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The Inca Empire was a federalist system [verification needed] which consisted of a central government with the Inca at its head and four quarters, or suyu: Chinchay Suyu (northwest), Antisuyu (northeast), Kuntisuyu (southwest), and Qullasuyu (southeast). The four corners of these quarters met at the center, Cuzco.
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 Inca referred to their empire as Tawantinsuyu, [13] "the suyu of four [parts]". In Quechua, tawa is four and -ntin is a suffix naming a group, so that a tawantin is a quartet, a group of four things taken together, in this case the four suyu ("regions" or "provinces") whose corners met at the capital.
A kuraka (Quechua for the principal governor of a province or a communal authority in the Tawantinsuyu [1] [2]), or curaca (Hispanicized spelling [3]), was an official of the Andean civilizations, unified by the Inca Empire in 1438, who held the role of magistrate, on several hierarchical levels, from the Sapa Inca at the head of the Empire to local family units.
Pachacuti's role was that of an archetype of the perfect Inca ruler according to the philosophical principles of the Inca ruling caste, and of spreading the Inca cultural model and pantheon to the various ethnic groups of the Andes. [10] Pachacuti built irrigation networks, cultivated terraces, roads and hospices.
The Inca state was known as the Kingdom of Cuzco before 1438. Over the course of the Inca Empire, the Inca used conquest and peaceful assimilation to incorporate the territory of modern-day Peru, followed by a large portion of western South America, into their empire, centered on the Andean mountain range.
As the Inca Empire grew, an army created by a loose confederation of peasant warriors was replaced by one of professional officers. These officers were chosen during the Warachikuy festival, during which candidates had to undergo various tests of physical skill: such as racing, marksmanship, simulated combat and to see if they could stay awake for a long period, with it being reported that ...
Ayllu is a word in both the Quechua and Aymara languages referring to a network of families in a given area, often with a putative or fictive common ancestor. [1] The male head of an ayllu is called a mallku which means, literally, “condor”, but is a title which can be more freely translated as “prince”.