Negotiated Subjugation: Maritime Trade and the Incorporation of Chincha Into the Inca Empire

ABSTRACT

Before Francisco Pizarro began the conquest of the Inca empire in AD 1532, he had already heard of the great maritime trading power of Chincha, a privileged Inca client state on the central Peruvian coast. Here, we review relevant ethnohistoric and archaeological data about late prehispanic Chincha with particular reference to maritime trading and recent work on pre-industrial economies. Our analysis supports an earlier proposal that Chincha was not engaged in long-distance exchange of Spondylus (a ritually powerful mollusk) prior to incorporation into the empire, contrary to others’ assertions. Rather, the data strongly suggest that Spondylus trade was formerly in the hands of the rival north coast Chimu empire. After conquering Chimu ∼AD 1470 (a few years before incorporating Chincha), the Inca carefully dismantled Chimu territory and privileges. The source of Spondylus was the Ecuadorian coast, which remained free of Inca control until the 1520s. We propose that the Inca offered Chincha the Spondylus franchise in exchange for peaceful incorporation into the empire and to cut Chimu contact with unconquered peoples. This made geopolitical sense: Chincha's size and location nearer to the Inca heartland meant that it posed no threat while at the same time it was perfectly situated to transship cargo from southbound rafts to porters headed inland to Cusco, the Inca capital.

Keywords:

• Andes
• economy and subsistence
• coastal
• complex society
• seafaring
• states

Notes

¹During the capture of Atahuallpa at Cajamarca, Pizarro also recounts how the Lord of Chincha was slain in his litter during the Spanish attack (Pizarro 1965 [1571]).

²The Chincha Valley is watered by the San Juan River, which bifurcates into the Chico and the Matagente Rivers just after the San Juan exits the foothills onto the coastal plain.

³“Cien mil marcos de plata en vasijas grandes y pequeñas y otras sabandijas y culebras y perrillos y benados todos en oro y plata… Y después de ésto se ha sacado mucho oro y plata en aquel balle” (Rostworowski 1970:171–172).

⁴“Por unas conchas de pescado de que ellos hazen quentas coloradas como corales y blancas que trayan casy el navío cargado dellas” (Sámano-Xérez 1967 [1528]).

⁵“…entre ellos compraban y vendían con cobre lo que avian de comer y vestir…” Aviso (Rostworowski 1970:171)

⁶“Os encomiendo el valle de Chincha con todos sus yndios e caciques e prencepales que le pertenecen y sus sujetos, con todos sus mytimaes y tratantes e plateros que tienen fuera de su tierra, sus sujetos y naturales del dicho valle…” (Rostworowski 1975:337).

⁷“El que compra por mayor géneros y comestibles, para venderlos por menor” (Rostworowski 1975:338)

⁸Archaeological evidence of pre-Hispanic metal currency in other regions of the Andes is rare with the possible exception of northern Peru and Ecuador with the presence of bundled, double-T shaped copper objects known as naipes or “feathers.” While Shimada (1985:386) initially considered the occurrence of naipes within Middle Sican contexts (AD 900–1050) as a form of “primitive money,” recent critique suggests these artifacts were burial offerings rather than a form of exchange currency (Topic 2013:350–351).

⁹Menzel (1966:124) notes that 11 examples of balance beams were found in local Chincha burials associated with agricultural items, whereas only one small balance beam was associated with local imitations of Inca pottery.

¹⁰The term “mullu” can also refer to other worked materials of shell, bone, stone, and precious metals (Blower 2001).

¹¹Arriaga claimed that even a piece of Spondylus smaller than a fingernail could be purchased for four reales (1968 [1621]).

¹²Cieza de León (1984 [1553]:154) described the multiple functions of chaquira beads used to trade for metals such as gold, religious offerings, and elite ornamentation.

¹³“…el que menos trato tenía trataba con quinientos pesos de oro y muchos de ellos trataban con dos mil o tres mil ducados” (Rostworowski 1970:171).

¹⁴“…con sus compras y ventas iban desde Chincha al Cuzco por todo el Collao” (Rostworowski 1970:171).