The Inca armies and the warrior mita
At the beginning of Inca rule, the armies formed only after the harvests had been stored in bins and the soldiers marched accompanied by their wives, whom the Spanish called camp followers, who took care of their men, their food and curing their wounds.
Later on, with territorial expansion it became impossible to maintain these traditional practices and regular armies were created through the warrior mita. This system permitted the formation of troops for distant conquests like Charcas, Chile and Ecuador. Soldiers were absent for years and many never returned to their towns.
Tupac Yupanqui organized his armies by squadrons according to the weapons the armies carried and they marched with captains of their same ethnicity. There were carriers of clubs, slings, bludgeons, spear-throwers and other weapons. There was no lack of musical instruments such as drums, marine snail trumpets and flutes. The soldiers went dressed according to the customs of their towns of origin, displaying plumes and feathers and wearing medallions of copper, silver or gold according to their hierarchy in the army. In some regions they painted their faces. On initiating an attack they sang and shouted to instill terror in the enemy. The chroniclers tell that the shouting was such that little birds in the countryside fell to the ground in terror.
One of the first conquests of the young Tupac Yupanqui was to head toward
Chincha. Some time before, the general Capac Yupanqui had carried out
a first incursion into the zone and had achieved recognition of Cuzco
sovereignty. In addition, he had gained certain advantages such as the
building of an
Aclla Huasi with its endowment
of
mamaconas who made textiles and drinks
to cover the necessities of reciprocity and religion, in addition to the
construction of a house called Hatun Cancha, for the Inca administration.
The arrival of Tupac Yupanqui confirmed the ties of reciprocity with the
people from Chincha and the Inca requested greater state lands. The local
curacas preferred accepting the terms of
reciprocity to venturing into a war which they would probably lose and
ruin their exchanges. That method explains rapid Inca expansion seeing
as how the mere presence of the Cuzco troops was enough for annexing the
macroethnicities of Tahuantinsuyo. However, although the system favored
the rapid growth of the State, it was also a determining factor of its
fragility since it was the appearance of Pizarro's followers was enough
to eliminate the tenuous tie formed by reciprocty between the ethnic authorities
and the Inca sovereigns.
The conquest of Guarco
In the fifteenth century, the curaca of Guarco was bellicose by tradition. His valley was defended by several fortresses and by a surrounding wall which made any aggression difficult.
