The Fourfold Domain: Inka Power and Its Social Foundations

Abstract

At the time of the Spanish invasion, the Inka ruled the largest empire the New World had ever seen. It extended from the sacred center of Qusqu, now called Qosqo, Cusco or Cuzco, northward along the spine of the Andes through what are today Peru, Ecuador, and southernmost Colombia, as well as southward into Bolivia, northern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. The rapid rise of Tawantinsuyu, as the Inka called their empire, was as spectacular as its geographic extent. The Quechua name could be glossed 'four parts united among themselves' or 'fourfold domain'. The Inka took the idols of newly conquered peoples to Cusco, where they were regarded as honored hostages. Inka wealth rested on access to three sources of revenue: labor, land, and herds. The visual strength and clarity of Inka art, as well as its repetitiveness, can be understood as the result of its official nature.

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