Identidad y filiación por suyu en el Imperio Incaico

Abstract

Identity and Suyu Affiliation in the Inca Empire

By means of two discrete examples, this study attempts to show that the Incas forged imperial identities using the division of Andean space in four suyus, or Tawantinsuyu. In the case of the cult of the sun at Titicaca, groups from all four suyus participated. Through the resettlement of people from all four, the Incas generalized the solar cult to the entire empire. The other case deals with the cults to the snow-covered mountains of Arequipa, called huacas pacariscas. In this instance only mitimaes from the same suyu where the mountain was located participated. It is noteworthy that —as in the region surounding Cuzco— the suyu division in the larger territory was related to sacred places on the landscape, and in the instances explored here, to the most sacred sites in the Andean territory.