Encyclopedia of the Incas

the smaller quadrant. The Inca province of Chachapoyas, for example, which
straddled the eastern slopes of the Andes in what is today northern Peru, was
considered to have formed part of Chinchaysuyu. The Incas often defined
regions geographically, according to their proximity to main roads, and in the
case of Chachapoyas, it lay off the “Quito road,” that is, the Chinchaysuyu road.
In the early years of imperial expansion, the four suyus that encompassed
Tahuantinsuyu (Chinchaysuyu, Antisuyu, Collasuyu, and Cuntisuyu) may have
been roughly equivalent in size. While Chinchaysuyu and Collasuyu expanded
far to the north and south, respectively, to become the largest suyus, geographical
factors constrained the growth of the smaller suyus, Antisuyu and Cuntisuyu (the
Pacific Ocean to the west and the tropical Amazonian lowlands to the east,
respectively), the latter a region often beyond the reach of imperial control.
Most importantly, Antisuyu furnished the empire with tropical resources. The
cloud forest provinces, settled by colonist coca farmers, supplied much of
Cuzco’s coca, the mildly narcotic leaf on which the Incas held a quasi monopoly.
These tropical areas, including the adjacent lowland forest, provided other highly
sought-after resources, such as cotton and hot peppers, as well as honey, resin,
beeswax, dyestuffs, hardwood, medicinal and hallucinogenic plants, animal
pelts, live animals, and especially, the feathers of brightly colored tropical birds
to dress the nobles, the soldiers, and the huacas.