ground to make chicha, by soaking, boiling, and fermenting. Although chicha
can be produced from other fruits or vegetables (potatoes, peanuts, manioc, the
fruit of the molle or pepper tree), and its effects can be enhanced by the addition
of psychotropic powders such as vilca (Anadenanthera colubrina) or espingo
(Nectandra sp.), for the Incas and their subjects, chicha made from maize was
considered the best, and most prestigious, of all beverages.
Further Reading
Jennings, Justin, and Brenda J. Bowser, eds. Drink, Power, and Society in the Andes. Gainesville:
University Press of Florida, 2009.
Morris, Craig. “Maize Beer in the Economics, Politics, and Religion of the Inca Empire.” In Fermented
Food Beverages in Nutrition, edited by Clifford F. Gastineau, William J. Darby, and Thomas B. Turner,
21–34. New York: Academic Press, 1979.
■ADRIANA VON HAGEN
CHINCHAYSUYU
The Inca quadrant of Chinchaysuyu extended west and north-northwest from
Cuzco to encompass lands teeming with human and natural resources, making it
by far the most prosperous of all the suyus. Although smaller than Collasuyu in
the south, Chinchaysuyu’s wealth and population exceeded all the other three
suyus combined. Along with Antisuyu, the tropical forest quadrant,
Chinchaysuyu formed the hanan, or upper half of the empire. At the same time,
Chinchaysuyu formed a quadrant of the capital, Cuzco, whose plaza functioned
as the axis of the territorial divisions as well as the nexus of the four main roads
leading to the suyus. The Cuzco valley’s ceque system was also divided into four
suyus and the huacas, or shrines, located along the 328 or so imaginary ceques,
or lines, were ranked accordingly.