Editing Inca Empire (section)

=== Administration ===
Colonial sources are not entirely clear or in agreement about Inca government structure, such as exact duties and functions of government positions. But the basic structure can be broadly described. The top was the ''Sapa Inca'', who wore the {{lang|qu|[[maskaypacha]]}} as a symbol of power.<ref>{{cite book |last=Baudin |first=Louis |title=Daily Life in Peru under the Last of the Incas |date=1961 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]}}</ref> Below that may have been the ''Willaq Umu'', literally the "priest who recounts", the High Priest of the Sun.{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|p=99}} However, beneath the ''Sapa Inca'' also sat the ''Inkap rantin'', who was a confidant and assistant to the ''Sapa Inca'', perhaps similar to a Prime Minister.<ref>{{cite journal |first=R. T. |last=Zuidema |title=Hierarchy and Space in Incaic Social Organization |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=30 |issue=2 |date=Spring 1983 |pages=49–75 |doi=10.2307/481241 |jstor=481241}}</ref> Starting with [[Topa Inca Yupanqui]], a "Council of the Realm" was composed of 16 nobles: 2 from ''hanan'' Cusco; 2 from ''hurin'' Cusco; 4 from Chinchaysuyu; 2 from Cuntisuyu; 4 from Collasuyu; and 2 from Antisuyu. This weighting of representation balanced the ''hanan'' and ''hurin'' divisions of the empire, both within Cuzco and within the Quarters (''hanan suyu'' and ''hurin suyu'').{{sfn|Zuidema|1983|p=48}}

While provincial [[bureaucracy]] and government varied greatly, the basic organization was decimal. Taxpayers – male heads of household of a certain age range – were organized into [[corvée labor]] units (often doubling as military units) that formed the state's muscle as part of [[mit'a]] service. Each unit of more than 100 tax-payers were headed by a ''kuraka'', while smaller units were headed by a ''kamayuq'', a lower, non-hereditary status. However, while ''kuraka'' status was hereditary and typically served for life, the position of a ''kuraka'' in the hierarchy was subject to change based on the privileges of superiors in the hierarchy; a ''pachaka kuraka'' could be appointed to the position by a ''waranqa kuraka''. Furthermore, one ''kuraka'' in each decimal level could serve as the head of one of the nine groups at a lower level, so that a ''pachaka kuraka'' might also be a ''waranqa kuraka'', in effect directly responsible for one unit of 100 tax-payers and less directly responsible for nine other such units.{{sfn|Julien|1982|pp=121–127}}{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|pp=233–234}}{{sfn|McEwan|2008|pp=114–115}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Kuraka in Charge{{sfn|Julien|1982|p=123}}{{sfn|D'Altroy|2014|p=233}} !! Number of Taxpayers
|-
| ''Hunu kuraka'' || 10,000
|-
| ''Pichkawaranqa kuraka'' || 5,000
|-
| ''Waranqa kuraka'' || 1,000
|-
| ''Pichkapachaka kuraka'' || 500
|-
| ''Pachaka kuraka'' || 100
|-
| ''Pichkachunka kamayuq'' || 50
|-
| ''Chunka kamayuq'' || 10
|}