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Inca History & Culture and its Effect on Peruvians Today

The Inca Empire stretched from Colombia to central Chile and ruled more than 12 million people. Rich in colorful textiles and well-ordered cities and marked by occasional human sacrifices and mummifications, the empire was conquered by the Spanish in 1532 but retains its hold on modern society and the human imagination.

Inca traditions survive stubbornly in Peru today. In remote villages older people speak only Quechua, the Inca language. They also keep Inca customs in food, music, and religion that have all but died out in urban areas.

Gold and silver Inca warrior icons accented with Peruvian turquoise, spondylus, black onyx, and lapis lazuli. Photos courtesy Workshop of Victor Estrada Cervantes.

INCA CUSTOMS
Statues of gold, silver, or rare spondylus (a type of oyster) shells were often buried with Inca human sacrifices. The figurines may have been offerings to the gods, small icons of the sacrificial victims, or guides to the afterworld. Today, Peruvian jewelry and accessories are often crafted in the likes of these Inca figurines, and many of the materials used in ornamentation back then are still used today.

Llama figurines were often buried with the Inca dead, perhaps as offerings to the gods to ensure the fertility of the Inca herds. This custom proves how llamas played an important role in Inca culture. They were the primary transportation source for the empire, which had a vast mountain road system but no wheels. Hardy animals, llamas carried all sorts of loads, from water to building materials. Llamas also provided dung (which served as fuel and fertilizer) and wool for textiles. After their deaths, llamas provided hide for leathers and meat for food.

Critical to the success of the Inca Empire nearly 500 years ago, llamas are still important to Peruvians today. Although modern transportation has taken much of the need for pack animals away, the sure-footed llamas are still used as beasts of burden in some remote areas. They are also raised for their wool.

MACHU PICCHU
Master engineers, the Inca built structures that are still standing today. At Machu Picchu, the most famous Inca settlement, stone terraces prevent erosion and provide level spaces for planting, making the most of difficult terrain. The Inca's best known building technique is that of fine masonry, in which carefully shaped stones fit together perfectly without mortar or cement. Only the most important buildings were built using this tedious and slow method.

Arguably the greatest archaeological site in the Americas, Machu Picchu remains a mystery. Some scholars believe it to be the birthplace of the Inca Empire. Others see a ceremonial center or military citadel.

Today tourists arrive in droves to visit the Inca city of Machu Picchu, bringing much-needed cash into Peru's economy. The stone city has tantalized travelers since its discovery in 1911, when photos of the mysterious place began appearing on travel posters around the world. Though cash-strapped locals support increased tourism development at Machu Picchu -- including a proposed cable car system -- it worries conservationists, who fear further degradation of the ruins.

PERU'S PEOPLE AND CULTURE
Since pre-Columbian times, Peruvians have been divided by nature. Peruvian culture seems divided between indigenous and colonial societies -- the mountains and the city. Elite white Creoles trace their bloodlines back to the Spanish Conquest in 1536. Like generations before them, most live in Lima, where a European visitor will feel a comfortable familiarity in the cafes and supermarkets.

On the other side, there are rural communities in the Andes that try to maintain the traditional practices of their ancestors in a rapidly-changing world. Their livelihood continues to be based on family-owned fields or charkas which are farmed by hand or with the assistance of draft animals.

Over the past 400 years since the Inca Empire was conquered by the Spanish, there has been a long process of inter-cultural mixing, creating the mestizo -- a person of part-American Indian, part-European heritage. Today the majority of Peruvians would fall into this category. In Peru, you can become mestizo not only by birth but by choice. Peruvian social divisions can thus be said to be not so much racially as culturally defined.

The social organization of communities in the Andes differs greatly from that of Europeanized Creole culture. Work, marriage, and land-ownership are centered around a complex extended family organization called the ayllu in Quechua which dates back to Inca times. One of the main functions of ayllus is to organize reciprocal work exchange.

A large majority of highland people live a marginal and impoverished existence and are removed from the modern benefits of the national economy. The people of the Andes maintain a loyalty to their ancestral heritage, well identified to the outside world through their bright homemade costumes. They do, however, aspire to share a modern lifestyle which includes education, electricity, sewage, and running water. But rather than improving, the economic conditions of these communities is deteriorating, leading to massive urban migration.

Today, Lima, the capital concentrates most of country's services and other resources, but they are grossly inadequate to sustain its 8 million inhabitants.

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November/December 2004 • Style: From a Past Life • Selling: The Fashionable Brain • Bonus: Peruvian History & Culture • Bonus: Asian Fashion Psychology • News & Updates • In This Issue