Ancient civilizations-2

Topa Inca Yupanqui

About 1471, Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui abdicated in favour of his son Topa Inca Yupanqui, thereby ensuring the peaceful succession to the throne. Topa Inca Yupanqui was a great conqueror who was to bring most of the Central Andes region under Inca rule. Yet his first military campaign as emperor, an invasion of the tropical rain forest near the Tono River, was not particularly successful. The Inca were always fascinated with the rain forest and its products but never got used to military operations in this type of environment. This campaign did, however, establish trade relations with the area and secured a contingent of archers in return for a few bronze tools. The Emperor soon abandoned the campaign because of a revolt that had broken out in the Titicaca Basin. The rebellion was led by the Colla and Lupaca and was fanned by the rumour that Topa Inca Yupanqui had been killed during his expedition into the jungle.

The Colla’s mountaintop forts around Pucará fell one by one as the Inca attacked them. After subduing the Colla, the Inca moved against the Lupaca, who had retreated to the southwest corner of the Titicaca Basin, where they had allied themselves with another Aymara-speaking group, the Pacasa. The Inca armies were again victorious, and the revolt was ended. Topa Inca Yupanqui then turned southward, conquering all of highland Bolivia, northern Chile, and most of northwestern Argentina. He set the boundary markers of the Inca empire at the Maule River in central Chile.

At this point, the southern coast of Peru still had not been incorporated into the Inca state. The area, however, was now surrounded by the Inca on three sides, and in about 1476 Topa Inca Yupanqui launched a campaign against this region. Each valley, beginning with those in the south, was attacked separately. Most valleys submitted peacefully or put up only minimal resistance; the inhabitants of the Cañete Valley, however, put up a stubborn fight; and it took the Inca nearly three years to subdue them.

During the remainder of his reign, Topa Inca Yupanqui concerned himself with the administration of the empire. He spent much of his time traveling throughout his territories, making assignments of land and establishing local administrations. He introduced a system of classifying the adult male population into units of 100, 500, 1,000, 5,000, and 10,000, which formed a basis for labour assignments and military conscription. He also instituted a system of tribute in which each province provided Chosen Women (Aqllakuna) to serve as temple maidens in state shrines or to become the brides of soldiers who had distinguished themselves in combat.