Encyclopedia of the Incas

creator gods, as well as huacas, sacred places, that united related groups of
people spread out over the Andean landscape. All of these institutions and
principles were incorporated into the grand, synthetic organization of political,
social, and religious practices that regulated life in the Inca capital. This
complementarity of institutions and practices, from the capital down to the
smallest villages in the hinterlands, formed the basis for the convergence of
values and practices between the Inca state and its subject populations. This
helped forge a collective identity that was the bedrock of Inca power in
Tahuantinsuyu.
More specifically, there appears to have been a fundamental complementarity
of social structure and organization between Cuzco, the capital, and settlements
in the hinterland. For instance, when we look at the documentary evidence, we
find that communities throughout the Andes in early Colonial times were
commonly organized in a dualistic manner—that is, villages were usually
divided into two parts. This division could be based on some physical feature,
such as a river or an irrigation canal. These dual divisions, commonly referred to
as moieties (halves), often represented the highest level of social organization in
Andean villages. The two halves, which are commonly called hanan (upper,
superior) and hurin (lower, inferior/secondary), were often composed of multiple
kin groups known as ayllus. Further, the ayllus were commonly ranked
hierarchically within their respective moieties (first, second, third, etc.).
Early Spanish accounts of the organization of the capital, Cuzco, state that the
city was divided into Hanan Cuzco and Hurin Cuzco. Hanan Cuzco was in fact
higher in elevation than Hurin Cuzco. More important than topography,
however, was the fact that Hanan Cuzco had ritual priority over Hurin Cuzco. In
addition, the social groups—royal ayllus—descended from the first five Inca
kings were located in Hurin Cuzco, while the royal ayllus descended from the
last six kings were located in Hanan Cuzco. Therefore, both in the capital and in
the smallest settlements far from Cuzco, there was a complementarity in the
dualistic, hierarchical—upper vs. lower—categories that organized social,
political, and ritual relations within communities across the empire. This social
structural similarity represented a deep level of convergence between the Incas
and their subject populations.
Nevertheless, not every organizational scheme of the Inca state aligned with
the interests and traditions of their subjects. This was the case, for instance, with
decimal administration. In their system of tribute labor (mit’a), the Incas
organized state workers into decimal groupings—from small, local groups of