Inca Civilization
Article

Sapa Inca Governance and the Council of State

The Sapa Inca (Quechua for “the sole ruler” or “the unique Inca”) was the supreme political, military, and religious authority of the Inca Empire. He was understood to be the son of Inti, the sun god, and his person was sacred: his clothes, his food, his words, and even the earth on which he walked were objects of ritual attention. Beneath the Sapa Inca stood a tiered administrative hierarchy that included a Council of State, the high priests of the cult of the sun, the four regional governors (Apu) who administered the four suyus, and a network of provincial and district officials who carried out the day-to-day business of government. The system has been reconstructed in considerable detail from Spanish colonial sources, including the Comentarios Reales de los Incas (1609) of Garcilaso de la Vega, the Nueva Corónica y Buen Gobierno (c. 1615) of Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, and the legal depositions of indigenous nobles recorded in the early colonial period.

The Sapa Inca as Divine Ruler

The Sapa Inca was understood to be the son of Inti and the living embodiment of the sun on earth. He was at once a political ruler, a religious figure, and a redistributive center, and his authority was absolute in theory if not always in practice. The Spanish chroniclers describe the Sapa Inca as the owner of all land, all subjects, and all productive resources in a formal sense. His court at Cusco consumed the surplus of the empire in the form of food, cloth, llamas, and labor, and the imperial system of tribute and redistribution was organized around the needs of the royal household.

The person of the Sapa Inca was surrounded by ritual prohibitions. The Spanish chronicler Bernabé Cobo, writing in the 1650s, recorded that the Sapa Inca could not eat in the presence of others, that his plate and his clothes were burned after use, and that no one could look at his face without his permission. The Sapa Inca traveled in a litter carried by high-ranking nobles, and he was preceded by a procession of heralds, musicians, and ritual specialists.

The Sapa Inca was succeeded by his son, who was usually chosen from among the sons of his principal wife (the coya). The succession was sometimes contested, and the Inca chronicles record several instances in which the succession was disputed. The most famous of these was the dispute that followed the death of Huayna Capac around 1527, which led to the civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa and ultimately to the Spanish conquest.

The Council of State

The Council of State was the principal advisory body to the Sapa Inca. Its composition varied over time, but the most commonly cited structure included:

  • The four Apus, the regional lords who governed the four suyus. The Apus were usually close relatives of the Sapa Inca, often his brothers, uncles, or sons, and they were the most powerful figures in the empire after the Sapa Inca himself.
  • The High Priest of the Sun (Villac Umu), who was in charge of the religious cult of Inti and of the temples of the empire.
  • The Sayasirpa (or Tucuyricuc), a senior official who served as a kind of chief minister or steward of the royal household.
  • The Apo Cayansa (or Apo Camac), senior military commanders who advised on military matters.
  • Various other officials, including the keeper of the quipus, the head of the acllawasi, and the overseers of the state granaries.

The Council of State met in Cusco, generally in the palaces of the Sapa Inca or in the temples, and it advised the Sapa Inca on matters of war, justice, religion, and the distribution of resources. The chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega recorded that the Council met frequently, and that the Sapa Inca listened to the opinions of the members before making decisions.

Regional Governance: The Four Apus

The four Apus were the regional lords who governed the four suyus. Each Apu was responsible for the administration of his region, the maintenance of the road and tambo system, the organization of mit’a labor, and the coordination of military campaigns in his region. The Apus were, in effect, governors-general, and they wielded considerable power. The chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega described the Apu of Chinchaysuyu as a man of such importance that he could mobilize an army of 200,000 men. The Apus were typically close relatives of the Sapa Inca, and the position was generally reserved for members of the royal lineage. The Spanish chronicler Martín de Murúa recorded that the Sapa Inca appointed the Apus on the basis of loyalty and competence, and that the position was not hereditary.

Provincial and District Administration

Beneath the Apus, the empire was divided into provinces (repartimientos in the early colonial sources), each administered by a provincial governor (tokrikoq, kuraka, or suyuyoc apu). The provincial governor was responsible for collecting tribute, organizing mit’a labor, dispensing justice, maintaining the road system, and ensuring the loyalty of the local population. In the most recently conquered provinces, the governor was often an Inca noble sent from Cusco; in the highland core, the governor was often drawn from the local curacas, the pre-Inca indigenous elite who had been incorporated into the imperial administration.

Beneath the provincial governor, the empire was divided into smaller units. The waranqa was a unit of approximately 1,000 households, the pichqa waranqa 500 households, the pachaca 100 households, and the huno or chunca 10 households. The decimal system of administration is one of the most distinctive features of Inca governance, and the Spanish were struck by its efficiency.

Inspections and Accountability

The Spanish chroniclers record that the provincial governors were subject to periodic inspection (tokrikuy) by officials sent from Cusco. The inspections checked on the accuracy of tribute lists, the condition of the roads and storehouses, the distribution of land to newly married couples, and the moral conduct of the population. The visits were conducted every few years, and the inspectors reported directly to the Sapa Inca. Tom Zuidema, in his analysis of the ceque system, interpreted the inspections as a way of reasserting central authority in distant provinces and as a mechanism for the redistribution of goods and labor in response to local conditions.

The inspectors were also responsible for the rebinding of the quipus that recorded the affairs of the province. The rebinding of the quipus was a ceremonial act of administrative accounting, and it was accompanied by the destruction of the old quipus and the creation of new ones. The destruction of the old quipus was, in effect, a way of “resetting” the administrative record and ensuring that the new governor or inspector could not be held accountable for the mistakes of his predecessor.

Historical Significance

The system of Sapa Inca governance, with its emphasis on the divine ruler, the Council of State, the regional Apus, and the decimal hierarchy of officials, was one of the most elaborate systems of government in the pre-industrial world. It allowed a small imperial elite to govern a population of perhaps 12 million people across a vast and diverse territory, and it made possible the construction of the road system, the mobilization of mit’a labor, and the administration of tribute and redistribution. The system collapsed rapidly in the years following the Spanish arrival in 1532, but its legacy persisted in the colonial and post-colonial period in the form of the curacazgo, the corregimiento, and the cultural memory of the Inca state.