Sacred Geography, Wak’as and Inka Colonialism in the South Andes

ACUTO, F.A.

Rethinking the Inka. Community, Landscape, and Empire in the Southern Andes

University of Texas Press

Lugar: Austin; Año: 2022; p. 13 - 33

In this paper, I argue that even though the extraction of minerals was a key (though overestimated) Inka activity in the South Andes, Inka expansionism in the region was especially driven by the establishment of bonds with the holy places and supernatural entities that existed and resided in the different regions of this large territory. Even more, I contend that the Inka’s colonial politics in the South Andes were more oriented towards connecting with the sacred than towards interacting with local human communities. The relationships they established with these communities were a consequence of, and were determined by, the relationships Tawantinsuyu set up first with the different regional wak’as. I also claim that a key aspect of Inka colonialism in the South Andes involved their effort to place themselves as intermediaries between indigenous communities and local wak’as. To show these two points, I now discuss Inka occupation of four areas of the South Andes: Potosí and Chuquisaca in southern Bolivia, and in northwest Argentina, the northern and mid Calchaquí Valley, and the central valleys of Catamarca province.