Ayllu were the basic political and social units of pre-Inca and Inca life. These were essentially extended family groups but they could adopt non-related members, giving individual families more variation and security of the land that they farmed. They would often have their own
huacaIn Quechua, a Native American language of South America, a huaca or wak'a is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term huaca can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been associated with veneration and ritual...
, or minor god, usually embodied in a physical object such as a mountain or rock. They were usually led by a chief (called a
curacaA curaca was an official of the Inca Empire, who held the role of magistrate, about 4 levels down from the Sapa Inca, the head of the Empire. The curacas were the heads of the ayllus . They served as tax collector, and held religious authority, in that they mediated between the supernatural sphere...
) but could have other political arrangements.
Ayllu were the basic political and social units of pre-Inca and Inca life. These were essentially extended family groups but they could adopt non-related members, giving individual families more variation and security of the land that they farmed. They would often have their own
huacaIn Quechua, a Native American language of South America, a huaca or wak'a is an object that represents something revered, typically a monument of some kind. The term huaca can refer to natural locations, such as immense rocks. Some huacas have been associated with veneration and ritual...
, or minor god, usually embodied in a physical object such as a mountain or rock. They were usually led by a chief (called a
curacaA curaca was an official of the Inca Empire, who held the role of magistrate, about 4 levels down from the Sapa Inca, the head of the Empire. The curacas were the heads of the ayllus . They served as tax collector, and held religious authority, in that they mediated between the supernatural sphere...
) but could have other political arrangements. Ayllu were self sustaining units and would educate their own offspring and farm or trade for all the food they ate, except in cases of disaster such as El Niño years when they relied on the Inca storehouse system. Their primary function was to solve subsistence issues, and issues of how to get along in family, and larger, units.
Each ayllu owned a parcel of land, and the members had reciprocal obligations to each other.
In
marriageMarriage is a social union or legal contract between individuals that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged by a variety of ways, depending on the culture or demographic...
s, the woman would generally join the class and ayllu of her partner as would her children, but would
inheritTo inherit something is to get it from one's ancestors through legal succession , or through a bequest , or from genetic transmission...
her land from her parents and retain her membership in her birth ayllu. This is how most movements of people between ayllu occurred. But a person could also join an ayllu by assuming the responsibility of membership. This included
ayni, or work in kind for other members of the allyu, and
MitaMita was mandatory public service in the society of the Inca Empire. It was effectively a form of tribute to the Inca government, in the form of labor, i.e. a corvée...
, a form of taxation levied by the Inca government.
The above is a partial understanding of the ayllu. Ayllu are not just a system of social organization, they are also a political, religious, and ritual organization.
“Ayllu solidarity is a combination of kinship and territorial ties, as well as symbolism. (Albo 1972; Duviols 1974; Tshopik 1951; and Urioste 1975). These studies, however, do not explain how the ayllu is a corporate whole, which includes social principles, verticality, and metaphor... Ayllu also refers to people who live in the same territory (llahta) and who feed the earth shrines of that territory”
External links