Saturday, August 1, 2020

The Madinat al-Inca

I'm at the point in Covey's book where the Incas and the Spaniards alike are failing to restore order to post-Atahuallpa Peru. Part of this is because of an identity-crisis at the Incas' (now-)historic capital, Cuzco.

Over the 1500s, the Incas had evolved a Pharaonic system where the Inca himself was identified with the Sun. Huayna Capac, conquerer of Chan Chan, figured out that the north had better growing-conditions than the south, so erected Quito as the northern capital. The decision was then put to the test: Atahuallpa from Quito, and Huascar from Cuzco. Huascar was in truth what Belshazzar was in myth: a drunken fool. Atahuallpa was a simple thug. Between the two rivals the north won - even during a Spanish invasion from further north.

Covey relates that Atahuallpa and Pizarro(s) between them agreed that Cuzco had no future as an Inca capital in competition with the planned reorientation of Peru to the north. Atahuallpa (probably not under Pizarro wishes) ordered Cuzco mostly-razed. On Atahuallpa's murder, at Pizarro's hand, Cuzco raised up successors. But Cuzco had no real means to eject the Spaniard. The earliest and most-legitimate claimant, Manco, retreated to the Sacred Plain across the Andes, Vilcabamba.

Manco held court at Vilcabamba long enough, and the Spaniards made themselves odious enough, that Charles V himself recognised Manco as the legal Inca sovereign over highland Peru. (Until Spaniards murderd him too.) The Pizarro family, meanwhile, settled coastal Lima as the base for Spanish authority. So much for Quito.

As for Cuzco - who cared? By then Cuzco hadn't really been the capital for two generations. It was like Babylon for Nabunaid. Or Yathrib for Mu'awiya.

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