Negotiated Subjugation: Maritime Trade and the Incorporation of Chincha Into the Inca Empire

Abstract

Before Francisco Pizarro began the conquest of the Inca empire in AD 1532, he had already heard of the great maritime trading power of Chincha, a privileged Inca client state on the central Peruvian coast. Here, we review relevant ethnohistoric and archaeological data about late prehispanic Chincha with particular reference to maritime trading and recent work on pre-industrial economies. Our analysis supports an earlier proposal that Chincha was not engaged in long-distance exchange of Spondylus (a ritually powerful mollusk) prior to incorporation into the empire, contrary to others’ assertions. Rather, the data strongly suggest that Spondylus trade was formerly in the hands of the rival north coast Chimu empire. After conquering Chimu ∼AD 1470 (a few years before incorporating Chincha), the Inca carefully dismantled Chimu territory and privileges. The source of Spondylus was the Ecuadorian coast, which remained free of Inca control until the 1520s. We propose that the Inca offered Chincha the Spondylus franchise in exchange for peaceful incorporation into the empire and to cut Chimu contact with unconquered peoples. This made geopolitical sense: Chincha's size and location nearer to the Inca heartland meant that it posed no threat while at the same time it was perfectly situated to transship cargo from southbound rafts to porters headed inland to Cusco, the Inca capital.

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