Murra formulated the core principles of the vertical archipelago economic
model primarily from his reading and study of Colonial visitas. These
administrative documents resulted from systematic “visits” by Spanish
Colonial officials to different regions and settlements in the Andes and were
aimed at conducting censuses, inquiring into local forms of social and
political organization, gauging the size of vast herds of llamas and alpacas,
and the forms of local land tenure, as well as investigating Inca practices of
governance, including the levying and redistribution of tribute and other
practices. Murra was responsible for the publication of several visitas,
including those conducted at Huánuco (1562), Chucuito (1567), and Sonqo
(1568–1570). Many of his most important contributions were initially
published in Spanish.
Over the course of his career, Murra trained numerous PhD students who
have gone on to make fundamental contributions to the study of the Inca—
and broader, longer-term Andean—economy, as well as a wide range of
issues in Andean cultural history.
Further Reading
Murra, John V. The Economic Organization of the Inca State. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1980.
Publication of the original PhD diss., University of Chicago, 1955.
———. “‘El Archipélago Vertical’ Revisited.” In Andean Ecology and Civilization: An
Interdisciplinary Perspective on Andean Ecological Complementarity, edited by Shozo Masuda,
Izumi Shimada, and Craig Morris, 3–13. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1985.
———. “The Limits and Limitations of the ‘Vertical Archipelago’ in the Andes.” In Andean Ecology
and Civilization: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Andean Ecological Complementarity, edited by
Shozo Masuda, Izumi Shimada, and Craig Morris, 15–20. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1985.
———. “Did Tribute and Markets Prevail in the Andes before the European Invasion?” In Ethnicity,
Markets, and Migration in the Andes, edited by B. Larson and O. Harris, 57–72. Durham, NC: Duke
University Press, 1995.
———. El mundo andino. Lima: Pontificia Católica del Perú, 2002.
Van Buren, Mary. “Rethinking the Vertical Archipelago: Ethnicity, Exchange, and History in the South
Central Andes.” American Anthropologist 98, no. 2: 338–51, 1996.
■GARY URTON
MURÚA, MARTÍN DELittle is known about the life of the Mercedarian friar Martín de Murúa (also
spelled Morúa). While his birthdate is unknown, he claimed to have been
from Guipúzcoa, in the Basque country of northern Spain. He arrived in the