#Incas The Sacred Valley and the Spanish Conquestadors

I am now in Cusco the Inca capital. I have visited the Inca Sacred Valley and have treked to Machu Picchu the Inca city in the mountains.

Much of the last week has been spent trying to learn about the Inca and their dramatic downfall at the hands of the gold crazed Spanish invaders which has had such a tragic and dramatic effect on what little is left of the Inca civilisation today.

I shall start by saying what I say below might not be wholly correct. It is a very complex and contradictory picture. Accademics disagree and my understanding might be out. Little seems certain. Inca civilisation had no writing or if they did it has not been discovered and as I have said the Spaniards robbed and destroyed to an incredible extent. 60% of the Inca died in the first 10 years of the Spanish arrival.

So what do I know? Well the Inca empire was largely built in the Andes - the mountain chain that runs north to South down the western side of South America. The area is characterised by steep sided valleys, fast flowing rivers that often flood, a wet season and a dry season, high altitude and earthquakes.

The stand out fact for me is I have learned the Inca Empire was not set BC or at the time of the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans as perhaps I thought. The Inca story starts about 1200 AD and their empire built in the last 100 years or so of their reign before the invading Spanish overthrough them in 1533. Machu Picchu for instance is estimated to have been started in 1438 and was never actually finished.

As there are no written records by the Inca knowledge of them is built from Spanish chronicles, oral stories passed down the line, archeology and scientific research. There are many theories and many conflicting ones.

Here are some random things I have gleaned :-

• The Inca were pastoral and part of a long line of civilisations who lived in the area and dating back centuries before. The Inca became very successful farmers, great organisers and engineers. Knowledge was highly valued. Young children were tested for aptitude and directed at an early stage to learn skills best suited to their ability.
• The successful Inca began to spread their wings and acquire land and people to build a massive empire especially in the 15th century. They did so ultimately by war but also by assimilation and making attractive offers to tribes to improve their lot. Their empire eventually extended over several countries as we know it today - 2 million square kilometres and 20 million people.
• The Inca never invented money or collected taxes. Dues were paid by work or goods. A cornerstone and one the secrets of their success was pooling labour. You help one day you will be helped the next.
• It is claimed they had no writing system although it is also claimed the Spanish destroyed it to keep control. Their arithmetic used a system of horizontal and vertical strings and knots.
• The Inca were very much in tune with nature. They believed in sun and mountain gods, believed in the after life and the power of sacrifice.
• The Inca power house at Cusco retained the knowlege with an outer ring of nobles. To look different they prized miss shapen heads and bandaged young royal children with wooden blocks to distort the skulls development. They often had massively extended ear lobes - down to their shoulders.
• The could do cranium operations.
• The Inca inner circle suffered from haemofillia as they inbred to keep the royal line pure. Weak children were often the first to be sacrificed.
• I could write so much more!

To develop their empire and retain control the Inca built thousands of miles of trails linking many thousands of population centres. They did so with great engineering skill - working with nature. Much remains today despite the complex mountain terrain fast flowing rivers and of course earthquakes. Much of what the Spanish built has been lost or rebuilt. Modern day we often just bulldoze.

The Sacred Valley - is relatively close to Cusco and formed the heartland of the Inca Empire. It is an Andean Valley - with a very fertile river plane - the river being the sacred Urubamba. However the river regularly floods so the Inca built growing terraces on the valley sides. This was massive engineering particularly because they built canals to supply water to the terraces sometimes from miles away.

Around these terraces the Inca built strongholds and storage facilities as well as housing of course. The very highest points were used to locate burial chambers for the nobility. Burials were in the form of mummification but in the embryonic position to help in the new after life. Unfortunately the Spanish found these tombs and pillaged and destroyed just about every thing.

I visited three wonderful sites in the Sacred Valley - Pisac, Calca and Ollantaytambo as well as Chinchero an important Inca trail cross roads town at 12340 feet.

I incorporate some photos of the Sacred Valley of the Inca.

First view of the Inca Sacred Valley

Pisac

A closer view of the terraces. Major construction. Watererd by underground canals. Each terrace has its own micro climate producing a flow of crops at different times.

The massive terraces at Ollantaytambo

The store houses at Ollantaytambo and Inca profile.

Precision stonework. Softish granite shaped by hand  with a harder rock tools - haematite. The rocks are split by drilling holes, hammering in wooden pegs and adding water to make them swell.

The massive rocks at the top of Ollantaytambo were hauled from a quarry over the mountains 8 miles away using ropes, ramps, logs as rollers, lama fat and up to 2000 people at a time. A monumental effort. Stonehenge on a bigger scale perhaps.

At Chinchero. A woman of Inca decent demonstrates dying Alpaca wool using natural dyes like cochineal!