The Education in the Inca Empire

 1.               THE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

The “Ayllu” was a fundamental social group in Peru. It exists before the Inca Empire. In the first times, the Ayllu have farming lands and a chief, to whom all of the community obey. The Ayllu was like a big family with a lot of parents and cousins. In the imperial age, the Incas displace the “Sinchi” by another public official named “Curaca”, who was named directly by the Inca. This allowed him to have a great control over all the communities. The Ayllus of one region were grouped in Sections and they formed a Province. Each province had his capital. All the provinces were grouped in one of the fours “Suyos”, in which the empire was divided:

• The “Antisuyo” included the north-east.


• The “Collasuyo” was to the south-east, and occupied the upper region of the aimaras, the deep valley of the Titicaca Lake, the mayor part of Bolivia and upper lands of Argentina and the north of Chile.


• Cuzco was the Capital and center of the Empire.


• The fourth north east “Chinchaysuyo” embrace Ecuador and north part of Peru.


• The Empire received the name of Tahuantisuyo “earth of the fourth quarters”. The governors of the four quarters were part of the State Council, site in Cuzco and generally were Inca’s relatives.

The governors ordered to the “Curacas”. They have different ranks (masters) depending on the amount of men that they have under their commands. The one of more rank was the one that controls 10,000 men and the less was with 100 men. In front of little groups were the foremen, plebeians named by the governors. The racial structure was similar to a modern army, with sergeants directing small groups and officers for great groups.

2.               SUPER STATE

The State manages important functions in the Inca society. The land was a property of the State, and the mayor part was governed in community. They also owned the herds of “llamas” and mines. The State protected the population from the exploitation and hunger, and of any other necessity. The habitants were well ordered, and they cannot go far from the community without permission. The nobles and priests were maintained with the people’s work. Therefore, the lands were distributed in three parts: one for the State, other for the church (priests) and the third for   people.

Each person received the land in order to feed their family. The limits of the land were marked and its destruction was considered a terrible crime. The lands that were not considered communal were cultivated first. When it was the sowing or harvest time, the public employees arrived in order to advice that it was time to work in the sacred lands. The harvest obtained from the lands of the State or of the priests was stored in separated warehouses and the crow obtained was to feed the priests or the nobles.

In the pastures of highland zones, the mayor part of the llamas belong to the Government, who storage the wool. Later these were distributed between the families, in accordance with their necessities. The peasant has as its own: his house, the stable, small animals (dogs, ducks, and hens without tail) and the barn, besides the farming tools. It is very important to point out that the highland communities owned lands in coast zones and vice versa. Therefore there was no saturation of the same type of food.

The people should also realize public work (military service, high ways and bridges construction) that were called MITA. The time of the Mita was variable and could be extended during plenty of time. From this obligatory service- between the 18 and 50 years, the artists and craftsmen were excuse. The “yanaconas” were young people early separated from the Ayllus and they were used to work in the palace or in the agriculture. There was a difference with the MITA´work, which authorized the people to return to its property after they performed the work, instead of the “yanaconas” who never returned. In some occasions they were delivered for the personal service of the Curacas, and sometimes they could have the same work.

The more beautiful and intelligent girls were educated in the temples or be sacrificed. The ones that demonstrate to be more intelligent were educated to be the “Sun Virgins” priestess who has to do perpetual vows of chastity. The less beautiful, were separated to do homework’s and were called “huasipascunas” discard girls.

3.               WRITING AND LITERATURE

The education in the Inca Empire was reserved to the nobles and was given in schools situated in Cuzco. They were taught mathematics and astronomy. Having in mind that the Inca economy was based in the agriculture, it is understood the importance of these sciences in order to measure the lands and calculate the changes of seasons. The amautas were commended to teach the religious, historical and political knowledge, and also the handling of the “quipus”. The rest of the people do not have access to systematic education. Nevertheless, the people in the Empire have to learn the “quechua idiom”. This was more for political interests than educational.

We could not affirm categorically that the Incas do not know how to write. Being people highly evolve, it is possible that in the quipus and in the (inscriptions ripostes) as well as in textile designs (tocapus) we could find the code of their writing. The existence of oral traditions about the Inca legends and the richness of their tales make unquestionable the existence of a kind of literature, whose expression was popularize in the drama “Ollantay”. The “Quipu” was a whole of strings, ones were principals and large, from whom little ones were hanging. The system was based on a little string from which some strings were hanging. In these strings, knots of different sizes and colors were made, and being joint or separate they have different significance. Not all the people know how to read the quipus, the quipucamayoc were the specialists in charge to read and keep them. The sons of the nobles learned in the school the reading of the quipus. By means of the quipus they could learned, for example, what important matters have occurred during the government of the previous Inca, how many people lived in a town, how much of corn or other units of food were in the storages.

In the provinces there were chroniclers that told important facts, which were transmitted orally, with the help of the quipus. There were also the haravacs, poets and inventors that will compose songs for the real parties, especially to be told during the meals.

A great deal of information about the education and culture of the Inca Empire was lost during the conquest, in view that the Spanish people, most of them without culture, only wanted gold and silver. They dedicated to pillage and kill the nobles and the people who ruled the Empire. They destroy expressions forms of culture and organization. In accordance with information of the chronics and historians when the Spanish people arrived to Cuzco the population of the Inca Empire were approximately seven millions of people. Later it was reduced to only one million of people enslavers and humiliated by the conquerors.

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