The Development of the Inca State - Hardcover

Bauer, Brian S

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0292715633 ISBN 13: 9780292715639

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 1992

Synopsis

"Innovative work challenges traditional views of Inca state development; suggests that incipient state growth in the Cuzco region was marked by the gradual consolidation and centralization of political authority in Cuzco, rather than resulting from a single military victory. Analyzes processes of political, economic, and social change, based on historical, ethnographic, and archeological data"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.http://www.loc.gov/hlas/

About this title

From the Back Cover

The Inca empire was the largest state in the Americas at the time of the Spanish invasion in 1532. From its political center in the valley of Cuzco, it controlled much of the area included in the modern nations of Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia. But how the Inca state became a major pan-Andean power is less certain. In this innovative work, Brian S. Bauer challenges traditional views of Inca state development and offers a new interpretation supported by archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence. Spanish chroniclers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries attributed the rapid rise of Inca power to a decisive military victory over the Chanca, their traditional rivals, by Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, a young warrior-king, and to the Incas' ability to unify the various ethnic groups of the region. By contrast, Bauer questions the usefulness of literal interpretations of the Spanish chronicles and provides instead a regional perspective on the question of state development. He suggests that incipient state growth in the Cuzco region was marked by the gradual consolidation and centralization of political authority in Cuzco, rather than resulting from a single military victory. Synthesizing regional surveys with excavation, historic, and ethnographic data, and investigating broad categories of social and economic organization, he shifts the focus away from legendary accounts and analyzes more general processes of political, economic, and social change. Ultimately, Bauer's work stresses the need for broader forms of historical consciousness in studying the development of the Inca state, moving beyond the study of kings and battles to examine classes of individuals and entiregeographic regions.

About the Author

Brian S. Bauer is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A recipient of both MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, Gary Urton is the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Pre-Columbian Studies and chair of the Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. He is the author of numerous books and edited volumes on Andean/Quechua cultures and Inka civilization, including Signs of the Inka Khipu: Binary Coding in the Andean Knotted-String Records.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0292715633
• ISBN 13: 9780292715639
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 203