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CHICAGO NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM BULLETIN 



September-October, 19i5 



MODERN DESCHNDANTS OF THE INCAS 

 This Peruvian family, encountered by Curator Collier on one ol his expeditions to 

 South America, speaks only the Quechua language inherited from prehistoric ancestots. 

 The %voman at the extreme right is spinning sheep's wool. These people live even 

 today in villages such as that depicted in the Museum diorama on page 1, and under 

 conditions similar to those prevailing before the Spanish conquest. 



"Son of the Sun," as he was thought to be 

 of divine birth and descended from the Sun, 

 the chief Inca deity. 



INCA CONQUEST METHODS 



Upon conquering a new territory, the 

 Incas disturbed as little as possible the 

 local customs and beliefs. The native 

 officials were incorporated into the imperial 

 hierarchy, and the cult of the Sun was 

 superimposed on the local religion. The 

 land was divided into three parts, one for 

 the support of the state, one for the Sun to 

 sustain the Inca priesthood, and the largest 

 portion for the support of the people. 



Quechua was the official language and 

 was disseminated so effectively among the 

 conquered peoples that when the Spaniards 

 arrived it had replaced the local languages in 

 most of the empire. Transplanting of popu- 

 lations was practiced by the Incas, both to 

 overcome disloyalty in conquered terri- 

 tories and to equalize over-population in 

 certain districts. 



SECURITY REPLACED LIBERTY 



At the expense of personal liberty, the 

 rigid control of life under the Incas brought 

 about a considerable degree of security and 

 general well-being of the conquered people. 

 Provincial governors and lesser officials 

 were held strictly responsible for the welfare 

 of those under them, and the efficiency and 

 honesty with which they carried out their 

 duties was constantly checked by traveling 

 inspectors. Famine was prevented by a 

 system of great storehouses throughout the 

 land from which food could be drawn in 

 case of crop failure. 



Communication between the capital and 

 all parts of the realm was maintained by an 

 extraordinary system of roads. Two main 

 highways stretched the length of the empire, 

 one along the coast, the other in the high- 

 land. Numerous lateral and, secondary 

 roads connected the two main highways 

 and formed a network converging on Cuzco. 



At intervals of about 

 fifteen miles along the 

 highways there were 

 tambos or inns for the 

 accommodation of offi- 

 cial travelers. These 

 had facilities for eating 

 and sleeping, as well as 

 storehouses stocked 

 with food, clothing and 

 arms. Every two or 

 three miles there were 

 posthouses staffed by 

 couriers who ran at top 

 speed to the next post 

 with messages and small 

 burdens. By means of 

 this "pony express" sys- 

 tem of post-runners, 

 messages and objects 

 could be carried great 

 distances at incredible 

 speed. It is said that 

 messages were transmitted from Quito to 

 Cuzco, a distance of 1,300-1,400 miles by 

 road, in ten days. Fresh fish were brought 

 200 miles to the emperor's table from Lake 

 Titicaca or from the ocean. Even quicker 

 communication was achieved by means of 

 smoke or fire signals. A rebellion 1,800 

 miles from the capital could be reported to^ 

 the emperor within two or three hours. 



MORE ADVANCED THAN EUROPE 



It is clear that Inca means of communi- 

 cation and travel were far superior to those 

 of contemporary Europe. Under the 

 Spaniards the Inca road system fell into 

 decay, and fifty years after the conquest 

 isolation was as great as in pre-Inca times. 

 Not until the Pan American highway and 

 the other current roadbuilding programs of 

 the Andean countries are completed will 

 ground travel in the Andes be as convenient 

 and direct as it was under the Incas. 



Despite their great skill in civil and social 

 engineering, the Incas possessed no system 

 of writing. The nearest approach to writing 

 was the quipu, a counting device consisting 

 of a thick cord from which hung knotted 

 strings of different colors. The quipu 

 operated on the same principle as the aba- 

 cus, the colors of the strings representing 

 different classes of objects, and the number 

 and position of the knots indicating numbers 

 according to a decimal system. 



The great extent of this empire and the 

 high degree of integration within it suggest 

 that a long historical development lay back 

 of the Inca state at the time of the Spanish 

 conquest. Yet the flowering of the empire 

 was very rapid. Cuzco and the Inca 

 dynasty were founded about a.d. 1150. 

 But the primary expansion of the empire 

 took place between about 1400 and 1525, 

 and the greater part of the territory was 

 conquered in little more than thirty years. 



The conquest of Peru by Pizarro was 

 made easy by the fact that he found the 



country in a state of civil war. After two 

 half-brothers, rival claimants to the throne, 

 had been killed, the Spaniards were able 

 to overrun Peru with comparative ease. 



The Inca Empire at its height contained 

 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 inhabitants. Fol- 

 lowing the Spanish conquest there was a 

 great reduction in population. But a grad- 

 ual recovery followed and today the Andean 

 Indians are probably about as numerous as 

 they were under the Incas. 



Although the Spaniards destroyed the 

 Inca government, the religious organization 

 and the specialized culture of the Incas, the 

 Quechua language and many of the customs 

 and beliefs of the people have persisted to 

 the present. 



VILLAGE LIFE TODAY 



The village of OUantaytambo, shown in 

 the diorama, is still inhabited and looks 

 much the same today, despite the addition 

 of a Catholic church and here and there a 

 tile or corrugated iron roof. The terraces 

 in the valley continue to be farmed and are 

 still fertile after 500 years of cultivation. 



The Peruvian diorama is the second of a 

 series of four being constructed for Hall B 

 by Mr. Alfred Lee Rowell, of the Depart- 

 ment of Anthropology staff. A set of 

 kodachrome slides secured through the 

 courtesy of Mr. Rene d'Harnoncourt was of 

 great assistance. Members of the Depart- 

 ments of Botany and Zoology gave technical 

 advice. Taxidermist Leon L. Walters did 

 the plastic casting of the river. 



NEW MEMBERS 



The following persons became Members 

 of the Museum during the period from 

 June 16 to August 3: 



Associate Members 



Norman Asher, Mrs. Leon Grotowski, 

 Mrs. Norman R. Hanson, Mrs. Barney E. 

 Hokin, W. P. Rogovsky. 



Annual Members 



Mrs. William S. Adler, Mrs. William G. 

 Agar, George M. Armstrong, Mrs. Pierce 

 Atwater, Clarence Avildsen, Mrs. Albert H. 

 Barber, Timothy A. Barrett, Norbert 

 Basler, Mrs. A. E. Bastien, Hugh C. Beel- 

 man, Mrs. Bert R. Benjamin, Beryl Blee- 

 den, Mrs. Louis A. Boening, Claude D. 

 Bowman, William M. Carlington, Frank 

 R. Curda, Dr. Maurice L. Dale, Luery 

 Etshokin, Douglas B. Ferris, Charles G. 

 Forck, Arthur E. Gast, Samuel R. Gettle- 

 man, Theodore Gilbert, Oscar L. Grisamore, 

 W. J. Halligan, Charles M. Hanna, Mrs. 

 Paul V. Harper, Miss Lois E. Hobart, 

 Frank Richard Klann, Philip A. Klapman, 

 Richard Levy, Richard D. Linville, Charles 

 C. Livingston, DeWitt J. Manasse, Mrs. 

 Russell L. Mannette, Dr. Irene T. Mead, 

 Mrs. Helen W. Munsert, T. E. Murchison, 

 William James O'Neal, John Paul Penne- 

 baker, Samuel Penner, J. B. Roberts, Miss 

 Vaughn Rook, Samuel Rosenstone, Thomas 

 W. Saunders, Albert J. Tarrson, Dr. Henry 

 S. Testin, Thomas Tighe, Paul R. Unger, 

 Harry W. Williams, Frank C. Wolff. 



