Warm Up: State Building in the Americas

Questions 1 to 4 refer to the excerpt below from a Spanish explorer’s description of the Incas in the 1500s.

As this kingdom was so vast, in each of the many provinces there were many storehouses filled with supplies and other needful things; thus, in times of war, wherever the armies went they drew upon the contents of these storehouses, without ever touching the supplies of their confederates or laying a finger on what they had in their settlements. . . . Then the storehouses were filled up once more with the tributes paid the Inca. If there came a lean year, the storehouses were opened and the provinces were lent what they needed in way of supplies; then, in a year of abundance, they paid back all they had received. No one who was lazy or tried to live by the work of others was tolerated; everyone had to work. Thus on certain days each lord went to his lands and took the plow in hand and cultivated the earth, and did other things. Even the Inca [rulers] themselves did this to set an example. And under their system there was none such [laziness] in all the kingdom, for, if he had his health, he worked and lacked for nothing; and if he was ill, he received what he needed from the storehouses.

—From Pedro Cieza de Léon’s The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. Markham. London: Hakluyt Society. 1883.

The system described in the excerpt required Inca peasants to do all of the following EXCEPT

• pay taxes.

• perform public service.

• cultivate state lands.

• supply storehouses.

Questions 1 to 4 refer to the excerpt below from a Spanish explorer’s description of the Incas in the 1500s.

As this kingdom was so vast, in each of the many provinces there were many storehouses filled with supplies and other needful things; thus, in times of war, wherever the armies went they drew upon the contents of these storehouses, without ever touching the supplies of their confederates or laying a finger on what they had in their settlements. . . . Then the storehouses were filled up once more with the tributes paid the Inca. If there came a lean year, the storehouses were opened and the provinces were lent what they needed in way of supplies; then, in a year of abundance, they paid back all they had received. No one who was lazy or tried to live by the work of others was tolerated; everyone had to work. Thus on certain days each lord went to his lands and took the plow in hand and cultivated the earth, and did other things. Even the Inca [rulers] themselves did this to set an example. And under their system there was none such [laziness] in all the kingdom, for, if he had his health, he worked and lacked for nothing; and if he was ill, he received what he needed from the storehouses.

—From Pedro Cieza de Léon’s The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. Markham. London: Hakluyt Society. 1883.

Which of the following would be least affected by the Inca compulsory labor system?

• repair of roads and bridges

• production of pottery and textiles

• public building construction

• expansion of the merchant class

Questions 1 to 4 refer to the excerpt below from a Spanish explorer’s description of the Incas in the 1500s.

As this kingdom was so vast, in each of the many provinces there were many storehouses filled with supplies and other needful things; thus, in times of war, wherever the armies went they drew upon the contents of these storehouses, without ever touching the supplies of their confederates or laying a finger on what they had in their settlements. . . . Then the storehouses were filled up once more with the tributes paid the Inca. If there came a lean year, the storehouses were opened and the provinces were lent what they needed in way of supplies; then, in a year of abundance, they paid back all they had received. No one who was lazy or tried to live by the work of others was tolerated; everyone had to work. Thus on certain days each lord went to his lands and took the plow in hand and cultivated the earth, and did other things. Even the Inca [rulers] themselves did this to set an example. And under their system there was none such [laziness] in all the kingdom, for, if he had his health, he worked and lacked for nothing; and if he was ill, he received what he needed from the storehouses.

—From Pedro Cieza de Léon’s The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. Markham. London: Hakluyt Society. 1883.

Which of the following is NOT true regarding differences between the Inca compulsory labor system and the later Spanish mita system?

• Inca compulsory labor provided public works.

• Spanish mita was the tool of private interests and the Spanish state.

• Spanish mita provided for the physical well-being of its workers.

• Inca compulsory labor was a community coordination of labor.

Questions 1 to 4 refer to the excerpt below from a Spanish explorer’s description of the Incas in the 1500s.

As this kingdom was so vast, in each of the many provinces there were many storehouses filled with supplies and other needful things; thus, in times of war, wherever the armies went they drew upon the contents of these storehouses, without ever touching the supplies of their confederates or laying a finger on what they had in their settlements. . . . Then the storehouses were filled up once more with the tributes paid the Inca. If there came a lean year, the storehouses were opened and the provinces were lent what they needed in way of supplies; then, in a year of abundance, they paid back all they had received. No one who was lazy or tried to live by the work of others was tolerated; everyone had to work. Thus on certain days each lord went to his lands and took the plow in hand and cultivated the earth, and did other things. Even the Inca [rulers] themselves did this to set an example. And under their system there was none such [laziness] in all the kingdom, for, if he had his health, he worked and lacked for nothing; and if he was ill, he received what he needed from the storehouses.

—From Pedro Cieza de Léon’s The Second Part of the Chronicle of Peru, translated by Clements R. Markham. London: Hakluyt Society. 1883.

One direct short-term result of the development of the later Spanish mita system was

• increased importation of African slaves for labor.

• the assimilation of indigenous peoples and loss of their heritage.

• rebellions and resistance among indigenous populations.

• the emergence of a land management system similar to serfdom.