deities in state-sponsored festivals attended by local officials and the general
populace were important features of the Inca exercise of power and control over
subject populations.
Finally, we note another feature of Inca imperial organization that brought state
interests directly into contact with local communities throughout the empire. All
land—and, according to some reports, camelid herds—was divided into three
parts. While Colonial sources on this matter have never been adequate to allow
us to map out this division of lands into thirds in any given region, it is clear that
the “thirds” were not equal in size; rather, they were portions, the precise
dimensions of each of which would have been worked out, on the ground,
between Inca and local officials. In this division, one-third of the land belonged
to the Inca and was used locally to produce crops and raise herds in support of
state projects. Another third was assigned to the gods of the empire and was used
to support religious rituals and ceremonies, as well as the priestly hierarchy that
attended to those events. The final third of all land (and herds) was set aside for
the use of the commoners. These latter lands, which were designated for the
support of the ayllu kin groups, were managed by the local lords (curacas) who
were also responsible for recruiting their fellow ayllu members, in decimal
groupings, to work the lands of the Incas and the gods.
On the occasion of large work parties, Inca state administrators sponsored
elaborate feasts of food and drink, drawn from the goods stored in state
storehouses. This largesse was understood by everyone as reciprocity by the
state toward local populations for the labor they provided in caring for the lands
and herds of the Incas and the gods.
This overview gives only the barest of outlines of what is known about the
Incas, their mode of living, and the institutions and practices by which they
governed the peoples of the central Andes within the land they knew as
Tahuantinsuyu. All of the topics discussed above and many others are discussed
in entries in the Encyclopedia of the Incas. The reader may find it beneficial, in
searching for entries on certain issues, to consult the thematic table of contents,
which follows the regular, alphabetical table of contents at the beginning of the
volume.
RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES FOR WRITING AND COMPILING AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF
THE INCAS
The idea for this encyclopedia came by way of an invitation from a former editor
at AltaMira Press (now Rowman & Littlefield), Wendi Schnaufer. As we are two