Editing Inca Empire (section)

== Society ==
{{Main|Inca society|Inca education}}

=== Population ===
The number of people inhabiting Tawantinsuyu at its peak is uncertain, with estimates ranging from 4–37{{nbsp}}million. Most population estimates are in the range of 6 to 14{{nbsp}}million. In spite of the fact that the Inca kept excellent census records using their [[quipus]], knowledge of how to read them was lost as almost all fell into disuse and disintegrated over time or were destroyed by the Spaniards.{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=93–96, The 10 million population estimate in the info box is a mid-range estimate of the population.}}

=== Languages ===
{{Main|Quechua languages}}

The empire was linguistically diverse. Some of the most important languages were [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], [[Aymara language|Aymara]], [[Puquina language|Puquina]] and [[Mochica language|Mochica]], respectively mainly spoken in the Central Andes, the [[Altiplano]] ([[Qullasuyu]]), the south coast ([[Kuntisuyu]]), and the area of the north coast ([[Chinchaysuyu]]) around [[Chan Chan]], today [[Trujillo, Peru|Trujillo]]. Other languages included [[Quignam language|Quignam]], [[Jaqaru language|Jaqaru]], [[Leco language|Leco]], [[Uru-Chipaya languages]], [[Kunza language|Kunza]], [[Humahuaca language|Humahuaca]], [[Cacán language|Cacán]], [[Mapuche language|Mapudungun]], [[Culle language|Culle]], [[Extinct languages of the Marañón River basin#Chacha|Chachapoya]], [[Catacao languages]], [[Manta language (Ecuador)|Manta]], [[Barbacoan languages]], and [[Cañari–Puruhá languages|Cañari–Puruhá]] as well as numerous Amazonian languages on the frontier regions. The exact linguistic topography of the pre-Columbian and early colonial Andes remains incompletely understood, owing to the extinction of several languages and the loss of historical records.

In order to manage this diversity, the Inca lords promoted the usage of [[Quechua languages|Quechua]], especially [[:es:Quechua costeño|the variety of what is now Lima]],<ref>Torero Fernández de Córdoba, Alfredo, (1970), "Lingüística e historia de la Sociedad Andina", Anales Científicos de la Universidad Agraria, VIII, 3-4, pp. 249–251, Lima: UNALM.</ref> as the [[official language]] or [[lingua franca]]. Defined by mutual intelligibility, Quechua is actually a family of languages rather than one single language, parallel to the Romance or Slavic languages in Europe. Most communities within the empire, even those resistant to Inca rule, learned to speak a variety of Quechua (forming new regional varieties with distinct phonetics) in order to communicate with the Inca lords and mitma colonists, as well as the wider integrating society, but largely retained their native languages as well. The Incas also had their own ethnic language, which is thought to have been closely related to or a dialect of [[Puquina language|Puquina]].

There are several common misconceptions about the history of Quechua, as it is frequently identified as the "Inca language". Quechua did not originate with the Incas, had been a lingua franca in multiple areas before the Inca expansions, was diverse before the rise of the Incas, and it was not the native or original language of the Incas. However, the Incas left a linguistic legacy in that they introduced Quechua to many areas where it is still widely spoken today, including Ecuador, southern Bolivia, southern Colombia, and parts of the Amazon basin. The Spanish conquerors continued the official usage of Quechua during the early colonial period and transformed it into a literary language.<ref name="autogenerated1">{{Cite web |url=http://www.quechua.org.uk/Eng/Sounds/Quechua/QuechuaOriginsAndDiversity.htm |title=Origins And Diversity of Quechua |website=quechua.org.uk}}</ref>

The Incas were not known to develop a written form of language; however, they visually recorded narratives through paintings on vases and cups ([[qiru]]s).<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Comparing chronicles and Andean visual texts  |url=http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/chungara/v46n1/art06.pdf |journal=[[Chungara (journal)|Chungara, Revista de Antropología Chilena]] |volume=46, Nº 1, 2014 |pages=91–113}}</ref> These paintings are usually accompanied by geometric patterns known as toqapu, which are also found in textiles. Researchers have speculated that toqapu patterns could have served as a form of written communication (e.g. heraldry or glyphs), however, this remains unclear.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Royal Tocapu in Guacan Poma: An Inca Heraldic? |journal=Boletin de Arqueologia PUCP |date=11 April 2004 |volume=Nº 8 |issue=8 |pages=305–323 |last1=Eeckhout |first1=Peter |doi=10.18800/boletindearqueologiapucp.200401.016 |s2cid=190129569 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Incas also kept records by using [[quipu]]s.

=== Age and defining gender ===
[[File:Llullaillaco mummies in Salta city, Argentina.jpg|thumb|"The Maiden", one of the [[Llullaillaco mummies]]. Inca human sacrifice, [[Salta province]] ([[Argentina]]).]]

The high infant mortality rates that plagued the Inca Empire caused all newborn infants to be given the term ''wawa'' when they were born.{{Citation needed|date=September 2024}} Most families did not invest very much into their child until they reached the age of two or three years old. Once the child reached the age of three, a "coming of age" ceremony occurred, called the ''rutuchikuy''. For the Incas, this ceremony indicated that the child had entered the stage of "ignorance". During this ceremony, the family would invite all relatives to their house for food and dance, and then each member of the family would receive a lock of hair from the child. After each family member had received a lock, the father would shave the child's head. This stage of life was categorized by a stage of "ignorance, inexperience, and lack of reason, a condition that the child would overcome with time".<ref name=":1">Covey, R. Alan (1947). "Inca Gender Relations: from household to empire". In Brettell, Caroline; Sargent, Carolyn F. (eds.), ''Gender in cross-cultural perspective'', (7th ed.) {{ISBN|978-0-415-78386-6}} {{OCLC|962171839}}.</ref> For Inca society, in order to advance from the stage of ignorance to development the child must learn the roles associated with their gender.

The next important ritual was to celebrate the maturity of a child. Unlike the coming of age ceremony, the celebration of maturity signified the child's sexual potency. This celebration of puberty was called ''warachikuy'' for boys and ''qikuchikuy'' for girls. The ''warachikuy'' ceremony included dancing, fasting, tasks to display strength, and family ceremonies. The boy would also be given new clothes and taught how to act as an unmarried man. The ''qikuchikuy'' signified the onset of menstruation, upon which the girl would go into the forest alone and return only once the bleeding had ended. In the forest she would fast, and, once returned, the girl would be given a new name, adult clothing, and advice. This "folly" stage of life was the time young adults were allowed to have sex without being a parent.<ref name=":1" />

Between the ages of 20 and 30, people were considered young adults, "ripe for serious thought and labor".<ref name=":1" /> Young adults were able to retain their youthful status by living at home and assisting in their home community. Young adults only reached full maturity and independence once they had married.

At the end of life, the terms for men and women denote loss of sexual vitality and humanity. Specifically, the "decrepitude" stage signifies the loss of mental well-being and further physical decline.

{| class="wikitable"
| colspan="4" |Table 7.1 from R. Alan Covey's Article<ref name=":1" />
|-
|'''Age'''
|'''Social Value of Life Stage'''
|'''Female Term'''
|'''Male Term'''
|-
|<  3
|Conception
|Wawa
|Wawa
|-
|3–7
|Ignorance (not speaking)
|Warma
|Warma
|-
|7–14
|Development
|Thaski (or P'asña)
|Maqt'a
|-
|14–20
|Folly (sexually active)
|Sipas (unmarried)
|Wayna (unmarried)
|-
|20+
|Maturity (body and mind)
|Warmi
|Qhari
|-
|70
|Infirmity
|Paya
|Machu
|-
|90
|Decrepitude
|Ruku
|Ruku
|}

=== Marriage ===
In the Inca Empire, the age of marriage differed for men and women: men typically married at the age of 20, while women usually got married about four years earlier at the age of 16.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/incaslordsofgold00time |title=Incas: lords of gold and glory |date=1992 |publisher=Time-Life Books |isbn=0-8094-9870-7 |oclc=25371192}}</ref> Men who were highly ranked in society could have multiple wives, but those lower in the ranks could only take a single wife.<ref>Gouda, F. (2008), Colonial Encounters, Body Politics, and Flows of Desire, Journal of Women's History, 20(3), 166–180.</ref> Marriages were typically within classes and resembled a more business-like agreement. Once married, the women were expected to cook, collect food and watch over the children and livestock.<ref name=":0" /> Girls and mothers would also work around the house to keep it orderly to please the public inspectors.<ref>Gerard, K. (1997), Ancient Lives, New Moon, 4(4), 44.</ref> These duties remained the same even after wives became pregnant and with the added responsibility of praying and making offerings to Kanopa, who was the god of pregnancy.<ref name=":0" /> It was typical for marriages to begin on a trial basis with both men and women having a say in the longevity of the marriage. If the man felt that it would not work out or if the woman wanted to return to her parents' home the marriage would end. Once the marriage was final, the only way the two could be divorced was if they did not have a child together.<ref name=":0" /> Marriage within the Empire was crucial for survival. A family was considered disadvantaged if there was not a married couple at the center because everyday life centered around the balance of male and female tasks.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/incasthepeopleso00tere |title=The Incas |last=D'Altroy |first=Terence N. |date=2002 |publisher=Blackwell |isbn=0-631-17677-2 |oclc=46449340}}</ref>

=== Gender roles ===
[[File:The Shapa Inka and his wife traveling the Qhapaq Ñan, 1615.jpg|thumb|The Inka and his wife, the [[Qoya|Quya]], traveling the Qhapaq Ñan.]]

According to some historians, such as Terence N. D'Altroy, male and female roles were considered equal in Inca society. The "indigenous cultures saw the two genders as complementary parts of a whole".<ref name=":3" /> In other words, there was not a hierarchical structure in the domestic sphere for the Incas. Within the domestic sphere, women came to be known as weavers, although there is significant evidence to suggest that this gender role did not appear until colonizing Spaniards realized women's productive talents in this sphere and used it to their economic advantage. There is evidence to suggest that both men and women contributed equally to the weaving tasks in pre-Hispanic Andean culture.<ref name=":4" /> Women's everyday tasks included: spinning, watching the children, weaving cloth, cooking, brewing chichi, preparing fields for cultivation, planting seeds, bearing children, harvesting, weeding, hoeing, herding, and carrying water.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Moon, sun, and witches: gender ideologies and class in Inca and colonial Peru |first=Irene |last=Silverblatt |date=1987 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=0-691-07726-6 |oclc=14165734}}</ref> Men on the other hand, "weeded, plowed, participated in combat, helped in the harvest, carried firewood, built houses, herded llama and alpaca, and spun and wove when necessary".<ref name=":2" /> This relationship between the genders may have been complementary. Onlooking Spaniards believed women were treated like slaves, because women did not work in Spanish society to the same extent, and certainly did not work in fields.<ref>{{Cite book |title=History of the Inca Empire: an account of the Indians' customs and their origin, together with a treatise on Inca legends, history, and social institutions |last=Cobo |first=Bernabé |date=1979 |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |isbn=0-292-73008-X |oclc=4933087 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofincaemp0000cobo}}</ref>  Women were sometimes allowed to own land and herds because inheritance was passed down from both the mother's and father's side of the family.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Daily life in the Inca empire |first=Michael Andrew |last=Malpass |date=1996 |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]] |isbn=0-313-29390-2 |oclc=33405288}}</ref> Kinship within the Inca society followed a parallel line of descent. In other words, women descended from women and men descended from men. Due to the parallel descent, a woman had access to land and other assets through her mother.<ref name=":2" />

=== Education ===
{{Main|Inca education}}
[[File:Santa Cruz Pachacuti Yamqui es.gif|thumb|Representation of the Inca worldview]]

Access to formal education in Incan society was limited to children of the central nobility and certain levels of the [[Kuraka|curacal]] ({{Lang|qu|hatun}} curaca). They attended the {{Lang|qu|yachaywasi}} (house of knowledge) in Cusco to learn from the {{Lang|qu|[[amauta]]s}} (wises) and the {{Lang|qu|haravicus}} (poets). They learned languages, accounting, astronomy, about wars and political application strategies. The non-formalized education for the {{Lang|qu|hatun runas}} was given in daily life, in practice; it was also given in the assemblies of the ayllu or {{Lang|qu|camachico}}, where they were taught the three moral and legal principles: {{Lang|qu|ama quella}} (don't be lazy), {{Lang|qu|ama sua}} (don't steal) and {{Lang|qu|ama llulla}} (don't lie).<ref>{{Cite book |title=The Incas |url=https://archive.org/details/incas0000davi |url-access=registration |last=Davies |first=Nigel |publisher=[[University Press of Colorado]] |date=1995 |pages=103–104 |isbn=978-0-87081-360-3}}</ref>

=== Burial customs ===
Due to the dry climate that extends from modern-day Peru to what is now Chile's [[Norte Grande]], [[mummification]] occurred naturally by [[desiccation]]. It is believed that the ancient Incas learned to mummify their dead to show reverence to their leaders and representatives.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Heaney |first1=Christopher |title=The Fascinating Afterlife of Peru's Mummies |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/fascinating-afterlife-perus-mummies-180956319/ |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> Mummification was chosen to preserve the body and to give others the opportunity to worship them in their death. The ancient Inca believed in reincarnation, so preservation of the body was vital for passage into the afterlife.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Tom Garlinghouse |date=15 July 2020 |title=Mummification: The lost art of embalming the dead |url=https://www.livescience.com/mummification.html |access-date=31 July 2022 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref> Since mummification was reserved for royalty, this entailed preserving power by placing the deceased's valuables with the body in places of honor. The bodies remained accessible for ceremonies where they would be removed and celebrated with.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Heaney |first1=Christopher |title=The Fascinating Afterlife of Peru's Mummies |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/fascinating-afterlife-perus-mummies-180956319/ |access-date=2 August 2022 |website=smithsonianmag.com |language=en}}</ref> The ancient Inca mummified their dead with various tools. [[Chicha]] corn beer was used to delay [[decomposition]] and the effects of bacterial activity on the body. The bodies were then stuffed with natural materials such as vegetable matter and animal hair. Sticks were used to maintain their shape and poses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Williams |first=Emma J. |date=22 May 2018 |title=Comparing Mummification Processes: Egyptian & Inca |url=https://exarc.net/issue-2018-2/ea/comparing-mummification-processes-egyptian-inca |journal=EXARC Journal |language=en |issue=EXARC Journal Issue 2018/2 |issn=2212-8956}}</ref> In addition to the mummification process, the Inca would bury their dead in the fetal position inside a vessel intended to mimic the womb for preparation of their new birth. A ceremony would be held that included music, food, and drink for the relatives and loved ones of the deceased.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Morveli |first=Fidelus Coraza |date=14 August 2018 |title=Funeral Rites in Inca Times |url=http://cuzcoeats.com/funeral-rites-in-inca-times/ |access-date=4 August 2022 |website=cuzcoeats.com |language=en}}</ref>

=== Duality ===
The basic organizational principle of Inca society was duality or {{Lang|qu|[[yanantin]]}}, which was based on kinship relationships. The [[ayllu]]s were divided into two parts that could be Hanan or Hurin, Alaasa or Massaa, Uma or Urco, Allauca or Ichoc; according to [[Franklin Pease García Yrigoyen|Franklin Pease]], these terms were understood as "high or low," "right or left," "male or female," "inside or outside," "near or far," and "front or back."<ref name="pease"/> Though the specific functions of each part are unclear, it is documented that one leader was subordinate to the other, with [[María Rostworowski]] noting that in Cuzco, the upper half was more important, while in Ica, the lower half held more significance.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vergara |first=Teresa |chapter=Tahuantinsuyo: El mundo de los Incas |editor=Teodoro Hampe Martínez |title=Historia del Perú. Incanato y conquista |date=2000 |publisher=Lexus |isbn=9972-625-35-4}}</ref> Pease also points out that both halves were integrated through reciprocity. In Cuzco, "Hanan" and "Hurin" were opposites yet complementary, like human hands in the {{Lang|qu|yanantin}}.<ref name="pease"/>