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The Sapa Inca ("The Great Inca"), also known as Apu ("Divinity"), Inka Qhapaq ("mighty Inca"), or simply Sapa ("The Great One") was the ruler of the Kingdom of Cusco and later, the Emperor of the Inca Empire (Tawantinsuyu). The origins of the position are mythical and tied to the legendary foundation of the city of Cusco but historically it seems to have come into being around 1100. The position was hereditary, with son succeeding father.

There were two known dynasties, led by the Hanan and Hurin moieties respectively. The latter was in power at the time of Spanish conquest. The last official Sapa Inca was Atahualpa, who was executed by the Spanish in 1533, though several of successors later claimed the title.

Pre-Conquest Sapa Incas[link]

First dynasty[link]

Little is known of the rulers of the first dynasty of Sapa Incas. Evidently, they were affiliated with the Hurin moiety and their rule did not extend beyond the Kingdom of Cusco. Their origins are tied to the mythical establishment of Cusco and are shrouded in later foundation myth. The dynasty was supposedly founded by Manco Cápac, considered the son of the sun god Inti.

Sapa Inca	Picture	Birth	Death
Manco Cápac c. 1200 CE – c. 1230		Considered the son of the sun god Inti	c. 1230
Sinchi Roca c. 1230 – c. 1260		son of Manco Cápac	c. 1260
Lloque Yupanqui c. 1260 – c. 1290		son of Sinchi Roca	c. 1290
Mayta Cápac c. 1290 – c. 1320		son of Lloque Yupanqui	c. 1320
Cápac Yupanqui c. 1320 – c. 1350		son of Mayta Cápac	c. 1350

As a rough guide to the later reputation of the early Sapa Incas, in later years capac meant warlord and sinchi meant leader.

Second dynasty[link]

The second dynasty was affiliated with the Hanan moiety and was founded under Inca Roca, the son of the last Hurin Sapa Inca, Cápac Yupanqui. After Cápac Yupanqui's death, another of his sons, Inca Roca's half-brother Quispe Yupanqui, was intended to succeed him. However, the Hanan revolted and installed Inca Roca instead.

Sapa Inca	Picture	Birth	Death
Inca Roca c. 1350 – c. 1380		son of Cápac Yupanqui	c. 1380
Yáhuar Huácac c. 1380 – c. 1410		son of Inca Roca	c. 1410
Viracocha c. 1410–1438		son of Yáhuar Huácac	1438
Pachacuti 1438–1471		son of Viracocha	1471
Túpac Inca Yupanqui 1471–1493	100px	son of Pachacuti	1493
Huayna Capac 1493–1527		son of Túpac Inca Yupanqui	1527
Ninan Cuyochi 1527		son of Huayna Capac	1527
Huáscar 1527–1532		son of Huayna Capac	1533 Killed by Atahualpa
Atahualpa 1532–1533		son of Huayna Capac	26 July 1533 Killed by the Spaniards

Ninan Cuyochi, who was Inca for only a few days in 1527, is sometimes left off the list of Sapa Incas because news of his death from smallpox arrived in Cusco shortly after he was declared Sapa Inca. He had been with Huayna Cápac when he died of smallpox. The death of Ninan, the presumed heir, led to the Inca Civil War between Huáscar and Atahualpa, a weakness that the Spanish exploited when they conquered the Inca Empire.

Post-Conquest Sapa Incas[link]

Sapa Inca	Picture	Birth	Death	Notes
Túpac Huallpa 1533		son of Huayna Capac	1533	Installed by Francisco Pizarro.
Manco Inca Yupanqui 1533 - 1544		son of Huayna Capac	1544	Installed by Francisco Pizarro. Led a revolt against the Spaniards in 1536; after his defeat, relocated the empire to Vilcabamba.
Paullu Inca 1536 - 1549		son of Manco Inca Yupanqui	1549	Installed by the Spaniards after Manco Inca rebelled; ruled in Cuzco.
Sayri Túpac 1544 - 1560		son of Manco Inca Yupanqui	1560	Ruled in Vilcabamba.
Titu Cusi 1560 - 1571		son of Manco Inca Yupanqui	1571	Ruled in Vilcabamba.
Túpac Amaru 1571 - 1572		son of Manco Inca Yupanqui	24 September 1572 Killed by the Spaniards	Ruled in Vilcabamba. The last Sapa Inca.

biograpphy of incan citizen: My name is rotiat civilraino and before the Spanish arrived life was very different. Firstly: our religion polytheistic religion. We combined features of animism, fetishism, worship of nature Gods. We also offered food, clothing and drink so the Gods won’t be upset with us. If we wanted something we would sacrifice animals and sometimes humans. I wear a large cloak over my shoulders tied in the front. I wear a sleeveless tunic and a breechcloth. My wife wears a skirt that reached from beneath the arms to the ankles, with the top edges drawn over her shoulders and fastened with straight pins. I am a peasant and have little money with little land. My Sapa Inca lives in Peru and has everything he needs but that’s probably a gift from our gods. Oh, I wish I was like him, so I could feed my family more over my father. The Sapa Inca has all the aclla and the spa Inca gets to take them all for him and his family. I also have to pay tax and follow his law. He gets power over the army and priesthood as well as taxes and law! As soon as the Spanish took over I lost almost everything, my wife died of small pox her skin got all blistery, her sweat could cause a flood and her temperature was well over 100 degrees. She died within 3 days and now where I buried the army uses her grave as a bench and sit on the grave like there’s nothing there. My father also died but that was because of influenza short and quick. He got many: chills, fevers, sore throat, muscle pains, several headaches, weakness and at the end of the suffering he died. My crops and land are used as camps as it was the only area ‘soft’ enough. Half my neighbours are already dead unfortunately I didn’t catch this and now am thinking of suicide as everything I lived for has gone my life is like a deserted desert. Then our country had civil war and they didn’t even notice the people with big hats and the letter T in their hand walking around taking people into the ‘right way’. I tried telling the Sapa Inca but didn’t even manage to get past Peru. Pizarro met Atahualpa just outside Cajamarca, a small Inca town tucked into a valley of the Andes. Sending his brother hernan as an envoy, Pizarro invited Atahualpa’s ascendance to the throne. Though he had nearly 80,000 soldiers with him in the mountains, Atahualpa agreed to attend the feast with only 5,000 unarmed men. He was met by Vicente de valverde a priest traveling with a Pizarro. While Pizarro men lay in wait, valverde urged Atahualpa to convert and accept Charles v as leader and king. Atahualpa angrily refused, prompting valverde to give the signal for Pizarro to open fire. Trapped in tight quarters, the panicking Inca soldiers got slaughtered in just an hour by the Incas. Then began the Spanish rule. Spanish banned and tried to wipe out Inca religion and achieved a massive conversion of us Incas communities to Christianity. Then the Spanish church set up strict rule against the Inca belief, customs and ceremonies. It declared that Incan traditions were a work of the devil. Cultural objects such as those made of feathers, fabrics and shells were a link to our culture and later destroyed or melted. Priest gave out rosaries and pictures of saints to the converts to replace the lost cultural objects.

The encomienda was the government used to destroy the independence of the remaining Inca communities within one generation. They did this by allowing Spanish people to profit from cheap Indian labour, forcing Inca people to pay a tax to the encomendero and by breaking up the old Inca community structure.  I didn’t like this system as they ordered me to pay double the tax I would normally pay to the Sapa Inca. I have to work night and day getting 1 hour sleep for little money and I can barely survive with the money I get. 

Then all of a sudden they started this thing called forced labour is any work or services. The Spanish use us some kind of slaves just because they managed to take control of our land. I have to harvest many hectares of wheat with others and I barely get a scrap of food to eat. Once I accidentally cut one of the plants short and the guy took me into this room which full of red sticky stuff. Then he tied my hands behind my back and started whipping me because I did that. If you don’t believe me look at my back yourself. I even saw an arm in the corner which was still wiggling as well as several fingers which were being used to block holes. I even saw a trail of blood when the blood trail stopped I looked around and saw what used to be my relative. His eye sockets were empty and his body was stripped of his skin. Now what is left is being eaten by the squirming maggots in his body (What a horrible death). then by he time we had time to ask for independacnce they killed me by hannging me on my front door.

This last Sapa Inca must not be confused with Túpac Amaru II, leader of an 18th-century Peruvian uprising.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Inca emperors

• Kingdom of Cusco
• Inca Empire

Huayna Capac, drawn by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala. The title, in Poma de Ayala's nonstandard spelling, reads: El onceno inga Guainacapac, "The Eleventh Inca, Guayna Capac".

Huayna Capac (1464/1468–1525/1527) was the eleventh Sapa Inca of the Inca Empire and sixth of the Hanan dynasty. He was the successor to Tupac Inca Yupanqui.

Name[link]

In Quechua, his name is spelled Wayna Qhapaq, and in Southern Quechua, it is Vaina Ghapakh. In English, his name translates to the "rich youth" or the "youthful prince." His original name was Tito Husi Hualpa.^[1]

Background and family[link]

Huayna Capac was born in Tomebamba, Azuay Province, Ecuador, possibly in 1488.^[2] He was the son of Topa Inca and the Inca's sister and wife.^[3]

Huayna Capac's legitimate wife and full sister was Coya Cusirimay. The couple produced no male heirs, but Huayna Capac sired as many as 50 or more children with other women, including Ninan Cuyochi, Huáscar, Atahualpa, Túpac Huallpa, Manco Inca Yupanqui, General Atoc, Paullu Inca and Quispe Sisa, all of whom could be said to be his successors.

Political and military career[link]

Huayna Capac extended the Inca empire (Tahuantinsuyu) significantly to the south into present-day Chile and Argentina. For many years, he and his armies fought to annex territories north of his empire in what is now Ecuador (and a small region of Colombia) to the northernmost province. The capital city of the empire was far to the south in Cuzco, and Huayna Capac hoped to establish a northern stronghold in the city of Tomebamba.

The Inca empire reached the height of its size and power under his rule, stretching over much of Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. It included varying terrain from high frozen Andes to the densest swamps, and more than two hundred distinct ethnic groups, each with their own customs and languages. The empire spanned over a thousand miles north to south.^[2]

Despite the geographical and cultural challenges, Inca or Tawantinsuyu, "the united four regions", was sophisticated for its time and place. At its height, it had monumental cities, temples, fortresses of stone marvelously engineered, roads cut through granite mountain slopes, and massive agricultural terraces and hydraulic works.

A dedicated ruler, Huayna Capac did much to improve the lives of his people. In addition to building temples and other works, Huayna greatly expanded the road network. He had storehouses built along it for food so that aid could be quickly rushed to any who were in danger of starvation.

Death and legacy[link]

Huayna probably contracted smallpox while campaigning in Colombia (though some historians dispute this^[4]). The Spaniards had carried smallpox to South America, and the Native Americans had no acquired immunity against it. Huayna and about 200,000 other South and Central Americans died in that epidemic. Both Huayna Capac and his oldest son, Ninan Cuyochi, died.

Before his death, Huayna Capac divided the empire, leaving the newly conquered north to his favorite son Atahualpa and the rest to his legitimate heir Huáscar. Upon the death of their father, Huayna Capac, in 1525 or 1527, the brothers Atahualpa Inca and Huáscar Inca were granted two separate realms of the Inca Empire: Atahualpa, the northern portion centered on Quito, and Huáscar, the southern portion centered on Cuzco.

Huáscar quickly secured power in Cuzco and had his brother Atahualpa arrested. But Atahualpa escaped from his imprisonment with the help of his wife and began securing support from Huayna Capac's best generals^{[citation needed]}, who happened to be near Quito, the nearest major city. Atahualpa won the ensuing civil war. In keeping with a longstanding Inca and Andean tradition of fraternal conflict, Atahualpa rebelled against his brother Huáscar and imprisoned him.

Pizarro and his men had the fortune of ascending into the Andes just as Atahualpa was returning to Cuzco after successful conclusion of his northern campaigns. After launching a surprise attack in Cajamarca and massacring upward of 6,000 Incan soldiers, Pizarro took Atahualpa prisoner. To secure his release, Atahualpa pledged to fill a room of approximately 88 cubic meters with precious golden objects, the famous Atahualpa's Ransom Room. Over the next months, trains of porters carted precious objects from across the empire, including jars, pots, vessels, and huge golden plates pried off the walls of the Sun Temple of Coricancha in Cuzco. On May 3, 1533, Pizarro ordered the vast accumulation of golden objects melted down, a process that took many weeks. Finally, on July 16, the melted loot was distributed among his men, and 10 days later, Pizarro had Atahualpa executed anyway.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Sarmiento de Gamboa, Pedro. The History of the Incas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-292-71485-4.