Encyclopedia of the Incas

distinguishing feature of the land: the coastal Chincha society, the warm eastern
slopes (Antis; see Andes, Central), the Colla people of the Lake Titicaca basin,
and the Cuntisuyu region southwest of the capital.
The borders between the suyus are imperfectly understood, but were
apparently not arrayed by cardinal directions, even around Cuzco. Chinchaysuyu
was the most populous, richest, and second-largest of the suyus. It took in most
of the royal estate lands in the Urubamba valley north of the capital and
extended broadly to encompass most of northern Peru, including the rival empire
of the Chimú, as well as Ecuador. Collasuyu ultimately took in the greatest
territory; but south of the rich altiplano it was sparsely populated. Antisuyu
contained a few prestigious royal manors, and extended toward the warm forests.
Cuntisuyu was the smallest and probably least populated of all the parts,
although some peoples and places were held in high esteem, for example the
Inca origin place at Pacariqtambo (see Myths, Origin). Owing to imperial
resettlement programs, many people identified on census rolls as belonging to
one suyu found themselves living or discharging their tax obligations in another
(see Labor Service). The frontiers of imperial control, while sustained by
cordons of forts (sometimes scores of kilometers removed), were often
permeable zones, across which the Incas selectively encouraged economic and
cultural relations (see Fortifications). Anything that was outside the empire was
considered to be disordered and thus dangerous—for example, the peoples and
lands of Amazonia and the plains east of the southern Andes.
Imperial development may be assessed in terms of strategy, governance,
material presence, and cultural impact. In its grand strategy, the Inca approach
varied contextually from a direct, high-cost, high-control strategy (territorial
rule) to an indirect, low-cost, low-control strategy (hegemonic rule). The most
intensive approach was applied along the spine of the Andes, from the southern
altiplano to highland Ecuador. That region boasted the greatest imperial
constructions and the most elaborate administrative presence. Each province had
a governor (tocricoc), usually an ethnic Inca lord, who presided over 20,000–
30,000 taxpaying households. The approach was less intensive toward the
peripheries, along most of the coast, and in the vast territory of Chile and
northwest Argentina. While those areas also contained provinces with governors,
the Incas often ruled from an administrative distance, for example through
resettled colonists or locally recognized elites who worked as state agents. The
physical presence of imperial control, especially in the infrastructure of roads
and support facilities, was also less visible there.