Lupaca
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The Lupaca, Lupaka, or Lupaqa people were one of the divisions of the ancestral Aymaras. The Lupaca lived for many centuries near
Lake Titicaca Lake Titicaca (; es, Lago Titicaca ; qu, Titiqaqa Qucha) is a large freshwater lake in the Andes mountains on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It is often called the highest navigable lake in the world. By volume of water and by surface area, i ...
in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
and their lands possibly extended into Bolivia. The Lupacas and other Aymara peoples formed powerful kingdoms after the collapse of the Tiwanaku Empire in the 11th century. In the mid 15th century they were conquered by the
Inca Empire The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts",  "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
and in the 1530s came under the control of the
Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
. The residence of the pre-Inca kings of Lupaca was probably what is today the archaeological site of Cutimbo. The capital of the Inca province was
Chucuito Chucuito is a village in the Chucuito District, Puno Province, Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol ...
, presently a village of the same name where the archaeological site of Inca Uyu is located.


History

The Lupaca occupied seven urban centers, all of them present day cities and villages in the Puno region of Peru: Chucuito,
Acora Acora District is one of fifteen districts of the Puno Province in the Puno Region, Peru. History The city of Acora and the lands that are now part of the district were once the seat of the Caciques Catacora. Acora District was created by Law ...
, Ilave,
Juli Juli may refer to: * Juli (band), a rock/pop band from Germany * "Juli", by Ryan Adams from the album '' Prisoner (B-Sides)'' * Juli District, one district of the province Chucuito in Puno Region, Peru ** , the capital of Juli District * Juli (foo ...
,
Pomata Pomata District is one of seven Districts of Peru, districts of the Chucuito Province in Puno Region, Peru. Geography One of the highest peaks of the district is Qhapiya at . Other mountains are listed below: Ethnic groups The people in the ...
, Yunguyo and Zepita. The Lupaca were incorporated into the growing Inca Empire by the emperor Pachacuti (reigned 1438-1471). During the reign of
Topa Inca Yupanqui Topa Inca Yupanqui or Túpac Inca Yupanqui ( qu, 'Tupaq Inka Yupanki'), translated as "noble Inca accountant," (c. 1441–c. 1493) was the tenth Sapa Inca (1471–93) of the Inca Empire, fifth of the Hanan dynasty. His father was Pachacuti, and h ...
(1471-1493), the Inca crushed a revolt by the Lupaca and their northern neighbors, the Colla. In the 16th century, the Incas conducted a census of the Chucuito province and recorded it on a Quipu that was interpreted for the Spanish. The total number of households in Chucuito was 20,080 of which 15,778 were Aymara. 4.129 were Uru, and 173 were
mitma Mitma was a policy of forced resettlement employed by the Incas. It involved the forceful migration of groups of extended families or ethnic groups from their home territory to lands recently conquered by the Incas. The objective was to transfer bo ...
. This implies a population of about 100,000 people in total. The Lupaca had little contact with the Spanish until 1538, when the Lupaca and Colla went to war. The Colla appealed for help from the Spanish in
Cuzco Cusco, often spelled Cuzco (; qu, Qusqu ()), is a city in Southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes mountain range. It is the capital of the Cusco Region and of the Cusco Province. The city is the seventh most populous in Peru; ...
and Hernando Pizarro led an army southward and defeated the Lupaca at the southern tip of Lake Titicaca where the Desaguadero River flows from the lake. The battle went poorly for the Spanish for a time and Pizarro nearly drowned trying to cross the river, but was rescued by
Paullu Inca Paullu Inca (1518–1549) was a puppet Sapa Inca installed by the Spaniards after the previous Sapa Inca, Manco Inca Yupanqui, rebelled against the Spanish and established the small Neo-Inca State in Vilcabamba. Biography He was the son of Hu ...
, the Inca emperor installed by the Spanish. Despite the defeat, Lupaca continued to be rich and powerful. A Spaniard, Garci Diez de San Miguel, visited and wrote of the Lupaca in 1567. There were at the time 16 Dominican priests and a few Spanish merchants and officials in the Lupaca kingdom, but the people of Lupaca had not yet been subjected to the encomienda by which Spaniards were granted large estates and control over indigenous peoples. Like the Incas and many other Andean peoples, the Lupaca were divided into two moieties each with its leader. The "Alassa" or upper moiety was headed by Qari and the lower moiety, the "Massaa" was headed by Kusi. Each of them directly controlled many of the people and much of the land in the kingdom, but other wealthy Lupaca also incited the envy of the Spanish chronicler. The Lupaca seemed "extraordinarily wealthy."


The vertical archipelago

The Lupaca lived on the Altiplano, a high cold plateau dotted with mountains. Lake Titicaca is at an altitude of ; freezes occur every month of the year. Only about two percent of land in the Andean highlands is arable. A few crops --
potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...
es, oca, olluco, and
quinoa Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, a ...
—can be grown in favored locations with techniques such as terracing, raised beds, and
Waru Waru Waru Waru is an Aymara term for the agricultural technique developed by pre-Hispanic people in the Andes region of South America from Ecuador to Bolivia; this regional agricultural technique is also referred to as ''camellones'' in Spanish. Func ...
to moderate the cold temperatures. The wealth of the Lupaca was their herds of
llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is soft ...
s and
alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can success ...
s which grazed the barren uplands up to the snowline at about . Anthropologist John V. Murra used the Lupaca as his exemplar of what he called the "
vertical archipelago The vertical archipelago is a term coined by sociologist and anthropologist John Victor Murra under the influence of economist Karl Polanyi to describe the native Andean agricultural economic model of accessing and distributing resources. While som ...
". The Lupaca and other high-altitude Andean people countered the limited potential for agriculture in their homeland by establishing colonies at lower and warmer elevations both westward toward the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...
in the Chiribaya cultural area and eastward toward the Amazon River basin. The western colonies, located about distant, were located in irrigated desert valleys in the
Moquegua Region Moquegua () is a department and region in southern Peru that extends from the coast to the highlands. Its capital is the city of Moquegua, which is among the main Peruvian cities for its high rates of GDP and national education. Geography The ...
and provided agricultural products such as
maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...
,
cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...
, and
chili peppers Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for t ...
to the Lupaca living on the Altiplano. The eastern colonies provided
coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The plant is grown as a cash crop in the Argentine Northwest, Bolivia, ...
and a variety of tropical forest products. Communication with these outlying colonies was maintained via llama caravans. Sovereignty over non-contiguous areas appears to have been a characteristic of Andean kingdoms. The long distance control of the colonies by the Lupaca implies a safe environment for transport and travel. Details of Murra's theory have been challenged, especially Murra's view that the vertical archipelago was a long-standing characteristic of highland peoples. Anthropologist Mary Van Buren suggests that the vertical archipelago as described by Murra operated only during the late Inca and early Spanish eras and further speculates that the establishment of colonies at lower elevations by the Lupaca and other highland peoples was motivated more by production of luxury goods rather than being a critical source of food for the entire highland population.


Fate of the Lupaca

The Lupaca kingdom disappeared from Spanish records around the end of the 16th century and its people became submerged in the generalized Aymara population. The Spanish had increasingly asserted control over the Lupacas and other highland kingdoms, eroded the authority and influence of their traditional leaders, forced Aymaras to work in the silver mines of Potosí, to resettle in " reductions", and appropriated much of the former Lupaca land, especially the lowland agricultural areas of the vertical archipelago. Adding to these factors were recurrent epidemics of European diseases which took a heavy demographic toll of the Andean indigenous people.Stern, Steve J. (1993), ''Peru's Indian Peoples and the Challenge of Spanish Conquest'', Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 184-193. Stern discusses the fate of the Andean people in general


Archaeological sites

*
Inka Tunuwiri Inka Tunuwiri (Hispanicized spelling ''Incatunuhuiri'') is an archaeological site in Peru. It is located in the Puno Region, Puno Province, between the districts Chucuito and Puno Puno (Aymara and qu, Punu) is a city in southeastern Peru, ...
* Inka Uyu * Cutimbo * Mayqu Amaya * Mulluq'u * Q'inq'u


Notes


External links


Los reinos del antiguo Perú: El reino Lupaca
{{authority control Ethnic groups in Bolivia Ethnic groups in Peru Indigenous peoples in Bolivia Aymara people Inca Empire History of Peru Prehistory of Bolivia Inca states Andean civilizations Archaeological cultures of South America Archaeology of Peru