter of citizens; on the contrary, the empire was interested in ensuring that the inhabitants of the country served the state as best as possible.

The Incas used some scientific techniques to treat diseases. Many medicinal plants have been used; Surgical interventions, such as craniotomy, were also known. Along with scientific techniques, the practice of magical healing was widespread.

5. The end of the Inca state. Portuguese conquests

Pizarro's troops captured Cuzco in 1532. The Inca chief Atahualpa died. But the Inca state did not immediately cease to exist. The inhabitants of the ancient state continued to fight for their independence. In 1535, an uprising breaks out. It was suppressed in 1537, but its participants continued the struggle for independence for more than 35 years.

The rebellion against the Spaniards was led by the Inca prince Manco, who used cunning methods in the fight against the conquerors. He first went over to the side of the Spaniards and approached Pizarro, but only with the goal of studying the enemy. Having begun to gather forces at the end of 1535, Manco in April 1536 with a large army approached Cuzco and besieged it. He forced captive Spaniards to serve him as gunsmiths, artillerymen and gunpowder makers. Spanish firearms and captured horses were used. Manco himself was dressed and armed in Spanish, rode on horseback and fought with Spanish weapons. The rebels often achieved great success by combining the techniques of original Indian warfare with European ones. But bribery and betrayal forced Manco to leave this city after 10 months of the siege of Cuzco. The rebels continued to fight in the mountainous region of Ville Capampe, where they fortified themselves. After Manco's death, Tupac Amaru becomes the rebel leader.

Resistance to the ever-increasing forces of the conquerors proved futile, and the rebels were eventually defeated. In memory of this last war against the conquerors, the title of Inca and the name Tupac Amaru were subsequently adopted by the Indian leaders as a symbol of the restoration of their independent state.

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For a long time, the social system of ancient Peru remained poorly studied, much worse than, for example, the Aztecs. Morgan did not study the Incas in his Ancient Society. For the first time in the 70s of the last century, Maxim Kovalevsky, on the basis of sources published by that time, came to the conclusion that the Inca state retained remnants of agrarian-communist relations or elements of archaic communism. As Heinrich Kunov wrote in the already mentioned work: “Now even in scientific circles, ancient Peru is considered a socialist state created by the Incas” 2. However, Kunov explained in what sense, and only conditionally, the term “socialism” can be applied to the Incas. “What is now designated in it as “socialist” - the equal right of all to the land and the responsibility of one for the other - is nothing other than that primitive communism (urwiichsiger Kommunismus), which can be established as a naturally necessary feature of primitive social forms, resting among the most diverse peoples on ties of kinship” 3. Continuing his research into the Inca society, Kunov showed in his monograph that the remnants of the clan organization still occupied a very large place in the Inca state.

The tribe consisted of ten khatun-aylyu, which in turn were each divided into ten aylyu. Kunov viewed aylya as a patriarchal clan, a clan community. Ailyu is a community of residents of one village, it owned the adjacent fields; members of the Aylyu were considered relatives among themselves and were called by family names, which were passed down through the paternal line. The Aylyu were exogamous, and marriages took place between different Aylyu.

Aylyu was also designated as pachaka, i.e. “hundred”. Khatun-aylyu (large clan) represented a phratry and is identified with the “thousand”. Aylew consisted of several "tens" - in the Quechua language Chunka; obviously these were households.

These numerical designations did not express actual numbers. The “thousand” actually numbered up to 60 thousand people during the Spanish invasion. Division based on the decimal system could not have arisen naturally from the old clan organization, and yet it has been proven that this division existed before the formation of the Inca state. Apparently, the artificial decimal division arose from the requirements of the military organization, as well as the organization of the labor force that was needed to construct irrigation canals and terraced fields.

Kunov considers “tens” to be large families with several generations.

The Soviet researcher of primitive society, V.K. Nikolsky, recognizing Kunov’s merit in determining the social system of ancient Peru, notes that Kunov nevertheless overestimated the specific weight of tribal relations among the Incas. Nikolsky draws attention to the fact that Kunok himself gives two different names for household members: 1) Hue huijsamanta Lljocsimasi, which means “another from the mother’s womb - companion,” and 2) Hue huasimanta Lljocsimasi - “my companion (fellow) from that at home" 4.

In this way, the small family was separated from the patriarchal clan. Nikolsky rightly sees in the above facts the moments of the beginning of the disintegration of tribal ties, the replacement of consanguineous ties with neighboring, territorial ones 6 .

In the Inca state, the Aylyu had already begun to transform from a tribal community into a rural neighboring community. This becomes obvious when considering land use regulations. All land in the state was considered to belong to the Supreme Inca. In fact, she was at the disposal of the Ilyu. The very territory that belonged to the community was called the mark (a coincidence with the name of the community among the Germans - die Mark). The land that belonged to the entire community was called marka pacha, i.e. community land. Each village allocated from this community land its own “village land” or “village land” (lyakta pacha).

The cultivated land was called chakra, i.e. fields. It was divided into three parts: “fields of the Sun”, “fields of the Inca” and, finally, “fields of the community”. The harvest from the Inca's fields went to the treasury and state barns; the harvest from the fields of the Sun went to the temples to support the priests. The land was cultivated jointly by the entire village, although each family had its own share. Household members worked together under the guidance of one of the elders and, having cultivated one section of the field (field of the Sun), moved on to the fields of the Inca, then to the fields of the villagers. Of the latter, a part was allocated, the harvest from which went to the general fund of the village. This reserve was spent to support needy fellow villagers and various general village needs. In addition to fields, each village also had fallow lands and wild lands that served as pastures. The village had a herd of llamas and alpacas, which were also communally owned.

In mountainous regions, where the mainstay of the economy was animal husbandry, pastures and herds of llamas and alpacas were divided into three parts in a similar way. Tax collectors collected wool and leather, as well as dried meat.

Field plots were distributed among fellow villagers annually, but not every year an individual family changed its allotment, since the plot of the field remained fallow after three or four harvests had previously been harvested from it. A field allotment tupu was given to a childless man; for each male child the father received another such allotment, and for a daughter another half tupu. Tupu was considered temporary possession, as it was subject to redistribution. But besides the tupu, on the lands of each community there were also areas called Muya Indians. Spanish officials refer to these plots in their reports as “hereditary land”, “own land”, “vegetable garden”. The muya plot consisted of a yard, a house, a barn or shed and a vegetable garden and was passed down from father to son. There is no doubt that the muya plots have already begun to become private property. It was on these plots that community members could obtain surplus vegetables or fruits; on their farm they could dry meat, tan leather, spin and weave wool, make pottery vessels, bronze tools, that is, everything that they exchanged as their private property. The dualism that emerged, the combination of communal ownership of fields with private ownership of personal plots, characterizes the aylya as an early rural community in which consanguinity gave way to territorial ties.

At the same time, Peru is characterized by the interweaving of growing class relations with strong remnants of the tribal system. In particular, the classification system of kinship was preserved along with the established account of kinship in the male line and the separation of a monogamous family from the clan. Further, as the Soviet scientist A. M. Zolotarev established on the basis of reports from Spanish chroniclers, in the Inca state there were remnants of the most ancient clan organization - the division of tribes into two halves, / or rather phratries. Each province, corresponding to a separate tribe, was divided into two parts: the first part was called the upper (Hanan) at the second is lower (hurin). The phratries each had their own place of residence; Cuzco was divided into Upper and Lower Cuzco, according to the residence of the Hanan and Hurin phratries. Each phratry included a certain number of clans; for example, eleven clans lived in Upper Cuzco, and ten in Lower Cuzco.

A. M. Zolotarev draws attention to the fact that the Inca rulers were chosen alternately, first from one, then from another phratry. The first five rulers belonged to the Lower Cuzco phratry, the subsequent ones to the Upper Cuzco phratry 1 .

In the social life of each tribe, the leading place was occupied by the upper phratry; the leader of the lower phratry was subordinate to its elder or leader. At public ceremonies and religious festivals, members of the phratries sat in rows facing each other. However, these remnants of the ancient dual organization no longer played a significant role in the Inca state; they gave way to division based on the principle of class and property stratification.

Ordinary community members from tribes conquered by the Incas, in addition to paying taxes, were required to serve duties in works of general state importance: maintaining the irrigation system, building roads and bridges, fortresses and temples. This duty was called mita and was performed by men. Women had other duties. In addition to the fact that all women were required to donate fabric, the most beautiful and most skilled girls were selected for the harem of the Supreme Inca and his entourage, as well as for the temples. They were called "white darlings." Temple servants and priestesses, doomed to seclusion and obliged to maintain virginity, in addition to participating in ritual ceremonies, spun, weaved and prepared the drink chicha for the priests.

The tribes conquered by the Incas long ago developed a clan nobility - the curaca. The Incas left them privileges. Kurak only supervised the work of the community members, the payment of taxes, their plots were cultivated by the community members. In addition to their share in the community herd of llamas and alpacas, the curaka had their own livestock, up to several hundred heads. On their farms, on private lands, dozens of slave concubines spun and wove wool or cotton. Livestock or agricultural products of the Kuraka were exchanged for jewelry made of precious metals, etc. But the Kuraka, as belonging to conquered tribes, were in a subordinate position; the Incas stood above them.

The position of the Incas was hereditary. The Incas did not work, were not involved in production, they only occupied the highest military and administrative positions. United by a common origin, a closed group of Incas, bound by a common inherited position in society, protected by special state laws, represented the dominant caste in the state created by the Incas. The rulers allocated them lands that were cultivated by community members, as well as workers from conquered tribes, the so-called Yanakuna (Yanakona). In addition to agricultural and livestock products, the Incas enjoyed the fruits of Yanakuna labor in the form of all kinds of products.

The Incas were very different from ordinary subjects in their appearance, special haircut, clothing and jewelry. The Spaniards called the noble Incas orejons (from the Spanish word oreja - nut - ear) for their huge gold earrings in the form of rings and disks, stretching their earlobes.

Priests also occupied a privileged position, in whose favor the harvest from the “fields of the Sun” was collected. They were not subordinate to local rulers, but formed a separate corporation governed by the high priesthood in Cuzco.

The determination of the position in Peru of the Yanakuna group, or Yanacona - workers recruited from conquered tribes - still remains controversial. Spanish chroniclers described them as slaves or semi-slaves. Kunov considers this an exaggeration: in his opinion, although they were not free and were strictly dependent on their masters, their position was better than that of the population of the conquered regions if, he adds, “they knew how to earn the trust and favor of the Incas” 1 . But Kunov generally glosses over class contradictions and refuses to see them in Incas society. Karsten claims that “the Yanakuna were neither slaves nor serfs - there were no such people in the Inca state at all - but they were not full citizens either” 2.

According to Rowe, the chroniclers called only unskilled laborers, whom he regards as servants, as yanakuns. Craftsmen stood separately and were called by their specialty: blacksmiths, jewelers, weavers, counters 3 .

Baudin traces the origin of the Yanakuna group to the following historical event. The population of one of the conquered regions rebelled against the rule of the Incas. The rebels and those who helped them (only a few thousand people) were driven to the city of Yanaka, where they were going to be subjected to the death penalty. As legend tells, thanks to the intercession of the wife of the supreme Inca, the death penalty was replaced by enslavement. The convicts, named after the city of Yanakuna, were doomed to lifelong slavery, as well as their offspring. They were excluded from society, they were not subject to the laws that regulated the lives of other groups of the population, they were the property of their immediate owners and at their complete disposal. Bodin reports that later the descendants of the Yanakuna mixed with the servants of the Incas, so that by the time of the Spanish conquest they were no longer distinguished from servants 4 . Whether the stated legend had a historical grain or was fictitious, it characterizes the position of the Yanakun as slaves.

Soviet researchers, Nikolsky and Zolotarev, based on specific descriptions given by chroniclers of the position and working conditions of the Yanakun, define them as slaves, regardless of whether their number included skilled artisans, especially laborers and servants. To the Yanakun men we must add women - spinners, weavers, embroiderers and maids, who from childhood were separated from the family and community and forced to work for the masters.

Particularly important is the chroniclers’ message that the position of Yanakun was inherited, from parents to children. The number of Yanakun was quite large. It is known that in 1570, i.e. 35 years after the fall of the Inca power, there were another 47 thousand Yanacuna in Peru 6 .

The appearance of a large group of hereditary enslaved workers, cultivators, laborers and miners, exploited by the ruler and the nobility, suggests that the slave system has already become stronger in Peru. Soviet historians define the society of Peru as early slave-owning, with significant remnants of the tribal system retained, but formed into a despotic state 6 .

Baudin and his followers, calling the Inca society socialist, put forward two main arguments: firstly, food assistance from the treasury reserves to the widows and orphans of killed soldiers, as well as to all citizens during hunger strikes, and the distribution of yarn and fabric to all citizens; secondly, the “planned” organization of the entire economy of the country. In fact, caring for those in need was a remnant of the primitive communal system. It is impossible to call the organization of the Inca state, like any centralized state of the ancient world, planned. The administrative and fiscal system of ancient Peru is very similar to the structure of eastern despotisms, for example ancient Persia: the same centralization of management, organization of irrigation, communications and postal services by the state apparatus.

The mode of production in ancient Peru was slave-owning, although in its early stages. The remnants and survivals of tribal orders cannot in any way be considered signs of socialism. Socialism, as a socio-economic formation, presupposes the socialization of the means of production at a high level of development of productive forces, the elimination of class inequality, the elimination of the exploitation of man by man and the harmonization of the interests of the individual and society. All this was absent in the Inca state, so it cannot be called socialist.

Zubritsky Yuri Alexandrovich::: Inki-Quechua. Main stages of the history of the people

Acquaintance with the most ancient period of the history of the Quechua people points to a number of problems that are still waiting to be solved. The first place among them, undoubtedly, is occupied by the problems of the social system of Tawantinsuyu and those historical and ethnic processes that took place in the depths of this system. We now turn to a brief consideration of these issues.

The Andean highlands abound in valleys with climatic conditions favorable for agriculture, with fertile soils, which can also be irrigated by water from numerous rivers and lakes. It is not surprising that it was precisely such valleys that became a haven for many wandering Indian tribal communities. As a result of the growth of productive forces, as evidenced by the construction of complex irrigation structures, the cultivation of cultivated varieties of corn, potatoes, quinua, the domestication and breeding of llamas and alpacas, in the mountainous part of the Andean region, the process of property and social differentiation begins, the formation of classes and states based on agricultural unions communities - Aylyu or the subjugation of these communities by some external force - wandering warlike tribes. However, centuries had to pass before a powerful and gigantic Incan state, Tawantinsuyu (Map 1), arose on the site of several local associations.

Agriculture remained the main economic activity of this country. The main crops were corn and potatoes. Along with them, quinua, pumpkin, beans, cotton, bananas, pineapples and many other crops were grown. Population growth and the need to expand cultivated areas gave rise to one of the most remarkable manifestations of Indian culture - huge terraces along the mountain slopes. To irrigate such terraces, additional complex irrigation structures were required.

In some areas of Tawantinsuyu, in particular in Colyasuyu, cattle breeding has reached significant proportions - breeding llamas and alpacas as beasts of burden, as well as for meat and wool. However, keeping these animals on a smaller scale was practiced everywhere. One of the varieties of ducks was domesticated.

In Tawantinsuyu, the separation of crafts from agriculture and cattle breeding had already taken place. Ceramics, weaving, and dyeing reached a particularly high level. The ability of the Tawantinsuyu people to find a huge number of color shades and combine them harmoniously constitutes a whole area of ​​​​craft art. Indian weavers knew how to make various types of fabrics - from thick and fleecy, like velvet, to light, translucent, like gauze.

Ancient Quechuan metallurgists smelted and processed gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, as well as some alloys, including bronze. They knew iron only in the form of hematite; iron ore was not processed. Construction technology (construction of palaces, fortresses, warehouses, bridges) has achieved great success. For navigation, in addition to ordinary boats and rafts, special large rafts were built that had a significant carrying capacity - up to several tons. Pottery and ceramics, which inherited the ancient traditions of Chimu and Tiwanaku, were distinguished by an unusual richness of forms. The purpose of this work does not include a detailed description of the craft. The very fact of its existence and its division into numerous sectors is important.

Naturally, with the dominance of a natural economy, on the one hand, and in the presence of a strong centralized despotic power, which we will talk about below, on the other, the scale of internal trade was small, as evidenced by the absence of a single monetary equivalent for the entire country and the emergence of several local equivalents. However, internal trade undoubtedly existed; some chroniclers, notably Inca Garcilaso, speak of fairs and markets. We see, therefore, that economic activities in Tawantinsuyu were very diverse.

1 - territory of Tawantinsuyu; 2 - borders of modern states

By the time the Spanish conquerors appeared on the territory of the country, social inequality had gone far: it existed not only between individuals, but also between entire social groups. These groups differed among themselves in their attitude to the means of production, in their place in the social organization of labor, and in the share of social wealth that they owned. Some of the groups, using military and administrative force as a measure of coercion, could regularly appropriate the results of the work of other social groups. Tawantinsuyu's social groups differed sharply from each other legally and politically. In other words, we are talking about the presence of different classes of Incas in the “empire”. It should be noted that the determination of the class structure of Inca society is complicated by two circumstances: firstly, the fact that the state of Tawantinsuyu was formed as a result of the conquest of numerous tribes and a number of state formations of the Central Andes by the Incas, and the Incas themselves constituted the top of the ruling class, and, secondly, the fact that in Inca society there were numerous castes, and each class included representatives of different castes, and people of the same caste could belong to different classes.

The main unit of Tawantinsuyu was the community. The Inca conquest brought with it severe oppression and exploitation of communities. They lost ownership of the land; The supreme ruler, who personified the state, became the owner of the land. The community members retained the right only to receive from the state a plot of land (tupu), on which one childless family could barely feed themselves. When children were born, this area increased slightly. The remaining lands of the communities were divided into the “field of the Inca” and the “field of the Sun”; they were processed by the labor of community members, but the harvest from them went to the disposal of the ruling elite. As for the deposits and mining of metals, as well as coca bush plantations, they were completely expropriated by the conquering Incas.

Having been included in the Inca state, the communities had to send a significant part of their members, by order of officials, to build roads, bridges, warehouses, palaces and fortresses, to work in mines and on coca plantations, and finally, in personal service to the Supreme Inca and dignitaries. Some of these categories of labor service were for life. Apart from meager food and, in some cases, clothing, community members who performed various types of labor duties outside the community did not receive any remuneration for their work. These people lacked any manifestation of personal freedom or personal independence. Thus, all forms of labor service can be considered as types of temporary or permanent slavery.

The history of the Incan state shows that the mentioned duties constantly grew and expanded. Truly tragic memories remain of the hardships of slave labor. In particular, due to the lack of significant draft power of animals, the work of those who had to drag huge multi-ton blocks of stone, often over very significant distances - several thousand kilometers, was especially difficult. Even Inca Garcilaso, who carefully tried to hide all the shadowy sides of Inca reality, describing the events associated with the movement of one of these stone blocks, says that it fell and “killed three or four thousand Indians.” These tragic events remained in the memory of the Indians and in the chronicles in the form of memories of a “tired stone” that “cryed blood.”

But even those community members who worked in their communities were subjected to very severe exploitation and oppression, which indicate the presence of a process of turning the former free population into slaves. In fact, the level of agricultural production in Tawantinsuyu, despite the widespread development of irrigation and the use of fertilizers, remained relatively low due to the primitiveness of agricultural tools. The highest achievement of the Tawantinsu people in this area was the so-called “chaquitalya” - an ordinary pointed stick with a footrest. If we remember that the lands cultivated by the community, after its subjugation to the Incas, were divided into three more or less equal parts and the harvest of two parts was expropriated by the ruling class, the monstrous scale of exploitation becomes obvious. Apparently, we can talk about the confiscation of not only surplus, but also some part of the necessary product, which is one of the main signs of slave exploitation. When a person is a direct and legally recognized slave of his master, the exploitation of such a person is manifested in the area of ​​​​limiting the amount of his consumption, in cutting down the material and spiritual goods he consumes. We see something similar, but on the scale of an entire state, in Tawantinsuyu. A number of chroniclers point out the poverty of the cuisine of ordinary Indians, and it was forbidden to change it. In particular, meat food was rarely present in this cuisine, and fresh meat was consumed by community members only on holidays. Eating (which was again prescribed and strictly controlled by the authorities) was done only twice a day - in the morning and at sunset. The use of clothing, jewelry, furniture, etc. was also strictly limited, and personal freedom was sharply limited. Without permission from the authorities, a community member could not leave the community. Of course, community members were not branded, but in each locality ordinary Tawantinsu residents were required to have distinctive signs, failure to wear which was punishable by death.

The authorities strictly ensured that all community members worked. Manifestations of “laziness” were severely punished. The principle of “Ama Kelya” (don’t be lazy!), borrowed from pre-class times, received new content, was elevated to the rank of state dogma and began to serve the purposes of extremely cruel exploitation of ordinary workers. Not only adults, but also children, starting from 5-6 years old, were required to work, helping adults.

Even from this cursory description of the situation of the community members, it is clear that this class, the largest in Tawantinsuyu, was exploited and oppressed. However, the presence of a number of features that brought community members closer to slaves (the confiscation of all surplus and, possibly, part of the necessary product, a sharp limitation of consumption and personal freedom, the obligation to bear numerous unpaid labor duties) does not yet give us the right to consider them slaves. The community members are not the enslaved, but only the enslaved part of society, and the process of their enslavement was far from complete. Progressive Peruvian researcher Gustavo Valcárcel calls the community members “half-slaves.” This term, in our opinion, quite accurately defines the socio-economic situation of the vast majority of the working and exploited population of the Inca “empire”.

But along with the “semi-slaves” in the Inca state there were also real slaves. These are primarily the so-called Yanakuns (or Yanacons). According to Inca tradition, the first six thousand Indians were turned into Yanakuns as punishment for opposing the power of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui. Subsequently, members of those tribes and residents of those areas who stubbornly resisted the Inca conquerors began to be turned into Yanakuns. It is interesting to note that, apparently, according to the prevailing concept, in the face of the Supreme Inca, who personified the state, there was no significant difference between the “free” community members and the Yanakun slaves. This assumption of ours is confirmed by the following fact: during the inspection trips of the Inca “monarch”, as well as during visits to the Inca court, local rulers began to widely practice the custom of “offering” skilled craftsmen, dancers, musicians and simply strong and healthy young people to the Supreme Inca. “Donated” people, yesterday’s “free” community members, became Yanakuns. We have no data on the number of Yanakuns. One can only guess that their number was growing rapidly; this, in particular, is indicated by the fact that the Supreme Incas began over time to bestow Yanakuns on their associates, dignitaries, military leaders, priests, etc. It can be assumed that there were more Yanakuns only several times more than members of the Inca nobility. If we take as our starting point the number of nobles given by Bodin, then the minimum number of Yanakuns lies between several tens of thousands and several hundred thousand. By the time the Spaniards arrived, there were several thousand Yanakunes in the city of Cajamarca alone. Close to them stood those community members who, along with the land, were “donated” to some representative of the nobility. The land of these community members and they themselves became essentially the private property of a noble person. It is interesting to note the presence of a special category of female slaves - aklakun (“chosen ones”). True, some of the aklakun belonged to the nobility and were intended exclusively for the role of priestesses of the Sun, as well as concubines of the Supreme Inca and dignitaries. But the overwhelming majority of the Aklakun were doomed to exhausting work from sunrise to sunset as spinners, weavers, carpet makers, laundresses, cleaners, etc.

A complex phenomenon was represented by a special category of the population called “mitimae” or “mitimakkuna”. Translated into Russian, these Quechuan words mean “settlers.” Some of the Mitimae were people from tribes and localities that enjoyed special trust from the Inca nobility. These people, along with their families, were resettled in the newly conquered places and were given land there, turning them into the support of Incan rule. Such mitimae enjoyed a number of privileges compared to the bulk of the community members. But there were also another category of mitimae - people from tribes and areas recently conquered by the Incas. Fearing protests against their power, the Incas broke the conquered tribes into pieces and resettled them to another area, sometimes thousands of kilometers away from their homeland. Sometimes entire tribes were subjected to such forced relocation. This second category of mitimae not only did not enjoy any privileges, but even had fewer rights than ordinary community members. They lived under especially strict supervision among a population alien and often hostile to them. Such mitimai especially often bore the brunt of forced labor, extortion and “gifting” of them as yanakuns. This group of settlers was approaching the status of slaves.

The position of the artisans in its main features coincided with the position of the community members, and without dwelling on it, we will immediately move on to a brief acquaintance with individual categories of the ruling elite. Its lowest level were the curacs, local leaders who recognized the power of the conquering Incas. The actions of the Kuracs, however, were controlled by the Incan governors. The Incas showed a lot of patience and strength in order to attract the Kuracs to their side and thereby strengthen their dominance. That is why the layer of Kuraks was quite numerous. Only in areas immediately adjacent to the capital did the position of kuraks disappear; they were replaced by representatives of the Inca administration. On the one hand, in most cases, the Kuracs were objectively interested in subjugating the power of the Incan despotism, which, using the power of its state apparatus, provided them with a more stable position than the position of an elected and replaceable leader of a clan community or tribe. On the other hand, although the prospect of occupying high positions opened up for individual Quracs and members of their families, this prospect was very limited, since there was an abyss between the non-Incan Quracs and the Incas.

The Incas, who occupied a higher social position than the Kuracs, were divided into two categories. The lower of them included the so-called “Incas by privilege,” that is, those who, as a reward for their loyalty to the Incas themselves, received the right to a special ear piercing, as well as the right to call themselves Incas. The “Incas by privilege” included the descendants of those Quechua tribes who at one time entered into an alliance with the Incas of the Cuzco Valley to fight other tribes (primarily the Chancas). Over time, some leaders of other tribes who sided with the Incas during hostilities, as well as persons who provided the Supreme Inca, Inca dignitaries or the Inca army with certain significant services, gained access to the category of “Incas by privilege.” If the curacs usually stood at the lowest level of the complex system of Inca administration, then the “Incas by privilege” occupied the posts of controllers under the curacs, as well as other higher administrative, army and priestly positions.

The second category of Incas are members of the ancestral city community of Cusco, Incas by blood, by origin, who considered themselves direct descendants of the legendary first Inca Manco Capac and other Inca monarchs. They occupied the highest positions in the state. From them came dignitaries, senior military leaders, governors of regions and large districts, amauts - sages, leaders of the priesthood, etc.

At the top of the social ladder of Tahuantinsuyu stood the supreme ruler Sapa Inca - “The Only Inca”. At the time of the birth of the Inca statehood, which was closely associated with the struggle against neighboring tribes (mainly the Chanca tribes), the clan-tribal organization of the Cuzco Valley acted as a collective conqueror and collective ruler of the conquered population of adjacent territories. This circumstance slowed down the process of property and social differentiation among the Incas, but at the same time, against the backdrop of an equal collective of Inca masters, breaking the bonds of military-democratic relations, the power of a single master, i.e., the One Inca (Sapa Inka), strengthened and became hereditary. This gentleman fully embodies the features of the eastern despot that F. Engels speaks of in Anti-Dühring. The strengthening of the despotic power of the One Inca went on for a long time and ended relatively shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards, in the first half of the 15th century, during the reign of the energetic Inca reformer Pachacutec, who inflicted a crushing defeat on the Chancas, who, like the Incas, claimed hegemony in the Cuzco valley and the surrounding areas. areas. The Last One Incas are true despots with unlimited legislative, executive and legal powers. Despite the enormous size of the state, the system of permanent overt and secret overseers, frequent inspections (including personally by the Only Inca himself), a well-established warning service, detailed and scrupulous qualifications - all this deprived local rulers of independence and made the power of the Supreme Inca omnipresent and effective. throughout Tawantinsuyu. Sapa Inca was considered the master of the fate and property of all his subjects. The lands distributed between communities and community members were considered as a gift from the supreme ruler. It was believed that even an ordinary member of society received his wife by his grace. The only officially recognized source of law was the will of the Sapa Inca.

In the folk drama “Apu-Ollantay” there are characteristic words with which Inca Pachacutec addresses Ollantay, the ruler of one of the four regions, when this leader, as punishment for his own insolence (the desire to marry Pachacutec’s daughter), asks to take his life:

Are you dictating a ready-made solution to me?
I am the one source of law!
I am the one good and glory!
Be gone, you crazy creature!

There was, however, a force in the country that could limit the power of the One Inca. This force is a numerous and well-organized priesthood. However, history shows that the priestly organization was always on the side of the monarch. If any disagreements arose, they were of a secondary nature. Thus, according to the text of the drama “Apu-Ollantay”, it was on the advice of Villa Uma, the high priest, that the troops of the Sapa Inca crush the rebellious anti people. Disagreements arise only after the defeat, and even then on an unimportant issue: what to do with the prisoners - put them to death or not. It should be pointed out that William Uma was always either the brother or uncle of the One Inca. The priesthood was not an independent force, but one of the pillars of the ruler’s power, which by all means contributed to the strengthening of this power, deifying both the power itself and its bearer.

The social structure of Tawantinsuyu, the division of society into classes and castes, the relationship of dominance and subordination found their expression in the official Incan ideology, imbued with religious overtones. The existence of a sole ruler - the One Inca - on earth should have led to the appearance of the main god, and subsequently the only god in heaven. The merging of the image of the Sun Father with the image of Pachacamac (or Viracocha) and some other powerful gods was an effective and rather short path to monotheism along which Inca religious thinking followed. The texts of the ancient hymns reveal the class basis of the emerging monotheism in the best possible way. Here is an excerpt from one of them:

O almighty Viracocha,
Defining: let this be a man, let this be a woman.
Bright Master of the Nascent Light!
Creator!
Who are you?
Where are you?
I can not see you?
In the Upper World,
Or in the Lower World,
Or next to the world
Is your throne located?
Say at least one sound for me
From the depths of the heavenly sea
Or the earth's seas,
in which you live,
Pachacamac,
Creator of man
Mister!
Your slaves To you
They raise their blurred gazes,
Wanting to see you...

Relations of domination and subordination, inequality between different groups of the population were reflected not only in religious texts, but also in many “secular” maxims of the Inca rulers, which acquired the character of state dogmas. Inca Roca, according to tradition, was the author of the following maxim: “It is wrong to teach plebeian children the sciences that belong to the nobles... It is enough if they only know the occupation of their fathers...” Another ruler, Inca Tupac Yupanqui, liked to repeat this saying.

The sayings of the Inca Pachacutec, already mentioned by us, are indicative: “When subjects, military leaders, and curacs sincerely submit to their monarch, then peace and tranquility reign throughout the entire country.” Or: “Rulers: must be attentive to all phenomena. And the first thing they and their subjects must strictly observe and implement are the laws of their monarchs.”

Relations of domination and subordination inevitably gave rise to acute social contradictions and class struggle in the life of Tawantinsuyu, which often resulted in uprisings. One such uprising, which lasted about a decade, is described in the Quechuan folk drama Apu Ollantay. We are talking about the struggle of the population of one of the four components (Antisuyu) of the Inca state against the power of the Sapa Inca. Under the leadership of the ruler of the region, commander Ollantay, the inhabitants of Antisuyu proclaim the independence of their region and defeat the Incan army sent against them by Inca Pachacutec. Only the new Inca, Tupac Yupanqui, was eventually able to suppress the rebellion. In this case, the cause of the unrest was, apparently, the contradiction between the emerging Incan despotism and the traditions of military democracy. The driving force of the uprising was the masses of ordinary community members, and the guiding force was the local tribal aristocracy. The rebels, apparently, did not set themselves any tasks of social transformation; their main demand was to refrain from participating in the Inca military campaigns, as a result of which the lion's share of the booty fell into the hands of the Incas, and the Antis only suffered the hardships of the campaigns and death. Separating from the “empire,” the rebels essentially left the socio-political structure intact and proclaimed the commander Ollantay the Sole Inca of their country, elected a high priest and made appointments to other positions that existed among the Incas. It can be assumed that it was the rapid emergence of “their” local despotism with all its attributes that led over time to a weakening of the morale of the rebels and ultimately predetermined their defeat.

The uprising in the Tumbes region during the reign of the Inca Tupac Yupanqui was of a somewhat different nature. Here the impetus for it was the contradiction between the conquerors - the Incas and the conquered local population. As the greatest mercy on the part of the Incas, Garcilaso describes their decision to kill not all the rebels, but only every tenth. The uprising on the island of Puna during the reign of Huayna Capac was of approximately the same nature. The punishment that befell the islanders was truly terrible; The Incas became sophisticated, coming up with new executions for the rebels. Even Inca Garcilaso, prone to idealizing Inca society, writes: “... some were thrown into the sea with weights tied to them, others were pierced with spears... others were beheaded, others were quartered, others were killed with their own weapons... others were hanged.”

During the reign of the same Huayna Capac, who died shortly before the arrival of the Spaniards, an uprising of the Karange tribe and some other tribes took place on the territory of modern Ecuador. There are no detailed information about this. But the testimony of chroniclers that Huayna Capac ordered the uprising to be drowned “in fire and blood”, that in subsequent battles “thousands of people on both sides” died and that then the Incas, dealing with the rebels, destroyed from 2 to 20 thousand people, they say about the great scope of this movement.

Along with similar movements, which were in the nature of protests by local community members and nobility against the conquering Incas, silent mentions of spontaneous outbreaks and uprisings that were purely class in nature have been preserved. One of these spontaneous uprisings is associated with the already mentioned “tired stones crying blood.” Thus, in the chronicle of Martin de Maurois there is a mention of how community members, busy dragging one of the blocks “crying blood,” killed the head of the work, “captain and prince” Inka Urkon.

The suffering of the oppressed aroused sympathy even among some progressive representatives of the ruling class, even the princes. However, these individuals, of course, were unable to change the existing order and eliminate the exploitation of man by man. We find an interesting, although, unfortunately, very brief story about one of these lone heroes of the distant past in the chronicle of Fernando de Montesinos. We are talking about Prince Inti Capac Pirua Amaru, who was declared heir to the throne, but the nobility strongly opposed him. As the chronicler writes, “it happened, however, that this Amaru became a friend of the humiliated people, and then they demanded the father to take away the rule from his son, and he, although with pain in his heart, did so.” True, later, when Inti Capac Pirua Amaru was able to rely on real military force, the capital's nobility was forced to recognize his claims to the throne. Fernando de Montesinos does not provide any details that would shed light on the reign of Amaru, and limits himself to only one brief but significant phrase: “He was loved by everyone.”

It should be said that there is almost no information about the manifestations of discontent and speeches of the slaves themselves.

True, in the already mentioned Quechuan folk drama “Ollantay” one of the aklakuna speaks quite unequivocally about life in the aklahuasi (house for the aklakun):

I curse this house
I hate this cage.
And although I see everywhere
Joy - I don’t know joy.
The sight of old vestal virgins is terrible,
There is no sadder fate than this,
In Aklas live of your own free will
None of them would.

There are no memories of more effective expressions of dissatisfaction than these words. There is no evidence of any serious performances among the Yanakuns. Only with the arrival of the Spaniards did the Yanakunes rise up against their masters, but this movement was apparently caused artificially by European newcomers in order to weaken the forces of the Incan state apparatus, which continued to function after the capture of Atahualpa, the last One Inca.

The material presented above clearly points to the fact that the Inca state was a class-based and exploitative society. Moreover, a number of chroniclers and researchers have recorded the presence of various categories of slaves and slave labor. Does this mean that we have an established slave-owning society in which the slave-owning system has finally won? In no case. The Yanakuns, for all their numbers, constituted a small minority of the exploited population, and in addition, they were in most cases used in the sphere of personal services, and not in the sphere of material production. Even if we unconditionally classify all the mitimae of the second category, together with the aklakuns, as slaves, then in this case it will still turn out that the majority of the social product was produced not by slaves, but by community members - the oppressed, the enslaved, but not the enslaved, the “half-slaves,” but not slaves

However, the number of slaves, although slowly but steadily, is growing, and the scope of using the free labor of “free” community members in various types of forced labor is also growing, i.e., the degree of their enslavement is increasing. Thus, the Inca society is a society experiencing a transition period from a primitive communal system to a slave system. The fact that this transition had already been taking place for several centuries until the time when the Spanish conquistadors appeared on the territory of Tawantinsuyu, and, apparently, would have lasted for many more centuries, should not cause bewilderment. The development of humanity is proceeding at an accelerating pace. If decades passed from the moment of the Great October Socialist Revolution to the victory of socialism in our country, then from the moment of the fall of the Roman Empire to the era of the final victory of the feudal system, even in the advanced countries of Europe, at least a century passed. It is not surprising that the transition from a primitive communal system to a slave system, where this process took place without any catalyzing influence from the outside, could take centuries and even millennia. These figures of the transition period seem to us to be very small compared to the tens of thousands of years of existence of the primitive communal system. It is not the duration of the transition period itself that should surprise us, but the stability of all manifestations of the sphere of social relations that is characteristic of this period.

Inca society does not recognize itself in a state of transition to any other forms of life, to some other socio-economic structure. We are talking only about new conquests and the introduction of the conquered to the already established norms of life. It is significant that with the greatly increased number of Yanakuns, Aklakuns and Mitimae of the second category, with the expansion of the scope of use of unpaid labor of community members in forced labor, members of the newly conquered tribes do not directly turn into slavery, but remain within the community. This is only one of numerous facts indicating the incompleteness of the process of the formation of the slave system in Tawantinsuyu. The extreme slowness of this process leads to the fact that all types of superstructure in the Inca “empire” appear before us not as slaveholding (and, of course, not as primitive communal), but precisely as “transitional”. The norms of primitive communal customs, philosophy, art, religion are organically combined with the norms of slave law, morality, philosophy, politics, religion, art, and the state. The main moral principle “Ama sua! Ama lyulya! Ama kelya! serves simultaneously the goals of maintaining equality and mutual assistance within the community, and the goals of exploitation of community members and other segments of the oppressed population, and the goals of protecting the emerging principle of private property.

The class struggle in Inca society proceeded completely differently from that in developed slave states. Uprisings of the oppressed population are uprisings not of slaves, but of “semi-slaves” - community members. Slaves may take part in them, but they do not determine the face of these class actions.

So, we cannot unconditionally classify the Inca society as a slave-owning society, because the slave-owning system in it was in the period of its formation. Moreover, we cannot attribute the state of Tawantinsuyu to primitive societies.

The essence of the society that arose in the Central Andes in the first half of our millennium is characterized by the coexistence of two structures and two types of social relations: primitive communal and slaveholding. This coexistence is so organic that there can be no talk of the revolutionary development of society in that transition period. Development is purely evolutionary. Perhaps, without a revolutionary explosion and a new revolutionary transition period, Inca society would not have been able to achieve the complete victory of the slave system.

All these considerations raise the question of the need for further deeper and more serious concrete and theoretical research, which would allow us to provide a comprehensive analysis and a clear description of the social system of Tawantinsuyu and other ancient states.

G. Valcarcel. Peru: mural de un pueblo. Apuntes marxistas sobre el Peru prehispanico. Lima, 1965, p. 188-189

F. de Montesinos. Memorias antiguas historiales y politicas del Peru. Cuzco, 1957, p. 35.

Ibidem. It should be said that in the works of other chroniclers the name of Inca Capac Pirua Amaru is not even mentioned. It is easy to understand the reason for this phenomenon, given that most chroniclers created their works on the basis of the official Incan tradition, cleared of “undesirable” memories.

J. J. Vega. Op. cit., p. 61, 62.

“Don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t be lazy!” (Quechua).

W. N. Prescott. History of the conquest of Peru. London, 1858, p. 111.

"Political Economy". M., 1954, p. 31. We make this reference from the considerations that this generally elementary position meets with misunderstanding abroad, even among people who share the principles of Marxist political economy.