Andean States Cycles of Expansion and Collapse
Timeline Early Intermediate Period (200BCE AD 600) North Coast: Moche Civilization Southern Pole : Nazca Middle Horizon (AD 600 1000) First Highland States: Tiwanaku, Wari Late Intermediate Period (AD 900-1400) Chimú State Late Horizon (AD 1476-1534) The Inka Empire
Andean Area Map
Early Intermediate Period Significant population growth Expanding agricultural production, particularly on the coast Large scale organized labor projects, especially irrigation requiring considerable centralized control, authority Emergence of divinely linked elites, new ideologies associated with a standardized art style, monumental constructions
Moche (North Coast, AD 100-700) Born out of a movement to consolidate the territories of several small kingdoms/river drainages dating to the Early Horizon Capital located at Cerro Blanco, with satellite centers administering separate river drainages Massive building campaign at Cerro Blanco: monumental shrines or huacas, plus construction of miles of irrigation channels Labor coordinated through mit a, or labor tax owed to state As conquest expanded, established a system of indirect rule, that would continue through to the time of the Inka Severely impacted by ecological disasters, leading to collapse
Royal Burials: Sipan Tombs as Data on Nature of Moche State Burials as displays of elite wealth, power In the absence of written texts, Moche ceramics (from tombs) provide rich detail on daily life Massive investment of wealth in tombs: deliberate removal from circulation? Metallurgical technology: sheet gold etching, depletion gilding
Nazca: Southern coastal zone Begun in the Nazca and Ica river drainages Capital at Cahauchi, on the Nazca River: ceremonial center, but not a population focus Nazca lines: ceremonial, technological, social
Middle Horizon: The First Highland States (AD 600-1000) Tiwanaku AD 200-1000 Expanded from base on southern end of Lake Titicaca (southern highlands) Brokered coastal/highland trade using llama caravans Controlled important copper mines Significant ceremonial center Iconographic elements, aspects of belief persist until Inka times Wari AD 500-750 Developed in the Ayacucho region (central highlands) Capital is Wari, in the Mantaro Valley Cerro Baul is an important site: fortified settlement in a conquered territory, giving some idea of the nature of this expansionist empire Public works included irrigation canals but also extensive terrace systems Also controlled key highland/coastal trade routes Used population relocation as empire-building tool
Late Intermediate Period (AD 900-1400) Period of political and ecological instability following the collapse of Tiwanaku and Wari New power begins to emerge around Chimor culture, or Chimú state. New capital was Chan Chan, with fortified elite enclosures, lavish burial sites Massive new irrigation projects undertaken Ultimately controlled 2/3 of the irrigated land along the Peruvian coast, connecting 12 different river drainages Controlled trade and information flow along an extensive system of official roadways, built and maintained by the state Irrigation system was monumental, but also vulnerable to conflict disruption, and ecological fluctuations
Late Horizon Andes The Inca Empire AD 1476-1534
Early History Begin as small village farmers in the Cuzco area; Quechua-speakers linked by kinship and the ayllu system of labor exchange and reciprocity Shift to territorial expansion under the leadership of Viracocha Inka, who becomes a divine ruler ( Inka refers to both the people, and the ruler himself) Linked to the rise of a new religion focused on Inti, a sun deity
Rise of an Empire Begun by Pachakuti: linked territorial expansion with the revived tradition of split inheritance Each successive ruler had to acquire additional wealth to rebuild his estate Creation of a state bureaucracy and ideology based on the defined territory of Tawantinusuyu: a world divided into for quadrants that could expand infinitely Cuzco was the capital city
Tools of Empire Mit a labor tax State religion Population relocation Extensive road system Quipu accounting system Standardized monumental architecture Indirect rule Note how many had been developed earlier in previous Andean states
Arrival of the Spanish Imperial court already split by factions Ruling Inka dies of smallpox (whose contagion had spread several years in advance of the arrival of the Spanish) Once the Spanish took over, they left the Inka administrative system largely intact, especially with regard to labor organization, agricultural production Guaman Poma s illustrations