At the top of Inca society was the emperor, the Sapa Inca. (His title means unique Inca). The Incas believed their ruler was descended from the sun god and he was treated with great respect. Visitors had to remove their footwear if they approached the Sapa Inca and they had to carry a burden on their back to show their respect for him. When he traveled the Sapa Inca was carried in a litter.
Below the Sapa Inca were the nobles. Below them were a class of men called curacas. They were not necessarily Incas. When the Incas conquered a people they took the leader's sons and taught them to rule the Inca way. They then became curacas.
At the bottom of Inca society were the craftsmen and farmers.
Inca craftsmen made objects of gold, silver and copper. Stonemasons cut stone bricks for building using stone hammers and wet sand for polishing. Inca stone bricks fitted so closely they did not need mortar to hold them together.
Every aspect of Inca life was highly organised. Each person's life was divided into stages. At each stage they were expected to different tasks. Naturally adults in their prime were expected to do the hardest work. Children and old people did the easiest tasks.
All the people were part of extended families called Ayllus. Each one was ruled by a man called a curaca.
In theory the Sapa Inca owned all the land and wealth in the empire. The Sapa Inca gave farmers land to grow food. In return they had to do some work for him. The Sapa Inca reserved some land for himself and some was set aside to support the temples and priests. The Inca farmers had to pay a kind of tax by working of the Sapa Incas and temples land. Sometimes they also had to work on projects like building roads and bridges.
Inca Government
The Inca empire was like a pyramid with the Sapa Inca at the top. The empire was divided into 4 regions ruled by men called opas. Below them there were more layers of government.
To help rule their vast empire the Incas created an efficient network of roads. The Incas also made rope suspension bridges. As well as the roads the Incas had messengers called chasquis. Messages were carried by relay. Groups of messengers lived in houses by main roads and at all times two of them kept lookout. If they saw another messenger approaching one of them would run to meet him. The two messengers would run together for a while and the message was passed on from one man to the other. Using this relay system messages could be sent over long distances very quickly. Inca messengers could take messages 240 kilometers in one day.
Furthermore although they never invented writing the Incas kept records with a device called a quipu. It was a cord with strings of different thickness and colors hanging from it. Knots were tied at different positions in the strings. The color and thickness of the strings and the positions of the knots all meant something.
The Incas did not have prisons. Instead for serious crimes such as murder, stealing and blasphemy offenders were executed by being pushed off a cliff. Less serious crimes were punished by cutting off the hands or blinding.
