INCA, a Peruvian tribe, speaking the Quichua dialect, who, at the time of the Spanish expedition under Pizarro, in exercised paramount rule over a region extending, west of the Atlantic slope of South America, between Quito in Ecuador and the River Maule in Chile. They were a highland people and organized a renaissance of the earlier "civilization," char acterized by megalithic, polygonal structures of stone, which appears to have prevailed in the uplands of Bolivia and Peru at an anterior date (known as the Tiahuanaco period). (See SOUTH AMERICA : Archaeology.) The earliest traditional rec ords of the people are mythological. The ancestors of the tribe are supposed to have emerged from certain caverns in a hill (Tampu-tocco, "House of Windows"), in a region known as Paccari-tampu ("House of the Dawn"), under the leadership of four brothers, all bearing the title of Ayar. The chief was the eldest brother, named Manco, who was the high-priest of the tribal god, the Sun, whose emblem was a fetish in the form of a bird, kept concealed in a basket. This fetish possessed oracular powers, and directed the migrations of its votaries. The other brothers were named Cachi (Salt), Uchu (Pepper), and Auca (Pleasure) . Their sister-wives, who bore the title of Mama ("Mother"), were named respectively, Occlo, Huaco, Cura and Raua. These eight personalities were regarded as divine in origin, being descendants of the Sun god.
Under the direction of an oracle, these leaders conducted the tribe northward in search of empire. The leader, Manco, was equipped with a golden rod, which, according to the prophecy, would sink into the ground when the predestined home was at tained. In the course of the migration, the three younger brothers perished. Cachi was persuaded to return for certain fetishes which had been left behind in a sacred cave; but when he had entered the sanctuary, his escort rolled a great rock against the entrance. Uchu, in the attempt to seize a mysterious stone statue, en countered on the journey, was himself turned to stone. The lo cality, known in later times as Huanacauri, was one of the most sacred spots in Peru, and was the scene of the Huarachicu ceremony. (See SOUTH AMERICA : Archaeology.) Auca, who was winged, was asked by Manco to fly to the top of a distant hill (afterwards the site of the great Sun-temple in Cuzco), but he, on completing the feat, was transformed to stone. Nevertheless the tribe followed, the test of the golden rod was applied, and Cuzco, the seat of the later Inca empire, was founded.
Most traditions give Manco's immediate successor as Sinchi Rocca, but one account interpolates a long list of rulers between the two. It is probable that Manco is in the main a legendary character, dating back, possibly to the Tiahuanaco period. Rocca appears to have been the first ruler bearing the royal title of Sapa Inca (Only Inca), and it is probable that his accession heralded the epoch associated with Inca domination. In fact he may be regarded as the first Inca "historical" ruler. The evolution of the Inca tribe into a ruling caste has brought about a certain confu sion in the use of the word "Inca." Originally tribal, it became a term of rank, as applied to the members of the official hierarchy (invariably members of the paramount tribe). And, at the same time, the phrase "The Inca" is commonly used in connection with the supreme ruler, regarded as a god on earth and the descendant of the old tribal god, the Sun (obviously the translation of one of his titles, Sapa Inca, or "Only Inca"). The development of the peculiar form of state-socialism, controlled by a bureaucracy wielding religious authority, is described in the article, SOUTH AMERICA, Archaeology, with an account of the stone-work, pot tery, and other industrial arts as compared with those of their predecessors and their tributaries. See the bibliography appended to that article. (T. A. J.)