Inca Empire: Internal and External Challenges

Internal and External Factors in the Fall of Tawantinsuyu

• The Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu) controlled a vast territory with diverse landscapes and peoples when Europeans arrived in the 1520s.
• The Inca territory extended 1500 km from the Cusco highlands to the modern borders of Ecuador and Colombia and central Chile and northwest Argentina.
• It encompassed diverse territories including the Pacific coast and Amazonian lowlands, with a population estimated at around 10 million.
• Europeans faced significant logistical challenges in reaching the Inca territories, requiring sea voyages across the Atlantic, travel across Panama, and subsequent sea travel along the Pacific coast.

Internal Vulnerabilities

• The Incas were engaged in extensive expansion campaigns and consolidating imperial administration over diverse populations at the time of European arrival.
• The vast size and diversity of the Andean region, including limited pre-Inca urbanism and statecraft, created challenges for maintaining imperial order.

Maintaining the Universal Center

• The Incas viewed Cusco as a central hub connecting the human and supernatural worlds.
• Provincial leaders and officials traveled to Cusco to interact with the Inca ruler, contributing to monumental construction projects and lavish ceremonies.
• The Inca rulers performed important roles in managing the imperial calendar and agricultural cycles.
• The need to maintain imperial control challenged the Inca rulers as campaigns in distant lands kept them away from the ceremonial duties at Cusco.

Palace Intrigues

• The Coricancha temple housed important Inka objects.
• The Haucaypata plaza was the location for imperial ceremonies and public gatherings in Cusco
• Inka palaces served as urban residences for emperors.
• Large numbers of women in palaces, including queens, and secondary wives had significant roles.

The European Invasion and Colonization of Peru

• The spread of Old World diseases, especially smallpox, significantly impacted the Inca population, disrupting the balance of power.
• Most historians attribute the population decline to disease, which Inka witnesses attributed to divine forces.
• The pandemic impacted Inca rulers and officials, hindering the ability of the Inca leadership to prevent internal conflicts.
• The situation of disease and internal struggles led some Andean lords to seek alliances with the invading Spaniards.

Sovereign Aims

• Spanish monarchs were interested in establishing settlements, generating tax revenues, and increasing sovereignty over the Indigenous populations.
• Pizarro's contract was focused on Spanish towns along the coast and assigning native labor to Spanish colonists.
• The contract specified developing natural resources (mines), indicating a focus on economic gain from the colony.

Inka-Spanish Alliances

• Atahuallpa offered gold and silver as a ransom.
• Pizarro executed Atahuallpa.
• Spaniards formed alliances with Inka officials.
• Newly designated Inka allies aided with the Spanish conquest.