Inca education was divided into two halves: education for the upper classes and education for the general population. The upper classes were formally educated by the Amawtakuna (philosopher-scholars who were a special class of wise men). These people learned about the culture, history, customs, and traditions throughout the kingdom. The lower classes did not go to formal schools and their education was based on the knowledge passed on by their elders. The general population was responsible for building the Inca road system. Education during this time was socially discriminatory.
Depending on how you grew up and what your father was, determined how you got educated. There were three classes of the social status in the Inca Empire: the emperor, nobles, and commoners. Emperors were called Sapa Inca. Everything in the empire belonged to him and he could have as many wives as he wanted. The nobles helped administer the empire. Although they had certain privileges, they were not all equally ranked. There were three classes of the nobles as well: Capac, Hahua, and Curacas. The commoners were the majority of the population. It was made up of farmers, servants, and herders.
The men did the labor, while the women to the household duties. As the empire grew, the nobles realized they had a problem. There were not as many of them that were needed. Almost everyone in the Inca Empire was a commoner, which left more openings in management jobs, civil services, and the government. Thus, the nobles created a testing system. If you passed you went to school. Like the social hierarchy, the Incas also had a religious hierarchy. It began with the high priest, high priestess, priests, mamcunas, sun virgins or acllas, and healers.
The high priest was the head of all the priests in the Inca Empire and he came second to the Sapa Inca in power. The high priest gets to confirm the person chosen as Sapa Inca. The high priestess was that daughter of the leading noble. The priestess and the wife of the Inca emperor led the religious festivals. The priests lived in temples and supplied the needs of the local communities. (Once the temples were destroyed, where would the priests live? ) They also used magic and talked to spirits. The mamacunas were nuns or teachers who educated the girls that would later become the sun virgins.
The sun virgins or acllas were daughters of the nobles who were collectively beautiful and were skilled in crafts. Some eventually became mamacunas. The healers are exactly what they are called. They practiced herbal medicine. The main form of communication between the cities was called the chasqui. It consisted of young men who relayed messages from one chasqui to another until the messages got to Sapa Inca, or whoever the message was for. Although the Inca resisted Spanish conquest in a course of rebellions, signs of the empire remain throughout Cuzco, Peru. Cuzco’s Catholic museum was built on an Inca stonework foundation.
Many of the Catholic churches still have the Inca stonework. What remained of their temples were small parts in the Catholic churches, which made them hesitant to enter because that it the first step towards conversion. The urban design of the Cuzco was continued while monasteries were built over the city. These monasteries were built with a baroque style, which was developed by the Romans, but encouraged by the Catholic Church. The Spaniards wanted the arts to communicate religious themes. Architecture was by far the most important of the Inca arts. This style of art had a mixture of the Inca traditions as well as the Spanish traditions.
The Coricancha was the most sacred and important temple in Cuzco. It got the name “Golden Enclosure” because the walls were made of sheets of gold. Not much later, the Spaniards demolished most of the temple, melting down the gold so it could be sent back to Spain. After that was done, they built a cathedral on the site, maintaining its original stone foundation. Centuries later, to the Incas favor, the cathedral was completely destroyed by an earthquake, leaving the foundations of the temple intact. The Inca civilization incorporated many of their traditions and well as ones that came before them in their architecture and technology.
There are still remains of the Inca temples and artwork is created to look like Inca traditions. A picture of the Virgin Mary was painted into the shape of a mountain, which the Incas already worshiped into their own culture. The mountaintop shrine was the most significant huacas. Most of the Inca art was melted down by the Spaniards for its gold and silver. Another reason for the destroying of the arts and architecture was due to the fact that the Incas included their polytheistic ideas in them, and to the Christians, it was dismaying.
Despite the fact that the New Laws did not make it through, some indigenous people were able to be free from their jobs. The noblemen were capable to come up with a testing system to help more people get jobs. Men worked with gold and silver while the women made fabrics and pots. On the other hand, given that the Spanish imposed their own crops and forced the natives off their farmlands, the reservoirs started to deteriorate, and the farmers were out of a job. The Incas were very skillful farmers who relied on terraced and irrigated farming.
They used a few methods to make their farms more productive without using wheels or animals to pull the plow. The Spaniards were not accustomed to the ways that the Incas maintained their farms causing them to dry up and become abandoned. This shortage of food caused some of the Incas to starve. Without agriculture, the Incas are not the Incas. The Inca civilization adapted to their environments with creative farming techniques. The Incas had a farming system that provided crops for the whole society. The Spaniards overpowered the Indians, got rid of their traditions, and destroyed their agricultural system.
The crops that were important to the Inca society for thousands of years were replaced by European breeds that the Spaniards demanded be grown. In spite of the Spaniards entering Cuzco with force and harsh tactics, they got what they needed to be done. Although cruelty is not necessary to teach someone a new language and new religion, the Spaniards still used it. They believed that the only way to get the indigenous people to listen to them was to act violently. Alongside force, the Spaniards also used bribery as well. If the Incas wanted Atahualpa back, they would have to give the Spaniards something else in return.
The impact of the Spanish conquest and following colonization was to influence a disastrous demographic breakdown of the native people. After the conquest, Spaniards forbade the practice of the Inca religion. Following the death of the last Inca ruler, the Inca Empire was over. Until this day, some people in Peru even hold on to the traditions of the ancient Inca religion. They leave offerings at places they believe are huacas. Many original traditions were lost, however; some are still practiced. Even though there are also some remains and foundations of Inca buildings, most were lost following the sacking by Francisco Pizarro.
Today there are only a few structures left to see. The conquest of the Incas lead the empire to their downfall. If they were not killed by diseases, then they were taken by the Spaniards. The Incas went from a powerful nation to servants. Whether it was their land, religion, or language, everything was taken away from them. Disease, war, and conquest were the main reasons for the decline of the Inca Empire. The Spaniards bought diseases from their country that the Incas were not to so they got sick. The Spaniards engaged in war with the indigenous people knowing that they did not have the same type of weapons as them.
The Spaniards won for their barbarian force in armory. The Spanish has accomplished their goal to spread Christianity in Peru, with about four-fifths of the population today as Roman Catholicism. Peru’s education system now includes the whole population, differing from focusing on the specific social class someone belonged to during colonial rule. Imposing a new religion and language to people who have never heard of it before can boost up literacy rates. This benefited Peru greatly, now having 90% literacy rate. According to the research, the Inca Empire both suffered and succeeded from the Spanish conquest.
