Cuzco is a beautiful city, one of my favourites in the world. Most of the centre hasn’t changed since the Spanish tore it down and rebuilt it to their colonial likes in the mid 1500s. The Plaza has two really nice monuments to JC, with the main Cathedral standing tall where an Incan Palace used to be. There’s some amazing art inside with a mandatory Last Supper, but with a nice Peruvian touch. Instead of roasted whatever there's a nice plump cuy. That’s guinea pig. Yum, yum. Just the thing I’d like for a last supper.
Potted Inca History
The Inca Empire arose from the highlands of Peru sometime in early 13th century. In a golden period of time, from 1438 to 1533, the Incas used a variety of methods, from conquest to peaceful assimilation, to incorporate the majority of western South America on the western side of the Andes. The area they conquered included large parts of Ecuador, Peru, western and south central Bolivia, northwest Argentina, northern Chile, and southern Colombia. The Incas identified their king as "child of the sun", believing he was a decendant of their Sun God, Inti.
The Incas have various origin myths, each involving the first Inca King, Manco Capac. He was either sent directly to earth by Inti and emerged with a wife from Lake Titicaca one fine day, or Manco was one of four brothers who were transported to Earth and Manco eventually became the head honcho. In each case they found there way to the area of Cuzco and established the first Inca Kingdom.
Through this myth, Cusco became a sacred place and was believed to be the navel of the world. The city was divided into quarters corresponding to the four quarters of the empire. When the Incas conquered a culture they forced the princes of that culture to move to Cuzco and live in a quarter corresponding to their lands.
The conquered were required to learn Quechua, and adopt the Incan religion, which was basically worshiping Inti, the Sun God. However, they were also required to maintain their cultural dress, and intermarriage was not allowed. One third of all their agricultural produce was to be shipped to Cuzco, one third was for Inti (not sure what that meant) and they kept one third for themselves.
One amazing feature of the culture was that there was no opportunity for social mobility. Apart from the Incan nobility, everyone was on a single level of social standing. There was no form of currency, food was distributed to everyone on an equal basis, and when a man married, he was allocated a piece of land to work, with all its produce distributed to; Inti, the Inca, and his own village.
It was one of the most pure examples of despotism that you could possibly find. Incredibly, it worked for over 300 years, and the Empire lived in relative peace with absolute devotion to Inti and his son, the Inca.
While many people are horrified by colonial conquest and the travesties committed against indigenous peoples, the Incas were practically just another colonial power, doing what humans do…
There's obviously lots more to their society, but as I said, potted....
Now, how the Spanish conquered this society with just 160 men is another story……
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