How the Mit’a Labor System Worked in the Inca Empire

The mit’a (also mita, from the Quechua word for “turn” or “rotated work”) was the system of rotational labor obligation that underpinned the economic and political order of the Inca Empire. Under the mit’a, all able-bodied subjects of the empire — typically adult men between the ages of roughly 25 and 50, with variations by region and status — were required to provide a portion of their labor to the Inca state each year, in addition to the labor they owed to their own communities. The labor was used for a wide range of state purposes, including agricultural production on state lands, road and bridge construction and maintenance, terrace and irrigation construction, mining, military service, and the production of cloth, pottery, and other goods in state workshops. The mit’a was the principal instrument by which the Inca state mobilized the labor of its subjects, and it allowed the empire to undertake projects of unprecedented scale, including the Qhapaq Ñan road system, the terraced landscapes of the central Andes, and the monumental architecture of Cusco and the provincial capitals.

Origins and Development

The mit’a system was inherited in part from earlier Andean polities, particularly the Wari and Tiwanaku states, which had developed systems of labor mobilization and state-controlled agricultural production. The Inca state expanded and standardized the mit’a on a continental scale, and it became the most distinctive feature of the imperial economy. The system was closely tied to the ceque system of Cusco, the ayllu (kin-based) social organization, and the quipu record-keeping technology, and it operated in conjunction with a hierarchy of officials and a system of tribute and redistribution that channeled the produce of mit’a labor to the imperial center.

The mit’a was not the only form of labor obligation in the Inca state. The empire made use of several distinct categories of laborers, including the puriq (ordinary householders who owed mit’a), the yanacona (permanent servants of the Inca or of particular nobles, removed from the household obligation), the mitma or mitmaq (colonists resettled in distant provinces), and the aclla (chosen women who lived in state-run houses and who wove cloth, brewed chicha, and performed other services for the state). The mit’a specifically refers to the rotational labor obligation of the ordinary householders, and it is in this sense that the term is most often used by modern historians.

The Standard Obligation

The standard mit’a obligation, as reconstructed from Spanish colonial sources, was that a male head of household was required to work for the state for a portion of each year, typically measured in months. The most commonly cited figure is one-third of the year, or four months out of twelve, although the proportion varied by region, by the type of labor, and by the specific obligations of the household. In some sources, the obligation is described as alternating: one year the laborer worked for the state, and the next year he worked for his own community.

The labor was not continuous but rather was called for specific tasks, including the harvest of state fields and the construction or repair of a section of the road. The calls were issued by the provincial governor, who was responsible for organizing the labor and assigning workers to the various state projects in his jurisdiction. Workers were entitled to food, clothing, and (in many cases) seed grain during the period of their mit’a service. The Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León recorded that the mit’a laborers were fed from the state granaries and that they were given chicha to drink at the end of the day.

Organization of Mit’a Labor

The mit’a was organized through the same hierarchy of administrative units that governed the rest of the empire. The basic unit was the huno or chunca (10 households), overseen by a headman called a puriq kamayoq. The next units were the pachaca (100 households), overseen by a pachaca kamayoq; the pichqa waranqa (500 households); and the waranqa (1,000 households), overseen by a waranqa kamayoq. The units of 10, 100, 500, and 1,000 households were, in effect, the standard units for mobilizing mit’a labor: the imperial state could call upon a province for a specified number of these units, and the provincial governor was responsible for assembling the workers.

The chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega, drawing on the testimony of his Inca relatives, recorded that the units of 10, 100, 500, and 1,000 were used for both civil and military purposes, and that the same hierarchy of officials served both functions. The use of decimal units allowed the imperial state to mobilize labor in a flexible and standardized way, and it made possible the assembly of large work forces for specific projects.

Specific Forms of Mit’a Labor

The mit’a was used for a wide range of state purposes, including:

Agricultural mit’a: the cultivation of the state lands, which produced the food stored in the state granaries.
Construction mit’a: the construction and maintenance of roads, bridges, terraces, irrigation canals, storehouses, and buildings.
Mining mit’a: the extraction of gold, silver, and copper from the imperial mines. The chronicler Martín de Murúa recorded that the mines of Porco were worked by mit’a labor.
Military mit’a: service in the Inca army, which was itself organized in decimal units.
Service mit’a: labor in the royal household, in the temples, and in the workshops that produced cloth and pottery for the state.
Porteo mit’a: the transportation of goods and tribute along the road system, often by llama caravan.

The mit’a obligation was tied to a system of social categories that distinguished between subjects who owed labor to the state and those who did not. The principal categories were:

Puriq: ordinary householders, who owed mit’a labor to the state.
Yanacona: permanent servants of the Inca or of particular nobles, removed from the household obligation.
Mitma or mitmaq: colonists who had been resettled in distant provinces.
Aclla (or acllawasi resident): chosen women who lived in state-run houses and who wove cloth, brewed chicha, and performed other services for the state.
Pacaricoc or pacaricuna: groups who had been brought to live in the provinces of the empire in return for various services, often military or religious.

The exemptions were, in effect, a form of payment in kind for the labor owed, and they were an important part of the political economy of the empire.

Historical Significance

The mit’a was the foundation of the Inca state. It allowed a small imperial elite to mobilize the labor of a population of perhaps 12 million people, and it made possible the construction of the road system, the terraced landscapes, the imperial architecture, and the military campaigns that defined the empire. The system was not, however, a simple exploitation of the population: the laborers were fed, clothed, and (in many cases) given a portion of the produce, and the obligations were calibrated to the population and the resources of each region. The Spanish, who encountered the mit’a in the 1530s, were impressed by its efficiency and continued to use it in modified form in the early colonial period. The mita of the colonial Andes, particularly the mita minera that sent indigenous laborers to the silver mines of Potosí, was a direct continuation of the Inca system.