Colonial accounts of the ceque system, that a few of the “royal ayllus” (that is,
the panacas) were actually referred to as ayllus. The confusion in nomenclature
is probably a consequence of the meager range and quantity of information that
has come down to us concerning this important institution in the life of the
capital city.
Ayllus continued to be one of the principal units of social organization in
Andean communities through the Colonial period, and in some cases villages
today are still organized into ayllus. Today, the purpose of these groups is
realized in terms of local landholding patterns, communal labor organization,
and the sponsorship of festivals and other ritual activities.
Further Reading
Murra, John V. “El control vertical de un máximo de pisos ecológicos en la economía de las sociedades
andinas.” In Formaciones económicas y políticas del mundo andino, 59–116. Lima: Instituto de Estudios
Peruanos, 1975.
Rowe, John H. “Inca Culture at the Time of Spanish Conquest.” In Handbook of South American Indians,
edited by Julian Steward, vol. 2, The Andean Civilizations, 183–330. Washington, DC: Smithsonian
Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, 1946.
Salomon, Frank. “Introductory Essay: The Huarochirí Manuscript.” In The Huarochirí Manuscript.
Translation, annotations, and transcription by Frank Salomon and George L. Urioste, 1–38. Austin:
University of Texas Press, 1991.
Urton, Gary. The History of a Myth: Pacariqtambo and the Origin of the Inkas. Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1990.
Zuidema, R. Tom. The Ceque System of Cuzco: The Social Organization of the Capital of the Inca. Leiden,
Netherlands: E. J. Brill, 1964.
■GARY URTON
AYMARA
Aymara is a linguistic family (also called jaqi or aru) that now consists of only
two languages: central Aymara, which survives in the highlands of Lima, and
altiplano Aymara, which is spoken in Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. Other forms of
Aymara that joined those two extremes throughout the southern Peruvian
highlands were displaced by Quechua even before the time of the Inca Empire.
Recent studies indicate that one form, which was spoken around Cuzco, may
have been the principal language of the Incas in the mythical period. Like
Quechua, Aymara is an agglutinative language, in which words are formed using
a very elaborate system of suffixes. As noted in the entry on Quechua, the
historical relationship between Aymara and Quechua is not genetic, but one of
contact and convergence, in which the former reshaped the latter.