Pachacuti

Pachacuti as drawn by Guaman Poma

Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui (or Pachacutec) was the ninth Sapa Inca (1438-1471/1472) of the Kingdom of Cusco, which he transformed into the empire Tawantinsuyu. In Quechua, Pachakutiq means "He who remakes the world." During his reign, Cuzco grew from a hamlet into an empire that could compete with, and eventually overtake, the Chimu. He began an era of conquest that, within three generations, expanded the Inca dominion from the valley of Cuzco to nearly the whole of civilized South America. His conquests where so successful that he is sometimes referred to as "The Napoleon of the Andes." When Pachacuti died in 1471, the empire stretched from Chile to the south and Ecuador to the north also including the modern countries of Peru and Bolivia as well as most of northern Argentina.

Lineage

Pachacuti, son of Inca Viracocha, was the fourth of the Hanan dynasty. His wife's name is given as Mama Anawarkhi or Coya Anahurque. He had two sons: Amaru Yupanqui and Tupac Inca Yupanqui. Amaru, the older son, was originally chosen to be co-regent and eventual successor. Pachacuti later chose Tupac because Amaru was not a warrior.

Succession

Pachacuti's given name was Cusi Yupanqui and he was not supposed to succeed his father Inca Viracocha who had appointed his brother Urco as crown prince. However in the midst of an invasion of Cuzco by the Chankas, the Incas' traditional tribal archenemies, Pachacuti had a real opportunity to demonstrate his talent. While his father and brother fled the scene Pachacuti rallied the army and prepared for a desperate defense of his homeland. In the resulting battle the Chankas were defeated so severely that legend tells even the stones rose up to fight on Pachacuti's side. Thus "The Earth Shaker" won the support of his people and the recognition of his father as crown prince and joint ruler.

The Ninth Sapa Inca

After his father's death Pachacuti became sole ruler of the Incan empire. Immediately he initiated an energetic series of military campaigns which would transform the small state around Cuzco into a formidable nation. This event, says Brundage, "is presented to us in the sources as the most striking event in all Inca history - the year one, as it were." His conquests in collaboration with Tupac Yupanqui (Pachacuti's son and successor) where so successful that the 9th Incan emperor is sometimes referred to as "Napoleon of the Andes." When Pachacuti died in 1471 the empire stretched from Chile to the south and Ecuador to the north also including the modern countries of Peru and Bolivia as well as most of northern Argentina.

Pachacuti also reorganized the new empire, the Tahuantinsuyu or "the united four provinces." Under his system, there were four apos that each controlled one of four provinces (suyu). Below these governors were t'oqrikoq, or local leaders, who ran a city, valley, or mine. By the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru, each apo had around 15 t'oqrikoq below him, but we can assume there were fewer when Pachacuti first organized this system. He also established a separate chain of command for the army and priesthood to establish a system of checks and balances on power.

Statue of Pachacuti in Machupicchu Pueblo in Peru.

Pachacuti rebuilt much of Cuzco, designing it to serve the needs of an imperial city, and indeed as a representation of the empire. There was a sector of the city for each suyu, centering on the road leading to that province; nobles and immigrants lived in the sector corresponding to their origin. Each sector was further divided into areas for the hanan (upper) and hurin (lower) moieties. The Inca and his family lived in the center; the more prestigious area. Many of the most renowned monuments around Cuzco, such as the great sun temple of Coricancha or the "fortress" of Sacsayhuamán, were constructed during Pachacuti's reign.

Despite Pachacuti's political and military talents, he did not improve upon the system of choosing the next Inca. His son became the next Inca without any known dispute after Pachacuti died in 1471 due to a terminal illness, but in future generations the next Inca had to gain control of the empire by winning enough support from the apos, priesthood, and military to either win a civil war or intimidate anyone else from trying to wrest control of the empire. Pachacuti is also credited with having displaced hundreds of thousands in massive programs of relocation and resettling to occupy the remotest corners of his empire. These forced colonists where called mitimaes and represented the lowest place in the Incan social ladder. In a way the Incan imperial government was highly despotic and repressive.

Machu Picchu is believed to date to the time of Pachacuti.

Pachacuti was a poet and author of the Sacred Hymns of the Situa city purification ceremony.

1438 C.E.

1463 C.E.

1493 C.E.

Legacy

Pachacuti is considered as somewhat of a national hero in modern Peru. During the 2000 Presidential elections candidate, the mestizo Indian population gave Alejandro Toledo the nickname Pachacuti. Tradition celebrates his "patriotism" and his "piety" and "the incompetency of the incumbent king." he is often described as an "enlightened ruler."

When the Spanish conquistadors arrived and began their conquest of the Empire Pachacuti did so much to create, the Spanish saw little or no reason to preserve anything they encountered in Inca civilization. They plundered its wealth and left the civilization in ruin. The civilization's sophisticated road and communication system and governance were no mean accomplishments. They were greedy for the wealth, which existed in fabulous proportion, not the culture. Yet, through the survival of the language and of a few residual traces of the culture, the civilization was not wholly, although almost wholly, destroyed. The great and relatively humane civilization of the Incas' main legacy is inspirational, residing in the human ability to imagine that such a fabulously rich, well-ordered, and generally humane society once existed, high up in the Andean hills.

Preceded by: Viracocha

Sapa Inca 1438-71

Succeeded by: Túpac Inca Yupanqui

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bingham, Hiram. 1922. Inca land: explorations in the highlands of Peru. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
• Brundage, Burr Cartwright. 1985. Empire of the Inca. Norman, Okla: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806119243.
• Curl, John trans. Sacred Hymns of the Situa. red-coral.net. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
• MacCormack, Sabine. 2007. On the wings of time: Rome, the Incas, Spain, and Peru. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691126746
• Rostworowski, Maria. "Inca Succession". The Incas. Retrieved October 25, 2008.
• Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro, Brian S. Bauer, and Vania Smith. 2007. The history of the Incas. Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292795488.

External links

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