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Inca Government & Art

Gold, silver & jewelry

Gold, silver, and jewelry

Another type was gold and silver which was considered an art and craft. They called the gold, “Sweat of the Sun” and they called the silver, “Tears of the Moon” . Another type of arts and crafts were jewelry which was used by men and women. The noblemen wore large earplugs to show a sign of nobility. Men also wore bracelets in war for bravery and were awarded with metal disks that hung around their necks for bravery as well. Some even wore necklaces made of human teeth, from their defeated enemies. These were just some ways and types that arts and crafts were used in Inca life.

Textiles- Pottery

Textiles

Pottery

Almost everyone in Inca society did some kind of craftwork. There were many different types of arts and crafts that were used by women and men; however, used mostly by women. One of the most common types of art was textiles. They used many different types of wool to make cloth. They used Alpaca wool, easy to work with because of its fine quality, which was used to make awaka, the most widely used type of cloth. Awaka was usually white, mixed with grays and natural browns. They also used llama wool, which was coarse and greasy was spun as fiber for blankets, sacks, ropes, and llama halters. The best quality cloth was vicuna wool, which was soft and silky. How did they make cloth? After the animal was sheared, they divided the wool among members of the allyu. The thread was spun on drop spindles fitted with ceramic whorls. Weaving was done by females and males, however the woman worked with the finest wools. They wove the cloth using a backstrap, or belt loom. This was how they made cloth. The Incas were also skilled in the art of dye and they dyed much of the wool before spinning it. They also knew how to tie-dye the finished cloth, producing a pattern of brilliant colors. The dyes came from plants and dried insects which produced a vivid red. So, they used dye to decorate the cloth.

Another type of arts and crafts were pottery. Inca potter rolled the clay into oblong shapes and coiled them to make a pot. Then, the sides were smoothed with a wooden tool. Then, they were dried in the sun and painted with geometric or animal designs, then fired to harden them. Favorite colors among the potters were red, orange, and yellow. In lot of cases they used black and white colors. Like other Andeans people they used geometric shapes very frequently. Lots of ceramics were found with diamonds, circles, triangles, squares, checkers, and dots. Another popular item was using animal, birds and insects. They used llamas, jaguars, alpacas, birds, butterflies and bees.

Law & punishment

Taxes

Taxes- laws & punishment

The laws were made by the Sapa Inca and passed down to the people through the tax collectors. Murder, stealing, cheating on taxes, and cursing the gods was all against the law.However, there wasn't a lot of crime in the Inca Empire, mostly because the punishments were very harsh. For example, people were often executed for cursing the gods. If they were caught stealing, they would have their hands cut off. This is the basic Inca government.

In order to run the government, the Inca needed food and resources which they acquired through taxes.There were two main taxes that the people had to pay. The first tax was a portion of the ayllu's crops. The crops were divided up three ways with the first third going to the government, the second third to the priests, and the final third was for the people. The second type of tax was called the mit'a. The mit'a was a labor tax that each man between the ages of 16 and 60 had to pay by working for the government for a portion of the year. They worked various jobs such as laborers on government buildings and roads, mining for gold, or even as warriors in the army.

The 4 suyu

Empire is divided

Suyu- quarters of an empire

The empire was divided into quarters called, suyu. The four suyu were Chinchay Suyu, Anti Suyu, Qulla Suyu, and Kunti Suyu. At the center of the four quarters was the capital city of Cuzco. Each suyu was then further divided into provinces called "wamani". The smallest, and maybe the most important, division of government was the ayllu. The ayllu was made up of a number of families and often acted like a large family. The ayllu was responsible for paying taxes. Also, land was assigned by the government to each ayllu based on the number of people in the group.

Hierarchy pyramid

Hierarchy

Tawantinsuyu- Government

The Inca government was called Tawantinsuyu, which is a monarchy ruled by a single leader called the Sapa Inca. The following is the heirarchy for the Inca government. Below the Sapa Inca were several officers such as the Viceroy, or Incab Rantin, who was a relative of the Sapa Inca and his closest advisor. Below was the high priest, or Willaq Umu, who was the second highest power due to the importance of religion. Below were the governors. The empire was divided into 4 quarters and were ruled by a governor, or Apu. Below were the powerful nobles, who helped the Sapa Inca to decide on big matters. Below were the inspectors, who checked on the people to make sure they had paid their taxes and followed the ways of Inca, in order to maintain control. These inspectors were called tokoyrikoq. Below were the military generals, called Apukuna. Below were other officials who helped the government. This is the heirarchy of the government.

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