The Need for Social Services in pre-Conquista Peru

[Octafish]

In Cuzco in 1589, Don Mancio Serra de Leguisamo — one of the last survivors of the original conquerors of Peru—wrote in the preamble of his will, the following, in parts:

"We found these kingdoms in such good order, and the said Incas governed them in such wise that throughout them there was not a thief, nor a vicious man, nor an adulteress, nor was a bad woman admitted among them, nor were there immoral people. The men had honest and useful occupations. The lands, forests, mines, pastures, houses and all kinds of products were regulated and distributed in such sort that each one knew his property without any other person seizing it or occupying it, nor were there law suits respecting it… the motive which obliges me to make this statement is the discharge of my conscience, as I find myself guilty. For we have destroyed by our evil example, the people who had such a government as was enjoyed by these natives. They were so free from the committal of crimes or excesses, as well men as women, that the Indian who had 100,000 pesos worth of gold or silver in his house, left it open merely placing a small stick against the door, as a sign that its master was out. With that, according to their custom, no one could enter or take anything that was there. When they saw that we put locks and keys on our doors, they supposed that it was from fear of them, that they might not kill us, but not because they believed that anyone would steal the property of another. So that when they found that we had thieves among us, and men who sought to make their daughters commit sin, they despised us."

WIKI: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%BApac_Amaru

MORE: http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/south_america/cuzco.html

[msongs]

1. sounds like their religion was more effective than the nasty evil criminal spanish religion nt

[Octafish]

2. I'd like to know more about the Inca religion. Do know the Inca government treated the people well.

Travelers, for example, would find free food and shelter along the trail in storehouses called Tambo.

And so there would be adequate supplies for their men, every four leagues there were lodgings and storehouses, and the representatives or stewards who lived in the capital of the provinces took great care to see that the natives kept these inns or lodgings (tambos) well supplied. And so certain of them would not give more than others, and all should make their contribution, they kept the accounts by a method of knots, which they call quipus,and in this way, after the troops had passed by, they could check and see that there had been no fraud.

SOURCE:

I imagine that also served to encourage communication and commerce.

Going by that quote of the guy who witnessed the transformation of the culture after the Spanish conquest, the Spaniards had little idea of what they did, alhtough the Jesuits did try

Rober DeNiro starred in "The Mission," a film you may have seen about the people in the area where Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay meet. It's set almost two centuries after the death of the last Inca in Peru. Then and there, greed also destroyed what had been good. Today, Paraguay is where Rev. Moon has established an enormous redoubt. The Bushes may have, also.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. There is quite a bit of research these days

Look for a basic book on Inca civilization,

Realize Las Casas wrote similar accounts for the Indies.

The Spaniards of then first generation developed a guilt complex that is the basis of the black legend.

[Swamp Rat]

3. ¡Órale, Púlpopez!

:hi:

[Octafish]

4. No fuemos los ultimos, Compay Primero.

Incas

EXCERPT...

Unlike the military empires in Central America, the Incas ruled by proxy. After conquering a people, they would incorporate local rulers into their imperial system, generously reward anyone who fought for them, and treated well all those conquered people who cooperated. So, in reality, the Inca "empire," as the invading Spanish called it, was not really an empire. It was more of a confederation of tribes with a single people, the Incas, more or less in control. Each of these tribes was ruled independently by a council of elders; the tribe as a whole gave its allegiance to the ruler, or "Inca." The "Inca" was divine; he was the descendant of the sun-god.

The social structure of the Incas was extremely inflexible. At the top was the Inca who exercised, theoretically, absolute power. Below the Inca was the royal family which consisted of the Inca's immediate family, concubines, and all his children. This royal family was a ruling aristocracy. Each tribe had tribal heads; each clan in each tribe had clan heads. At the very bottom were the common people who were all grouped in squads of ten people each with a single "boss." The social unit, then, was primarily based on cooperation and communality. This guaranteed that there would always be enough for everyone; but the centralization of authority meant that there was no chance of individual advancement (which was not valued). It also meant that the system depended too much on the centralized authority; once the invading Spanish seized the Inca and the ruling family, they were able to conquer the Inca territories with lightening speed. Conquered people were required to pay a labor tax (mita ) to the state; with this labor tax, the Incas built an astonishing network of roads and terraced farmlands throughout the Andes.

Agriculture was tough business in the Andes. The Incas actively set about carving up mountains into terraced farmlands—so successful were they in turning steep mountainsides into terraced farms, that in 1500 there was more land in cultivation in the Andean highlands then there is today. The Incas cultivated corn and potatoes, and raised llama and alpaca for food and for labor.

Of all the urbanized people of the Americas, the Incas were the most brilliant engineers. The Huari-Tiahuanaco performed amazing feats of fitting gigantic stones together, and the Nazca designed mind-numbingly huge earth-drawings that still exist today. But the Inca built massive forts with stone slabs so perfectly cut that they didn't require mortar—and they're still standing today in near-perfect condition. They built roads through the mountains from Ecuador to Chile with tunnels and bridges. They also built aqueducts to their cities as the Romans had. And of all ancient peoples, they were the most advanced in medicine and surgery.

The language they spoke was Quechua which they imposed on all the peoples they conquered. Because of this, Quechua is still spoken among large numbers of Native Americans throughout the Andes. They had no writing system at all, but they kept records on various colored knotted cords, or quipu .

CONTINUED...

http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAMRCA/INCAS.HTM

Nuestra historia es parte de'l futuro. Mira 'esta cosa loca:

South American Natives Speak Ancient European Language? Part 2