What resource did the Inca value most?
The main resources available to the Inca Empire were agricultural land and labor, mines (producing precious and prestigious metals such as gold, silver or copper), and fresh water, abundant everywhere except along the desert coast.
What did the Incas value?
The laws of the empire of the Incas, were designed to inculcate mainly the values of the honesty, the truth, and the work; Trying to create a harmonic society, laborious, disciplined, and favorable to the empire.
Did the Inca value gold?
For the Inca gold was also the blood of Viracocha, their sun god. He is now commonly considered the chief god, at least in pre-Incan cultures. Gold was sacred. It was greatly prized in cult, but had no material value.
How did the Incas pay for things?
Inca Taxes In order to run the government, the Inca needed food and resources which they acquired through taxes. Each ayllu was responsible for paying taxes to the government. The Inca had tax inspectors that watched over the people to make sure that they paid all their taxes.
What did the Incas value more than gold?
For the Incas finely worked and highly decorative textiles came to symbolize both wealth and status, fine cloth could be used as both a tax and currency, and the very best textiles became amongst the most prized of all possessions, even more precious than gold or silver.
Did the Inca have money?
Money was not used by the Incas, because they did not need it. Any citizen’s basic needs were fulfilled since their economy was so well-planned. Economic transactions were conducted by the barter method, through which citizens exchanged goods among each other.
How much gold did the Incas have?
The Spanish, fearful of Atahualpa’s generals, murdered him anyway in 1533. By then, a staggering fortune had been brought right to the feet of the greedy conquistadors. When it was melted down and counted, there were over 13,000 pounds of 22 karat gold and twice that much silver.
How did the Incas have so much gold?
The Inca gold and silver came entirely from surface sources, found as nuggets or panned from river beds. They had no mines. The Spaniards soon discover mines to produce massive wealth – particularly, from 1545, the silver mines at PotosÃ.
What did the Inca trade for?
Along with foods, other goods, such as ceramics, cloth and metal goods, as well as meats, wool, skins and feathers, were also traded. Pack animals, mainly llamas, were used to transport goods.
Was there trade in the Inca Empire?
So the Inca did engage in trade, but only with outsiders – not among themselves. The secret of the Inca’s great wealth may have been their unusual tax system. Instead of paying taxes in money, every Incan was required to provide labor to the state. In exchange for this labor, they were given the necessities of life.
Why did the Inca value gold?
They had both religious and ornamental value. Besides their value as religious ornaments, gold and silver were also used for worldly purposes, such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets and a wide variety of secular objects. The Inca gold was not the real source of wealth and social status.
Were the Inca rich or poor?
The Incas established one of the most prosperous centrally organized economy in economic history, which led to the development of social capital. The Inca Empire’s economic prosperity was based on these ayllus.