FAMILY POSSESSIONS AMONG THE INCA PEOPLE

A family did not have many possessions. The housewife needed only a few simple cooking utensils for the meals she cooked – some blackened pots, a clay plate or two and clay spoons. She used the large gourds or clay pots she had made to store her water, corn, beans dried potatoes and peppers.

The hut had not furniture. Everyone sat on mats on the earth floor. As the thatching of the roof dried, it shed dust and bits of dried vegetation into the room, so the house was never completely clean and free of dust. Bits of thatching were forever getting lodged in the Indians’ clothing and in their long hair.

With so few articles of housekeeping, the Inca People hut was almost bare. The walls had wooden pegs in them, on which the family hung any clothing they took off at night. Niches built into the walls served as shelves for household goods, tools, yarn, spindles, musical instruments, toys and neatly folded festive clothing.

Outside the hut pens and corals for llamas and Alpacas, a few ducks and guinea pigs. These animals were the responsibility of the housewife and the children who were too young to in the fields. Because space was so precious, related households used the same corral for their few animals and shared the small pens.

The Inca people lived and worked outdoors most of the time. During the day it was pleasant and warm outside. The woman of the house sat on a mat working on her simple loom, spinning wool, or combing the wool for spinning. She boiled vegetable dyes in a pot in the cooking shed, soaked the wool in a large pot besides her, then washed it and laid it out to dry in the sun.

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CLOTHINGS OF THE INCA PEOPLE

The peaked wool caps with ear flaps, which men and boys wore outdoors, were woven of colored thread and decorated with tassels. A woven or plaited cotton band kept the men’s long hair in place. Everyone had a shoulder bag or two, since there were no pockets in the clothing. These were also woven.

Until a boy reached 14 or 15 years, he wore only a knee-length shirt and a hair band, both modeled after his father’s. Girls wore the same garments their mothers wore. These were very simple – a loose, long dress that left the arm bare, and a cape-like shawl held together  in front by a copper pin.

A housewife on the coast wove her family’s clothing of cotton with wool added. The coast men also wore breechcloths, kilts, shirts and hair bands, but they did not need capes or wool caps to keep warm.

The Inca People always went barefoot at home. A way from home they wore sandals – heavy pieces of llama hide cut to the shape of the foot. Thongs of bast fiber or leather, tied at the heel, over the instep, and between the toes, held the sandals in place.

Like all weavers, the Indian women tried their best to make the clothing not only durable but attractive. Each village had its own styles and weaving designs. Inca people could tell where a man and his family came from by looking at the style of their clothing.

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Inca Woman

An Indian woman made all the family’s clothing. She wove the long, narrow piece of cotton cloth that her husband used as breechcloth. The cotton came from the coast, where it grown in the warm valleys, and the Indians who lived in the mountains traded their wool yarn for it.

The Inca woman also wove her husband’s long sleeveless shirt, a square piece of cloth with a slit in the center. It reached to his knees, and the sides were either tied with cords or sewed together. She used the wool of alpaca and a llama to weave the shirt in stripes of brown and black.

 If she was weaving a shirt for festive occasions, she might mix the black with some white wool, to make a shirt of gray and brown stripes.

The woman also wove the wrap – around skirt or kilt her husband wore over his breechcloth. Her husband’s cape had to be long warm. Since she could not weave a wide piece of cloth on her narrow loom, she wove several strips and sewed them carefully together.

A well – made cape lasted a lifetime. Her husband wore it and used it as a blanket at night. When he needed as additional bag to carry produce home from the field, he scooped the ends of the cape together and it served as a basket.

In addition to cooking and making clothes for the family, the Indian housewife had the job of repairing cracks in the walls of her house and replacing the thatching on the roof. Adobe did not last very long in this land of bitter winds and rain and extreme daily changes in temperature, so repairs went on endlessly. Anything that was too hard for the women to do was done by her husband when he came home.

The life of the wife of a curaca – who was responsible for 100 farming families – was not as full of toil as that of a farmer’s wife. A curaca’s home, which was built of stone, was sturdier, roomier and better situated than a farmer’s hut, and mita labor kept it in better condition.

 The interior of the house was almost as simple as the farmer’s.  There were mats on the floor, and sometimes there were low platforms for the beds. A three-legged clay oven burned during the cold nights, so the sleeping family was comfortable and warm. The house had either windows or chimney, but it had a good solid door that shut out the night’s cold.

The curaca wife did not have to get up at dawn in freezing room and rush to grind corn for the morning meal. There were women to help her with the grinding, cooking and serving. She had a stove all to herself too, and she did not have to share her cooking shed with anyone.

Servants tended the plants, the herbs and the fruit trees in the courtyard garden. Men worked the curaca’s field and helped to herd the livestock. There was more food in the curaca’s house, and the two daily meals, which regularly included meat, were more ample and varied.

The curaca’s family also owned more than one change of clothing. His wife spent many hours at the loom, but she had women helping her with the spinning and weaving. The clothing her family wore was more carefully made, and she used finer wool – sometimes the wool of the vicuna – for the festive clothes.

In the days of the Inca vicunas ran wild in the highlands of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and the tropics. Their coat, tawny brown in color with a white or orange bib, was not thick, but their wool was of the finest quality. The Inca people were forbidden to kill vicunas. Villages organized hunts for vicunas, however, and sheared them and then release them.

The higher nobility lived in towns. There were many towns in Inca times, towns in the valleys and towns in the highlands. In a typical town the temple was in the center of a spacious plaza. But all roads leading to the plaza were very narrow- just wide enough for a litter and carriers. Homes and government buildings presented solid walls to the street, as they still do in many parts of central and South America today. Behind the walls were patios or courtyards with gardens and flowers.

A woman of higher nobility lived in greater comfort than the wife of a curaca did, but even the noblewoman worked at their looms, weaving and embroidering the finest and laciest textiles. They wove capes trimmed with the colorful feathers of tropical birds. They worked gold and silver threads into garments, giving them a beautiful sheen. They also prepared food for their families with the help of servants.

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THE HOME OF AN INCA FARMER

The home of an Inca farmer was a square, single – room hut. Together with a few of his relatives and friends, the farmer gathered stones for the foundation of his home. He grooved and fitted them into place. The walls of the hut were built of adobe brick. The men worked together to make the brick, usually making enough to build more than one hut. They dug up the clay dirt, poured water into it and mixed it with a spade.

The roof was supported by five thin poles, one at each corner and one in the center. It was made of thatch and covered with pebbles and mud to keep the thatch in place.

There were no windows or smoke holes in the hut. The only opening was the doorway, which faced east, toward the rising sun. Most doorways were covered with a blanket or a piece of hide.  Wood was sometimes used for doors, but not very often, because most of the trees had been cut down centuries before. The Inca administrators in an effort to conserve the few wooded areas that still remained, did not allow anyone to chop down a tree without special permission.

In those high altitudes it is hot during the day when the sun shines. As soon as the sun sets, however, it grows bitterly cold. Men and boys stripped to the waist as they worked outdoors in the sun.

At night the Inca Farmer slept on grass mats, which rested directly on mud – packed floor, and covered themselves with animal skins and wool capes to keep warm.


There was no stove or fire inside the hut. It was customary to have a cooking shed, spate from the living quarters, which two, three or even four neighbors shared. The stove the Indians used was something like a camp stove. It was small, round, and made of clay, with three openings at the top for cooking. Since a meal was usually made in one pot, three women could cook their meals on the stove at the same time. Dried llama dung and grass were used for the fire, which was built through an opening in the side of the stove.  This convenient, economical clay stove seems to have been an Andean invention.

The farmer’s wife rose before dawn to grind corn for the morning meal. Huddling in her woolen shawl eh ran the short distance from her house to the cooking hut. There she put some llama dung into the side opening  of the little clay stove and blew on the embers from last night’s fire to start a new fire going.

On one of the burners she set a pot of water to boil. While it heated, she ground dry corn on large, three-legged, sloping slab of stone. On the stone the woman threw corn kernels, a handful at a time, and with a large handstone, crushing them into flour. She poured the flour into the pot of boiling water, added some peppers, and let the mixture boil into mush.

When the food was ready, the woman carried the hot pot back into the hut. The family hunched over the meal and ate it quickly. The Indians believed in witchcraft, and they were afraid that a witch might get to their food and sicken them, so they tried to eat it as fast as possible. Often, when a man was among strangers, he ate his food facing a wall, to hide him from anything evil.

There were only two meals a day and they varied little from day to day. The Indians ate orn meal, other cereal and beans, or a simple stew of potatoes and beans. After a harvest, corn was sometime boiled in its husk. A few times a month, on festive occasions, the Indians ate duck, guinea pig, or occasionally, the meat of an old llama or alpaca. Whatever meat was left over was pounded and dried carefully in the sun.

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HOME OF THE INCA PEOPLE

The ways of the land and of men change very slowly. Watching the people in a Peruvian highland village today, you can see many faces that resemble those carved in ancient stone and molded in clay. In the towns there are many people of Spanish descent and still more who are cholos – a mixture of Indian and Spanish - but in the villages the majority of the people are still Indian. They make up more than 60% of the population.

The Inca Indian, like the average Peruvian farmer today, did not want to leave his Inca village. He came to town to trade, to attend festivals, and to see the sights, but he regards the town as a noisy, hustling place and was always glad to get back to the familiar, to the quiet and peace of his Inca village.

The size of a village usually depends on its location. High up in the mountains, where the land was poor and rocky, a family or two might live alone in their huts, in the midst of their fields, Sometimes an Inca village was built up in two sections with fields in the center and a few homes at either end. In the valleys, however, where the land was more fertile and able to support a greater number of farmers, the villages were larger.

A man chose as the site for his home a place where sometimes good or fortunate had happened to him. The Inca called such a place a Huaca. Perhaps a mountain ridge or a ledge of a particular shape inspired a feeling of awe and so became Huaca to him.

Nothing was too small or too steep to build a hut on. Provided that water was nearby or could be brought in artificially in a man-made aqueduct. In time the area around the house was leveled and built with boulders to make a terrace. This provided room for another hut, which could house a newly married son or brother. Since farming land was so precious, the sited for the huts were usually on a barren, steep ground which was unsuitable for farming. As a village grew, people crowded their huts together until the village became a jumble of houses, corrals, pens and patios. Paths between houses were very narrow – just wide enough for a man and his burden or a llama with a pack on its back.

When a hut crumbled with age, the owner’s heir’s built another but atop the old foundations, and after several generations a village tended to rise many feet above its original site. Archeologists find the remains of generations of householders in these abandoned village sites: pottery fragments, pieces of leather and cloth, old toys, stone tools, knives, animal bones, corncobs, gourds, and human burials. Skillfully interpreted, these become a history book for the archeologist to read, and, in turn, to interpret to us. Thus we are unable to learn something of the lives of these people, who had no written history.

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Stations Along The Inca Highways

Stations Along the Inca Highways: How Tampus Powered an Empire

The Inca Empire stretched across some of the most dramatic geography on Earth—soaring mountains, coastal deserts, dense valleys, and deep ravines. What made this vast territory manageable was the Qhapaq Ñan, the extensive Inca road system, and its network of roadside stations known as tampus. These stations transformed long-distance travel, ensured military readiness, and enabled one of the fastest communication systems of the ancient world.

Tampus: The Inca Empire’s Essential Roadside Network

Every 4 to 8 miles along the major imperial roads, travelers encountered tampus—small, strategically placed stations designed to support movement and communication throughout the empire. While simple in structure, each tampu served multiple critical functions.

Inside, nobles and government officials could rest, sleep, and recover during long journeys. Their placement ensured that dignitaries, inspectors, administrators, and military captains could move efficiently across imperial territory without exhausting themselves or their entourages.

Next to the tampus were large storage buildings, filled with food, clothing, tools, medicines, and weapons. These storehouses acted as emergency depots for traveling armies. If troops moved through an area, they could quickly access reserves of maize, dried meat, woolen clothing, or slings and stones, allowing the empire to mobilize rapidly when needed.

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The Chasquis: Masters of the Inca Communication System

The most important function of the tampus was their role in the Inca messenger network, operated by the legendary chasquis. These elite runners carried messages, quipus, and small parcels at exceptional speed along the highways.

Two trained runners were always stationed at each tampu, standing watch for incoming messengers. When a chasqui approached, one of the waiting runners sprinted toward him, matching his pace without slowing him down. As they ran side-by-side, the incoming messenger passed the message, bundle, or quipu to the fresh runner—creating a seamless relay.

The tired messenger then returned to the tampu to rest, eat, and sleep, waiting for his next turn.

This system allowed messages to travel extremely long distances in record time. Relay teams could move a message from Cuzco to Quito—over 1,200 miles—in about five days, an astonishing speed for the ancient world.

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Mita Labor and the Life of a Messenger

Serving as a chasqui was not a voluntary job—it was part of the mita, the communal labor tax every man owed the empire. A messenger typically served for around 15 days, then returned home to resume farming and family duties until the next rotation.

These men were selected for endurance, agility, and discipline. Their work made it possible for the emperor in Cuzco to receive fresh coastal fish within days and issue commands that reached remote provinces in less than a week.

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Engineering Genius Behind Rapid Communication

The success of tampus and the chasqui system was closely tied to the engineering brilliance of the Inca road network. The highways were meticulously designed with staircases, bridges, stone pavements, and switchbacks to ensure that messengers could run quickly through even the harshest terrain.

Modern engineers still marvel at how this ancient system allowed such rapid and reliable communication—centuries before the invention of horses in the Andes, wheels, or written mail.

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A System That Held an Empire Together

The tampus along the Inca highways were far more than rest stops. They were the infrastructure that kept an enormous empire functioning smoothly—fueling trade, military activity, government administration, and high-speed communication. Their efficiency remains a testament to the innovation and organization of the Inca state.

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The Inca Nobilities And Warriors On The Highways

The Inca Nobilities and Warriors on the Highways: Power, Prestige, and Presence in the Andes

The vast network of Inca highways—known today as the Qhapaq Ñan—was more than a transportation system. It was a moving display of hierarchy, military strength, and imperial authority. While common citizens walked these routes on foot, carrying goods between villages and markets, the Inca nobility traveled with grandeur that reinforced their elevated status. Their presence on the roads gave the empire not only organization, but also spectacle.

Nobility on the Move: Litters as Symbols of Power

Unlike ordinary travelers, the Inca elite were transported in beautifully crafted litters. These portable thrones consisted of wooden floors fitted over two polished poles. They were lifted by strong men who carried them for miles. Curtains made of fine textiles enclosed the sides, offering privacy and shade to the noble passengers. Inside, the riders sat on low stools cushioned with luxurious fabrics.

For the emperor’s household and high-ranking nobles, the litters became displays of wealth. Some were adorned with gold plates, gemstone inlays, and brightly dyed cloth, shimmering in the Andean sunlight. When an imperial procession moved through the mountains, the roads became a stage of splendor.

These noble journeys were not casual travel—they communicated authority. Communities along the highways halted daily tasks to watch the dignitaries pass, reinforcing loyalty and reminding everyone of the empire’s layered social structure.

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Warriors Along the Highways: A Fierce and Impressive Escort

One of the most striking features of noble travel was the escort of Inca warriors who often preceded and followed the litters. In some cases, several thousand soldiers accompanied members of the emperor's household, creating a dramatic and unforgettable sight.

Although the average warrior stood about 5 feet 3 inches tall, their elaborate attire gave them a much larger and intimidating appearance. Their headdresses—painted in geometric patterns and topped with copper ornaments—added nearly eight inches to their height. Warriors plucked facial hair with tweezers, wore straight hair long, and decorated their faces with thick stripes of black, red, and yellow.

This bold makeup signaled bravery, identity, and rank.

Their shields, made from wooden boards and covered with animal skins, were decorated with feathers and patterned cloth. Despite carrying relatively simple weapons—spears, slings, clubs, and sharp knives—the disciplined appearance of these soldiers inspired awe throughout the empire.

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Maintaining Order and Imperial Presence

The roads served many purposes: transporting goods, moving armies, and enabling communication across long distances. The noble litters and warrior escorts also played a crucial political role. They demonstrated the reach of the state. They reminded local communities of the emperor’s authority, the presence of military protection, and the unity of the empire.

When soldiers marched down the highways in colorful formation, they embodied the strength and organization that allowed the Inca state to flourish across thousands of miles of rugged Andean terrain.

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A Moving Display of Empire

The Inca highways were more than pathways—they were living expressions of social order, wealth, and military strength. The grand passage of nobles and warriors demonstrated the confidence and sophistication of one of the greatest civilizations in the ancient world.

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llamas and Alpacas

In the history of Inca people, few animals played a more essential role than llamas and alpacas. These hardy Andean camelids shaped the economy, transportation, clothing, and spiritual life of the empire. More than simple livestock, they were viewed as gifts from the gods—creatures perfectly adapted to the harsh landscapes of the Andes and vital to the success of Tawantinsuyu, the vast Inca state.

The Backbone of Inca Transportation

Long before horses were introduced to South America, the Inca Empire relied on llamas as pack animals. Their strength and endurance allowed them to travel across steep mountain trails, carrying loads of 20–30 kg over long distances. Caravans of llamas transported everything from food and textiles to copper, obsidian, and ceremonial items.

These caravans were crucial to the Inca road network, which stretched nearly 40,000 kilometers. Without llamas, efficient communication and trade across the empire’s diverse territories—from Ecuador to Chile—would have been nearly impossible.

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Alpacas: Masters of Fine Fiber

While llamas supplied muscle, alpacas provided luxury. Their wool was considered one of the finest materials in the ancient Americas. Soft, warm, and water-resistant, alpaca fiber was prized for weaving elite garments.

Inca weavers produced:

• ceremonial robes
• intricate belts and shawls
• textiles used in religious offerings
• special clothing reserved for nobles and priests

Textiles were so valuable that they often served as diplomatic gifts and symbols of loyalty between communities and the imperial government.

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Economic Foundations Built on Camelids

Llamas and alpacas supported the Inca economy in multiple ways:

• Wool for clothing and tribute
• Meat (charqui) that could be dried and stored
• Fertilizer from droppings, essential for high-altitude agriculture
• Leather for ropes and tools
• Bones crafted into tools
• Fat is used in rituals and medicinal practices

This versatility helped the Incas thrive in environments too cold or dry for other livestock.

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Sacred Animals in Ritual and Mythology

Camelids were deeply woven into Inca spirituality.
Llamas, believed to be connected to mountain spirits (apus), appeared in myths about creation and natural balance. During major ceremonies, priests offered llama figurines or, on rare occasions, sacrificed young animals to ensure good harvests, rainfall, or protection against disasters.

Certain flocks were considered sacred and cared for by special keepers. These herds belonged to temples dedicated to the Sun, Moon, and other deities, reinforcing the close connection between camelids and Inca religious life.

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Herding, Tradition, and Community Identity

Managing llama and alpaca herds was a respected profession. Skilled herders, often assigned by the state, monitored breeding, protected flocks from predators, and coordinated seasonal movements.

Herding communities played a unique role in the agricultural calendar. Their work supported not only textile production but also state storage systems, known as qollqas, which held wool and dried meat for armies and large labor projects.

Camelids also played a role in festivals, where decorative cloth and dyed wool indicated wealth, status, and regional identity.

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A Living Legacy in the Andes

Today, llamas and alpacas remain central to Andean life in Peru and Bolivia, just as they were during the height of the Inca Empire. Their importance reveals how deeply the history of Inca people is connected to the natural world—showing that intelligence, resilience, and cultural success often come from harmony with the environment.

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Inca Market

Inca Markets: Trade, Community, and Daily Life in the Andes

Markets in the Inca world were more than places of exchange—they were vibrant centers of community life where families learned essential skills, traders strengthened regional ties, and goods from every part of the Andes came together. Although the Inca economy relied heavily on state redistribution, local markets played a crucial role in daily survival, especially for families living in rural farming communities. These markets connected highlanders, coastal fishermen, weavers, craftsmen, and farmers in a steady flow of goods that reflected both practicality and tradition.

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A Marketplace Built on Bartering

Because the Inca civilization did not use money, trade depended on barter, with goods exchanged based on mutual agreement. Skilled craftsmen produced small wooden items—tools, utensils, carved ornaments—and traded them for what their households needed, such as llama hide, fresh produce, or extra food for the week.

Pottery was another common trade item. Men and Inca women potters, known for their fine craftsmanship, exchanged jars, bowls, and decorated vessels for the beautifully carved gourds cultivated by nearby communities. Each village specialized in certain goods, encouraging a steady network of regional exchange.

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Movement of Goods Across Regions

In the Andes, geography shaped trade. Highland women brought llama and alpaca wool—fibers essential for weaving warm clothing—and exchanged them for cotton grown in the warmer valleys.
On the coast, fishing communities dried anchovies and other small fish, carefully packing them into woven baskets for the long journey inland. These preserved fish were highly valued by highland families who relied on them for protein.

Families with livestock often used markets to make practical exchanges. A household with extra ducks could trade them for a pair of sandals, a copper pin, woven cloth, or fish carried up from the coast. Every item had value, and every exchange helped maintain balance within the community.

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Women at the Heart of Market Exchange

In many regions of the Inca Empire, women conducted the trades, especially when livestock or household goods were involved. A husband often accompanied his wife—not to negotiate, but to support and ensure she was treated fairly.

If the ducks or animals belonged to the daughter, she joined the trip too. Markets were places of education, where children learned firsthand how to barter, how to judge quality, and how to participate in community life. Sons observed as well, gaining early experience in social relationships and economic roles.

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A Family Journey at Dawn

Market day began early. As dawn spread across the valleys, entire families walked together along narrow village paths, heading toward larger roads that connected community to community. The journey itself was part of the tradition—a moment to talk, share provisions, and prepare for the lively negotiations ahead.

These markets gave structure to daily life, strengthened community bonds, and ensured families had what they needed to thrive in the Andean environment.

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Inca Administrators And Common People

The Inca administrators attempted to restrict the movement of the common people by allowing them only three markets days a month, but trading went on all the time, because the people enjoyed it.

Always there was an exchange of artifacts; and people, carrying bundles, went back and forth along the highways.

An Indian man placed his bundle in a sack and tied the ends of the sack across his chest. Heavier bundles were supported by a band across the forehead. A woman wore a shawl, fastened in front with a pin, and wrapped her bundle inside it.

She sometimes slipped the shawl over her head when she did not want to be stared at. Both men and women used the walking time to spin thread.

The Men, huddled inside their wool capes, kept a steady pace despite worn sandals and rough, wet stone pavements.

A woman walked behind her husband, her spindle twirling, and her baby secure on her back. The child, lulled to sleep by the rhythm of his mother’s walking, was no trouble at all.

When he asked for food, the mother either nursed him or fed him some corncake, which she carried in a bag across the chest.

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Legends About The Beginnings Of The Manco Capau ayluu

There are two legends about the beginnings of the Manco Capau ayluu. One says that Manco Capac and his family of three brothers and four sisters came out of a cave in the southwest of Cuzco. According to the other version, Manco Capac and his sister, Mama Ojllo were children of the sun and were sent down by the sun to an island in Lake Titicaca.

After searching for a suitable place to live, they founded the town of Cuzco, which became the capital of Inca dynasty. They taught the people they found around Cuzco to raise corn and leave to weave cloth. Their first son, Sinchi Roca, began the conquest of Peru.

Legends have it that under the first three rulers who came after Sinchi Roca, Inca rule was extended to Lake Titicaca, to Tiahuanaco – which was then a very important town  - to the headwaters of the coastal rivers, and to some of the coastal fishing villages. The next three rulers continued the expansion of the Empire.

In the early days of the Inca, conquest and expansion were not accomplished by means of huge armies. Probably the small Manco Capac ayllu allied with a neighboring Inca ayllu and moved against still another neighbor. After conquering them, the Inca let the people remain on their land and allowed the craftsmen to continue their pottery making, weaving and metalwork.

 Inca soldiers returned at each harvest to collect an annual tribute of corn and llamas. The pottery, weaving and metalwork of some of these conquered people were superior to those of the Inca, but the Inca were ready to learn from them.

As the might of the Inca increased, they began to take advantage of each warring group outside their borders. Weaker nations often asked their help against a strong enemy aggressor and in exchange for this help, the Inca received tribute in produce from both the weaker nation and the newly conquered aggressor.


There were always struggles for power within the royal house – Manco Capac had found it necessary to kill his three brothers – and there were threats from the outside, too. As the territory under Inca control grew larger, the danger of rebellion among the conquered people increased.

Therefore, they were no longer permitted to live as they had before the conquest, merely paying tribute in men and produce. The Inca often issued orders to kill all the men in a newly conquered village and to escape this fate the defeated mean fled to the mountains or into the jungle immediately after battle.

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the ninth ruler of the Inca, is the first emperor for whose reign we have exact dates. By this time (1438 -1471) the Inca Empire was well established. To insure obedience to himself, Pachacuti ordered all the people of Cajamarca, a newly conquered province in the northern highlands, to move south.

He moved to Cajamarca people who had been living longer under Inca rule and could be trusted not to rebel. This was the beginning of enforced mass migrations. Any village that seemed rebellious or refused to turn over the produce tax imposed by the Inca was resettled elsewhere in the empire.

This was not done without struggle, since the farmers loved their homes and their land. But the Inca won, and the rebels were moved away from their relatives and friends and made to live among strangers. Indians do not trust strangers whose ways and language are unfamiliar to them, and Pachacuti knew that people who were suspicious of each other would not plan revolt together.

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