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| Kollasuyu | |
|---|---|
| Name | Kollasuyu |
| Settlement type | Region of Tawantinsuyu |
| Subdivision type | Empire |
| Subdivision name | Inca Empire |
| Capital | Cuzco |
| Established title | Conquest |
| Established date | 15th century |
Kollasuyu is the southeastern quarter of the Inca Empire traditionally encompassing highland and puna territories east and south of Cuzco across the Andes, reaching toward the Altiplano and the upper Amazon basin. It formed one of four suyu that structured Tawantinsuyu under imperial administration and military organization, interfacing with diverse polities, ecological zones, and trade networks centered on Cusco and regional centers like Potosí and Lake Titicaca. Kollasuyu's strategic corridors connected the imperial core with allied and subject communities such as the Aymara polities, the Colla chiefdoms, and frontier groups interacting with Europeans after contact with Francisco Pizarro.
The name derives from the Quechua term for the ethnolinguistic group often rendered as Colla or Kolla, related to the Colla people and the region around Lake Titicaca, whose identity was significant in imperial nomenclature and territorial division. Chroniclers including Pedro Cieza de León, Garcilaso de la Vega, and Bernabé Cobo used variations of the term in narratives of Tawantinsuyu expansion, while modern scholars such as John Rowe and Terence N. D'Altroy analyze the toponymic and ethnographic usage in archival documents from Seville and Lima.
Kollasuyu encompassed diverse environments from puna plateaus near Lake Titicaca and the Altiplano to cloud forests descending into the Amazon Basin and river systems like the Madre de Dios and Beni River. Its western limits adjoined suyu such as Antisuyu and Chinchaysuyu along mountain passes near Cuzco and the Vilcanota River, while its southern margins approached colonial jurisdictions including the Audiencia of Charcas and mining districts surrounding Potosí. Topographic features such as the Cordillera Real and routes through the Apurímac River valley structured movement, with ecological tiers from quechua to suni to jalca shaping settlement distribution observed by travelers like Alexander von Humboldt.
Pre-Inca polities like the Aymara kingdoms and the Colla Confederation dominated parts of the region prior to incorporation into the Inca polity under rulers such as Pachacuti and Topa Inca Yupanqui. Imperial incorporation involved strategies documented in colonial chronicles by Alonso Ramos Gavilán and Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa: military campaigns, marriage alliances, and the establishment of mitimae settlements drawn from subject communities including the Chachapoya and Limaqs. Administrative divisions employed units like the suyus and the province-level ayllus, coordinated from centers such as Cuzco and provincial hubs documented in colonial censuses held in archives like the Archivo General de Indias. Imperial labor obligations such as the mit'a system linked agricultural production in Kollasuyu to state projects like road building on the Qhapaq Ñan and provisioning of imperial storehouses at sites comparable to Tambos described by Garcilaso de la Vega.
Kollasuyu's economy integrated highland pastoralism centered on llamas and alpacas with agricultural terraces producing tubers, quinoa, and camelid fodder, alongside trade in salt from Cochabamba and coca from lowland valleys near Tipnis. Regional markets connected to interregional caravans using llama trains and footpaths described by Martín de Murúa and Guaman Poma de Ayala, facilitating exchange with miners and merchants drawn to Potosí during the colonial silver boom. Social organization reflected ayllu kinship groups, local caciques who negotiated with provincial governors like those appointed in colonial Charcas, and craft specialization in textiles and metallurgy influenced by contacts with Tiwanaku and later Wari traditions. Spanish colonial institutions such as the encomienda and the Repartimiento transformed labor regimes while resistance episodes linked to leaders recorded by Felipe Guamán Poma and uprisings in the highlands engaged figures tied to Túpac Amaru II movements.
Religious life blended Andean cosmologies centered on huacas, mountain cults like worship of Ausangate and Illimani, and rituals associated with the lunar and solar cults connected to Inti that were mediated by the Inca priesthood from Cuzco. Ceremonial practices included offerings, camelid sacrifices, and capacocha rites performed on high peaks documented by chroniclers such as José de Acosta and Bernabé Cobo, with syncretic Christianization occurring via missions established by the Franciscan Order and the Jesuits in frontier valleys. Artistic production in textile weaving, polychrome ceramics, and metalwork displayed motifs traceable to Tiwanaku, Wari, and Colla iconography noted in analyses by archaeologists like John H. Rowe and Izumi Shimada.
Important archaeological loci within the region encompass terraces, ritual platforms, and settlement complexes such as those near Tiwanaku, the highland sites around Potosí with colonial-period overlays, and cloud forest ruins comparable to Chachapoya constructions documented in survey reports by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the Peabody Museum. Material culture includes textiles with complex warp patterns, metallurgical remains of silver and tin exploitation linked to precolonial and colonial mining districts, and ceramic assemblages bearing stylistic continuities with Moche and Nazca influences in exchange goods. Excavations by teams associated with universities such as Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and University of San Andrés (Bolivia) have advanced understanding of settlement hierarchies, while paleoenvironmental studies using proxies from Lake Titicaca cores inform reconstructions of climatic impacts on agriculture.
The legacy of Kollasuyu endures in contemporary cultural identities among Aymara and Quechua-speaking communities, place names across regions administered by modern states like Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, and in heritage debates over sites near Lake Titicaca and Potosí. Colonial and republican-era transformations involving institutions such as the Viceroyalty of Peru and the Republic of Bolivia reshaped landholding patterns and labor regimes but also preserved Andean traditions evident in festivals and textile arts promoted by museums like the Museo Nacional de Arqueología (Bolivia) and heritage programs of the Ministry of Culture (Peru). Contemporary scholarship by historians and archaeologists at centers including Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and Universidad Mayor de San Andrés continues to reevaluate the socio-political networks, environmental adaptations, and material legacies of this crucial suyu era.