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Weapons and other equipment were transported by llamas. In the early stages of the Inca Empire, the army was mainly formed of ethnic Inca troops. Later on, however, only the officers and imperial guards were Incas (the Incas were 40,000 [11] to 100,000 [12] strong, and they ruled an empire of 10 to 15 million [13]).
They were the most common weapon in the Inca arsenal, and it is possible that gold or silver was used for the star for high-ranking officers. [3] In modern Spanish the word has broadened to refer to various types of blunt wooden weapons, especially a police nightstick, with a shape very similar to Okinawan tonfas.
The main view is that the Inca were eventually defeated due to inferior weapons, 'open battle' tactics, disease, internal unrest, the bold tactics of the Spanish, and the capture of the Inca's Emperor. Spanish armor was very effective against most of the Andean weapons, though it was not entirely impenetrable to maces, clubs, or slings.
In contrast, the Inca used weapons made out of wood, stone, copper and bronze, while using an Alpaca fiber based armor, putting them at significant technological disadvantage—none of their weapons could pierce the Spanish steel armor. In addition, due to the absence of horses in Peru, the Inca did not develop tactics to fight cavalry.
Inca education during the time of the Inca Empire was divided into two principal spheres: education for the upper classes and education for the general population. The royal classes and a few specially-chosen individuals from the provinces of the Empire were formally educated by the Amawtakuna (philosopher-scholars), while the general population were passed on knowledge and skills by their ...
Garcilaso de la Vega [4]: Ch. VII underlines the presence of infrastructure (tambos) on the Inka road system where lodging posts for state officials and chasquis were ubiquitous across the Inca empire; they were well spaced and well provisioned. Food, clothes and weapons were stored and ready also for the Inka army marching through the territory.
Combat between Inca and Spanish forces as depicted by Guaman Poma. Manco Inca had gathered more than 20,000 troops at Ollantaytambo, among them, a large number of recruits from tribes of the Amazon Rainforest. [14] Manco Inca's forces were a militia army made up mostly of conscripted farmers with only rudimentary weapons training. [15]
By the time of the Spanish conquest, the macuahuitl was widely distributed in Mesoamerica, with records of its use by the Aztecs, Mixtecs, Tarascans, Toltecs and others. [23] It was also commonly used by the Indian auxiliaries of Spain, [24] though they favored Spanish swords. As Mesoamericans in Spanish service needed a special permission to ...