The

Inca 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 admin ...

practice of Split

Inheritance Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, Title (property), titles, debts, entitlements, Privilege (law), privileges, rights, and Law of obligations, obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ ...

was the process in which a ruler's chosen successor obtained all

political power In social science and politics, power is the social production of an effect that determines the capacities, actions, beliefs, or conduct of actors. Power does not exclusively refer to the threat or use of force (coercion) by one actor against ...

and rights, while the dead ruler maintained control over all the lands he had conquered during his life. The term was coined by Arthur A. Demarest & Geoffrey W Conrad in 1984. In addition, the newly enthroned Inca king would be required to build his own palace complex and burial chamber. This was because the city from which the new king would rule had to be in a territory that he had conquered himself. For this reason, supreme effort was made by rulers to secure as much land as possible, to ensure not only wealth for one's descendants and

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

, but also to secure a place for

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means Infinity, infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas ...

. This was consistent with the Inca belief of eternity in the afterlife being dependent upon such proliferative measures taken during time on earth.

Tributes A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conqu ...

, demand for labor, and extravagant conquests made this a system which thoroughly simplified

Inca history The Incas were most notable for establishing the Inca Empire in Pre-Columbian America, which was centered in modern day South America in Peru and Chile. It was about 2,500 miles from the northern to southern tip. The civilization lasted from 14 ...

to a barrage of conquests and land appropriation.

References

*Demarest, Arthur A. & Conrad, Geoffrey W. (Eds.) (1984). Inca Imperialism: The Great Simplification and the Accident of Empire, in Ideology in Pre-Columbian Civilizations. Santa Fe: School of American Research Inca {{SouthAm-hist-stub