- Sapa Inca
The God Emperor of the
Inca Empire (quechua : "Inka Qhapaq") of theAndes (the area including modernPeru ,Ecuador , andBolivia ) used the titles "Sapa Inka" ("the only Inca"), "Sapa" ("the only one"), and "Apu" ("divinity").Duality
Leadership systems at all levels within the
Inca Empire were structured by moieties entitled the "Hanan" (upper) and the "Hurin" (lower), in keeping with the ideal of duality. The leaders of the two moieties ruled together and were ranked equally, although the "hanan" leader had greater prestige and therefore dominance. At the time of theSpanish conquest of Peru the supreme leader of the empire of the Hanan moiety was called the Sapa Inca. This concept of duality was lost to the Spanish, whose post-conquest chroniclers only recorded the names of the Sapa Inca, the empire's hanan ruler at the time, and his "queens", and left off the Hurin.apa Incas
First dynasty
The Sapa Inca of the first dynasty of the Kingdom of
Cuzco were, in order,Manco Capac ,Sinchi Roca ,Lloque Yupanqui ,Mayta Capac , andCapac Yupanqui . Little is known of these early rulers, but as a rough guide, in later years "capac" meant warlord and "sinchi" meant leader. The beginning of the dynasty is generally taken as about 1200 CE.econd dynasty
The Sapa Inca of the second dynasty of the Kingdom of Cuzco were, in order,
Inca Roca ,Yahuar Huacac , Viracocha, andPachacuti . The second dynasty marked the transition in dominance from the hurin to hanan family.The first Sapa Inca of the "Tawantin Suyu", or Inca empire, was
Pachacuti (1438-1471). He was followed byTupac Inca Yupanqui (1471-1493),Huayna Capac (1493-1527),Ninan Cuyochi (?-1527),Huascar (1527-1532), and, finally,Atahualpa (1532-1533).Pachacuti reorganized the empire into four "suyu"s (provinces), each governed by an Apo with several layers of administration below him. He also adopted the Chimú custom of split inheritance. Under this system one potential heir would receive the political inheritance while property and water rights would be split between the other potential heirs. This sated the other potential heirs materially and encouraged the new Inca to conquer new territory to acquire property.
Ninan Cuyochi, who was Inca for only a few days, is sometimes left off the list of Sapa Incas because news of his death from
smallpox arrived in Cuzco shortly after he was declared Sapa Inca. He had been with Huayna Capac when he died of smallpox. The death of Ninan, the presumed heir, led to a war of succession between Huascar and Atahualpa, a weakness that the Spanish exploited when they conquered the Incas.Incas of Vilcabamba
After the conquest, there were several more Sapa Incas before the Inca leadership system dissolved completely. They were
Tupac Huallpa (1533),Manco Inca Yupanqui (1533-1545),Sayri Tupaq (1545-1560),Titu Cusi (1560-1571), and, finally,Tupac Amaru . This last Sapa Inca must not be confused withTupac Amaru II , leader of an eighteenth-century Peruvian uprising.
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