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Mit'a (Quechua pronunciation: [ˈmɪˌtʼa]) [1] [2] was a system mandatory labor service in the Inca Empire, as well as in Spain's empire in the Americas. [3] Its close relative, the regionally mandatory Minka is still in use in Quechua communities today and known as faena in Spanish.
The objective was to transfer both loyalty to the state and a cultural baggage of Inca culture such as language, technology, economic and other resources into areas that were in transition. The term mitma is a Quechua word meaning "sprinkle, distribute, spread". [ 1 ]
Spanish colonial officials used the Inca mita corvée labor system for colonial aims, sometimes brutally. One member of each family was forced to work in the gold and silver mines, the foremost of which was the titanic silver mine at Potosí. When a family member died, which would usually happen within a year or two, the family was required to ...
Collective reciprocal labor may be structured in three ways: The first was the ayni, which served to assist members and families of the society in need; the second was the minka, or collective effort for the good of the whole community, and included the construction of public works; the mita, or tribute charged to the Inca, was the third, and ...
The ayni was used to help individual members of the community in need, such as a sick member of the community. The Minka or teamwork represented community service and the Mita was the tax paid to the Inca in the form of labor. The Inca did not use currency, economic exchanges were by reciprocity and took place in markets called catus.
The Inca road system (also spelled Inka road system and known as Qhapaq Ñan [note 1] meaning "royal road" in Quechua [1]) was the most extensive and advanced transportation system in pre-Columbian South America. It was about 40,000 kilometres (25,000 mi) long.
Inca leaders kept records of what each ayllu in the empire produced but did not tax them on their production. They instead used the mita for the support of the empire. The Inca diet consisted primarily of fish and vegetables, supplemented less frequently with the meat of cuyes (guinea pigs) and camelids. In addition, they hunted various animals ...
The ideal life of an encomendero was a "casa poblada" (populated house), a Spanish concept which "implied a large house, a Spanish wife if possible, a table where many guests were maintained, African slaves, a staff of Spanish and Indian [Indigenous people] servant-employees" plus "a stable of horses, fine clothing, ownership of agricultural land and herds of livestock, and holding office on ...