Man, Past and Present

by A. H. Keane

Manco established himself in the Cuzco valley, his third successor finally subjugating the tribes there. The early position of the Incas, cemented by judicious marriages, seems to have been one of priority in a very loose confederacy. The rise of the Incas was due to the ambition of the lady Siuyacu whose son, Inca Rocca, appears to have been the pioneer of empire; material prosperity began under him, schools were erected and irrigation works begun. Then from a strip of land 250 miles long between the gorge of the Apurimac and the wide fertile valley of Vilcamayu, the empire was extended to form the Ttahua-ntin-suyu, "the four provinces," of which the northern one, Chinchay-suyu, reached to Quito, and the southern, Colla-suyu, into Chili. This southward extension was due to the efforts of Pachacuti who succeeded after hard fighting in annexing the region around Lake Titicaca, and the new territory was named after the Collas, the largest and most powerful tribe thereabouts. In order to pacify the region permanently large numbers of Collas were sent as mitimaes, or colonists, as far as the borders of Quito, while their places were filled by loyal colonists from Inca districts. Among these were a number of Aymaras from the Quichuan region of the Pachachaca, a left bank tributary of the Apurimac, who were settled among the remaining Lupacas on the west shore of Lake Titicaca at Juli. Thither came Jesuit fathers in 1572 and learnt the language of the Lupacas from these Aymara colonists, who had been there three generations; the name Aymara was given by the priests not only to the Lupaca language but to those spoken by Collas and other Titicacan tribes. Thus the name Aymara is now generally but quite erroneously applied to the language and people of this region; it was first so used in 1575. It must be pointed out, however, that other authorities regard the Aymara and Quichua as entirely distinct. A. Chervin[923] discusses the physical differences at great length and concludes that they are two separate brachycephalic peoples.

The Peruvians were primarily agriculturists, maize and at higher altitudes the potato being their chief crops. Their aqueducts and irrigation systems moved the admiration of early chroniclers, as did also their roads and suspension bridges[924]. The supreme deity and creator was Uira-cocha, who was worshipped by the more intellectual and had a temple at Cuzco. The popular religion was the worship of the founder of each ayllu, or clan, and all joined in adoration of the sun as ancestor of the sovereign Incas. Sun-worship was attended by a magnificent ritual, the high priest was an official of highest rank, often a brother of the sovereign, and there were over 3000 Virgins of the Sun (aclla) connected with the cult at Cuzco. The peasants put their trust in conopas, or household gods, which controlled their crops and their llamas. The calendar had been calculated with considerable ingenuity, and certain festivals took place annually and were usually accompanied with much chicha-drinking. It is remarkable that so advanced a people kept all their elaborate records by means of quipus (coloured strings with knots).

The Chimu.

Here is not the place to enter into the details of the astonishing architectural, engineering, and artistic remains, often assigned to the Incas, whose empire had absorbed in the north the old civilisation of the Chimu, perhaps of the Atacameño, and other cultured peoples whose very names have perished. The Yunga (Mochica or Chimu), conquered by the Inca Tupac Yupanqui, had a language radically distinct from Quichuan, but have long been assimilated to their conquerors.

The ruins of Grand Chimu (modern Trujillo) cover a vast area, nearly 15 miles by 6, which is everywhere strewn with the remains of palaces, reservoirs, aqueducts, ramparts, and especially huacas, that is, truncated pyramids not unlike those of Mexico, whence the theory that the Chimus, of unknown origin, were "Toltecs" from Central America. One of these huacas is described by Squier as 150 feet high with a base 580 feet square, and an area of 8 acres, presenting from a distance the appearance of a huge crater[925]. Still larger is the so-called "Temple of the Sun," 800 by 470 feet, 200 feet high, and covering an area of 7 acres. An immense population of hundreds of thousands was assigned to this place in pre-Inca times; but from some rough surveys made in 1897 it would appear that much of the space within the enclosures consists of waste lands, which had never been built over, and it is calculated that at no time could the number of inhabitants have greatly exceeded 50,000.

Peruvian Political System.

We need not stop to describe the peculiar civil and social institutions of the Peruvians, which are of common knowledge. Enough to say that here everything was planned in the interests of the theocratic and all-powerful Incas, who were more than obeyed, almost honoured with divine worship by their much bethralled and priest-ridden subjects. "The despotic authority of the Incas was the basis of government; that authority was founded on the religious respect yielded to the descendant of the sun, and supported by a skilfully combined hierarchy[926]." From remote antiquity the peoples of this area were organised into ayllus each occupying part of a valley or a limited area. It was a patriarchal system, land belonging to the ayllu, which was a group of families. The Incas systematised this institution, the ayllu was made to comprise 100 families under a village officer who annually allotted land to the heads of families. Each family was divided by the head into 10 classes based on age. Ten ayllus (now termed pachacas) formed a huaranca. A valley with a varying number of huarancas was termed a hunu; over four hunus there was an imperial officer. "This was indeed Socialism," Markham observes, "existing under an inexorable despotism" (p. 169).

The Araucanians.

Beyond the Maule, southernmost limits of all these effete civilisations, man reasserted himself in the "South American Iroquois," as those Chilian aborigines have been called who called themselves Molu-che, "Warriors," but are better known by their Quichuan designation of Aucaes, "Rebels," whence the Spanish Aucans (Araucan, Araucanian). These "Rebels," who have never hitherto been overcome by the arms of any people, and whose heroic deeds in the long wars waged by the white intruders against their freedom form the topic of a noble Spanish epic poem[927], still maintain a measure of national autonomy as the friends and faithful allies of the Chilian republic. Individual freedom and equality were leading features of the social system which was in the main patriarchal. The Araucanians were led by four independent chiefs, each supported by five ulmen, or district chiefs, whose office was hereditary but whose authority was little more than nominal. It was only in time of national warfare that the tribes united under a war-chief[928]. Not only are all the tribes absolutely free, but the same is true of every clan, sept, and family group. Needless to say, there are no slaves or serfs. "The law of retaliation was the only one understood, although the commercial spirit of the Araucano led him to forego personal revenge for its accruing profit. Thus every injury had its price[929]."

The basis of their belief is a rude form of nature worship, the principal deities being malignant and requiring propitiation. The chief god was Pillan, the thunder god. Spirits of the dead go west over the sea to a place of abundance where no evil spirits have entry[930]. And this simple belief is almost the only substitute for the rewards and punishments which supply the motive for the observance of an artificial ethical code in so many more developed religious systems.