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Sunday 20 September 2020

Manco Capac: legendary founder of the Incas

 


Manco Capac, who died in or around the year 1107, is generally described as the first emperor of the Inca people who occupied much of the western side of South America until their conquest by the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century.

The stories told about Manco Capac often sound as though they belong to mythology, but he was a real person, even though various legends have attached to him.

It is said that Manco and his three brothers and four sisters originally lived in a cave in the valley of the Vilcamayu river. They moved to the region of Lake Titicaca and brought civilisation to the tribes that lived there. One of Manco’s sisters taught the women how to weave wool threads into cloth and Manco taught the men how to farm. Manco encouraged them to worship the Sun instead of performing human sacrifices and he outlawed incestuous marriages between brothers and sisters.

There is some evidence that two tribes, the Inca and the Allcovisa, did indeed settle together near Lake Titicaca in the late 11th century and that there was a certain amount of cultural exchange between them.

However, there is no truth in the legend that Manco founded the city of Cuzco, because this is known to have been settled during the 900s and the Inca did not arrive there until the 1200s.

When Manco died he was succeeded by his son Sinchi Roca, and it was he who led the Inca into the Cuzco Valley which would in due course become the centre of the Inca Empire.

© John Welford

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