Cuntisuyu — The Western Coastal Region of the Incas
Cuntisuyu (sometimes written Kuntisuyu) was the western coastal quadrant of Tawantinsuyu and the smallest of the four suyus in population, although one of the most economically distinctive. The name is sometimes translated as “the region of the west” or “the region of the condor,” and the sources differ on whether it corresponds to the western or southwestern quadrant of the empire. Modern scholars generally agree that Cuntisuyu encompassed the southern coast of Peru, the Atacama fringe of northern Chile, and (by some accounts) the southern highlands adjacent to the coast. The Spanish chronicler Garcilaso de la Vega reported that Cuntisuyu was the most sparsely populated of the four suyus, but that it was rich in marine products, gold, and the produce of the irrigated coastal valleys. The archaeological record supports this characterization: the coastal provinces of Cuntisuyu contained some of the most elaborate Inca-period administrative architecture in the empire, including the well-preserved site of Tambo Colorado.
Geographical Setting
The coast of Peru is one of the most arid desert regions on Earth, a near-rainless strip of sand, gravel, and rocky headlands that extends from the Gulf of Guayaquil in the north to the Maule River in central Chile. Rainfall along the coast is almost exclusively associated with the El Niño phenomenon, which occurs at irregular intervals and brings torrential rains, flooding, and sometimes destruction. The freshwater that supports agriculture on the coast comes from rivers that descend from the high Andes. The Inca, like the cultures that preceded them, developed an elaborate system of irrigation canals, diversion dams, and terrace agriculture to exploit these rivers, and the coastal provinces of Cuntisuyu contained some of the most sophisticated hydraulic works in the pre-Columbian world.
The principal coastal provinces of Cuntisuyu, from north to south, included Chincha (the heartland of the Chincha people, incorporated in the 1470s), Ica and Nazca (famous for the pre-Inca Nazca Lines and elaborate irrigation systems), and Atacama and Arica (on the Atacama fringe of northern Chile, the limit of Inca expansion on the coast).
Historical Formation
The incorporation of Cuntisuyu into the Inca Empire was largely complete by the early sixteenth century. The early campaigns against the coastal peoples — particularly the Chincha, who had resisted Inca expansion for several generations — were conducted by the ninth Sapa Inca and his son Topa Inca. The Chincha were finally incorporated into the empire around 1470, after which the Inca extended their control southward along the coast, building a network of roads, tambos, and administrative centers. The conquest of the Atacama regions was completed under the eleventh Sapa Inca, Huayna Capac, in the early sixteenth century.
The early colonial sources describe a complex pattern of resistance and accommodation in Cuntisuyu. The incorporation of the coastal provinces was accompanied by a major investment in road and irrigation infrastructure, and the coastal road that linked Chincha to the Atacama frontier was one of the most intensively engineered of the Inca roads.
Roads, Tambos, and Infrastructure
The trunk road of Cuntisuyu ran from Cusco to the Pacific coast at Chincha, and from there southward along the coast to the Atacama frontier. The road from Cusco to Chincha descended from the highlands through the yungas (the warm valleys below 2,500 meters), crossing the Andean watershed at an elevation of roughly 4,500 meters before descending to the coast. From Chincha, the coastal road ran south through the irrigated valleys of Pisco, Ica, Nazca, Acarí, Camaná, and Arequipa, and continued into the Atacama and northern Chile.
The most remarkable of the Inca installations along the Cuntisuyu road is Tambo Colorado, located in the upper Pisco valley. The site is a complex of administrative buildings constructed in the imperial style, with red-painted walls (hence the name), finely cut stone masonry, and a complex of plazas, ceremonial rooms, and residences. Excavated in the 1960s by Alfred Rosenswig, Tambo Colorado remains one of the best-preserved examples of Inca administrative architecture in the coastal desert and is generally interpreted as a provincial capital. The pre-Inca canals of the Nazca region, in particular, were extended and standardized by the Inca as part of their provincial administration.
Economy and Tribute
The economy of Cuntisuyu was based on irrigated agriculture, marine resources, and mining. The coastal valleys produced maize, cotton, peppers, beans, and other crops, often in surplus to support the imperial state. The Spanish chroniclers recorded that the coastal provinces of Cuntisuyu delivered large quantities of dried fish (charqui), cotton cloth, and maize to the imperial granaries. The Inca also exploited the rich guano deposits of the offshore islands, which they used as fertilizer for the highland and coastal terraces, and the spondylus shells of the Gulf of Guayaquil, which were a precious ritual commodity throughout the Andes.
The Cuntisuyu coast was also a major source of gold and copper. The mines of the Atacama, in particular, were exploited by the Inca and continued to be exploited by the Spanish after the conquest. The pre-Columbian copper mines of the Atacama, in modern Chile, are among the oldest and most extensive in the world, and they supplied much of the copper used by the coastal populations.
Historical Significance
Cuntisuyu was the smallest of the four suyus in population, but it was strategically and economically important as the principal source of marine products, gold, and the labor of skilled coastal artisans. The Spanish chronicler Pedro Cieza de León, who traveled the Cuntisuyu coast in the 1550s, recorded his impression of the Cuntisuyu road in a passage that has become a standard description of Inca infrastructure:
Throughout this coast the road is so well built and so well maintained that it could be traveled from one end to the other without difficulty, and the tambos are so well stocked with food and supplies that the traveler will want for nothing.
The Spanish conquest of the 1530s brought the Cuntisuyu coast under the control of the Spanish crown, but the indigenous population and many of the Inca-period institutions — including the mitma colonies, the road system, and the irrigation infrastructure — persisted into the colonial period and beyond.