Editing Inca Empire (section)

== Economy ==
{{Main|Economy of the Inca Empire|Inca agriculture|Vertical archipelago|Mit'a|Qullqa}}
[[File:Trabajo-inca8.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration of [[Incan agriculture|Inca farmers]] using a ''chaki taklla'' (Andean foot plough) in ''[[El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno]]'' (ca. 1615) by [[Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala]].]]

The Inca Empire employed [[central planning]]. Coastal chiefdoms within the Inca Empire punctually traded with outside regions, although they did not operate a substantial internal [[market economy]]. While [[axe-monies]] were used along the northern coast, where the custom of reciprocity was not in place,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rostworowski |first=María |title=History of the Inca Realm |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=1999 |language=en |translator-last=B. Iceland |translator-first=Harry}}</ref> presumably by the provincial ''mindaláe'' trading class,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Salomon|first=Frank|date=1 January 1987|title=A North Andean Status Trader Complex under Inka Rule|jstor=482266|journal=Ethnohistory|volume=34|issue=1|pages=63–77|doi=10.2307/482266}}</ref> most households in the empire lived in a [[traditional economy]] in which households were required to pay tributes, usually in the form of the [[mit'a|mit’a]] [[corvée]] labor, and military obligations,<ref>Earls, J. The Character of Inca and Andean Agriculture. pp. 1–29</ref> though barter (or ''trueque'') was present in some areas.{{sfn|Moseley|2001|p=44}} In return, the state provided security, food in times of hardship through the supply of emergency resources, agricultural projects (e.g. aqueducts and terraces) to increase productivity and occasional feasts hosted by Inca officials for their subjects. While mit’a was used by the state to obtain labor, individual villages had a pre-Inca system of communal work known as [[mink'a]]. This system survives to the modern day, known as ''mink'a'' or ''faena''. The economy rested on the material foundations of the [[vertical archipelago]], a system of ecological complementarity in accessing resources<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Murra |first1=John V. |last2=Rowe |first2=John Howland |date=1 January 1984 |title=An Interview with John V. Murra |jstor=2514748 |journal=The Hispanic American Historical Review |volume=64 |issue=4 |pages=633–653 |doi=10.2307/2514748 |s2cid=222285111}}</ref> and the cultural foundation of ''[[ayni]]'', or [[Reciprocity (cultural anthropology)|reciprocal exchange]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Maffie |first=J. |chapter=Pre-Columbian Philosophies |editor-first1=Susana |editor-last1=Nuccetelli |editor-first2=Ofelia |editor-last2=Schutte |editor-first3=Otávio |editor-last3=Bueno |title=A Companion to Latin American Philosophy |chapter-url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=OyRw3gH6cTkC|page=137}} |date=5 March 2013 |publisher=John [[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-118-61056-5 |pages=137–138}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Newitz |first1=Annalee |author-link1=Annalee Newitz |title=The greatest mystery of the Inca Empire was its strange economy |publisher=[[io9]] |date=3 January 2012 |url=http://io9.com/5872764/the-greatest-mystery-of-the-inca-empire-was-its-strange-economy |access-date=4 January 2012 |archive-date=10 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210173914/http://io9.com/5872764/the-greatest-mystery-of-the-inca-empire-was-its-strange-economy |url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
[[File:Pisac, Cuzco, Perú, 2015-07-31, DD 99.JPG|thumb|[[Andén|Andenes]] in the [[Sacred Valley]] of the Incas, near [[Písac|Pisac]], Cuzco.]]

It was the main economic activity in the Tawantinsuyu, followed by livestock raising. It was a mixed economy with agrarian technology based on ancestral knowledge such as the ''[[Andén|andenes]]'' (terraces), {{Lang|qu|wachaque}} (sunken fields), {{Lang|qu|[[waru waru]]}} (raised fields), ''qucha'' (artificial lakes); and the improvement of cultivation tools, like the ''chaquitaclla'' and the {{Lang|qu|raucana}}.<ref name ="hernandez">{{cite book |last=Hernández |first=Francisco |title=Los Incas y el poder de sus ancestros |date=2012 |publisher=Fondo Editorial de la PUCP}}</ref> The [[potato]] was the staple food with over 200 species and 5000 different varieties while [[corn]] and [[coca]] were considered sacred plants.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Graves, C. |title=La papa: tesoro de los andes: de la agricultura a la cultura |date=2000 |publisher=International Potato Center |url=https://cipotato.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/la_papa_tesoro_de_los_andess.pdf}}</ref>

They also built [[Agrobiology|agrobiological]] experimentation centers such as [[Moray (Inca ruin)|Moray]] (Cuzco), Castrovirreyna (Huancavelica) and Carania (Yauyos), through circular terraces where the products of the entire empire were reproduced.<ref name="hernandez"/>

=== Animal husbandry ===
{{Main|Inca animal husbandry}}
[[File:Lama3.jpg|thumb|Camelids were a vital resource in Tahuantinsuyo. The Inca state ensured a supply of both meat and fiber from these animals.]]

In pre-Hispanic [[Andes]], [[Camelidae|camelids]] played a crucial role in the economy. The domesticated species, [[llama]] and [[Vicugna pacos|alpaca]], were raised in large herds and used for various purposes within the Inca production system.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Marín |first=Juan |title=Sistemática, taxonomía y domesticación de alpacas y llamas: nueva evidencia cromosómica y molecular |journal=Revista Chilena de Historia Natural |date=2007 |volume=80 |pages=121–140 |language=es |issue=2 |doi=10.4067/S0716-078X2007000200001 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Additionally, two wild camelid species, [[Vicugna vicugna|vicuña]] and [[Lama guanicoe|guanaco]], were also utilized. Vicuñas were hunted through collective drives (chacos), sheared with tools like stones, knives, and metal axes, and then released to maintain their population. Guanacos were hunted for their highly valued meat. Chronicles indicate that all camelid meat was consumed, but due to restrictions on slaughter, its consumption was likely considered a luxury. Fresh meat was probably accessible mainly to the military or during ceremonial occasions involving widespread distribution of sacrificed animals. During the colonial period, pastures diminished or degraded due to the massive presence of introduced Spanish animals and their feeding habits, significantly altering the Andean environment.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rostworowski |first=María |url=http://incas.perucultural.org.pe/hisasp4a.htm |title=Historia del Tahuantinsuyo |publisher=Instituto de Estudios Peruanos |date=1995 |language=es |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090202133506/http://incas.perucultural.org.pe/hisasp4a.htm |archive-date=2 February 2009}}</ref>